Mitchell’s Plain is located some 20km from the Cape Town CBD; many residents travel this distance each day by taxi or by train. Mitchell’s Plain is predominantly well- developed and contains mostly formal housing. A small informal housing settlement exists in Tafelsig where many residents live in backyards.

The Population of 1.0 million is divided between 46% males and 54% female. The youth are approximately 60% of the town’s population. The medium of communication is overwhelmingly Afrikaans, English and Xhosa.

The population is distributed as follow:

• 73% Colored
• 1% Whites
• 26% Blacks

Mitchells Plain is the largest colored residential community in Western Cape and is characterized by low income levels, poverty and lack of education. 48% of Mitchell’s Plain households earn less than the household subsistence level; less than half of the population is employed

Very few people in Mitchell’s Plain have access to higher education. About 37% of the population has had no level of schooling while 61 % have attended pre-school and school. Only 3% have had a tertiary education. Most of the people who have left school report to have done so either looking for a job or being employed in a job. A large amount has also left school due to family commitments.

Almost half of the households in Mitchell’s Plain live below the household subsistence level, however, the average monthly income of the node is only slightly lower than the national average. Low employment levels account for the population’s low income; over 50% of people are either unemployed or not economically active, and job growth has been flat over the past decade.

Mitchell’s Plain is no exception to the HIV / AIDS pandemic that is ravaging South Africa; according to the City of Cape Town, there is a need for increased prevention and awareness campaigns in the node.

About 25% of the population has been tested with HIV infection. This is about quarter of the whole population. About 26% of South Africans are tested with HIV.

According to the City, there are insufficient HIV/Aids programmes running in the community due to a lack of staff. 30 schools in the area run HIV awareness programmes.

 Most of the youth infected with HIV/AIDS come from informal settlements and the Government’s Restructuring and Developing Program (RDP) housing schemes. 90% of the latest infections are purely due to lack of knowledge and low self-esteem contributed by poverty. 

Tafelsig is one of the most impoverished areas in Mitchell’s Plain with an ever-escalating rate of HIV/AIDS infections. Children are among the worst affected by the pandemic. Many children have lost their parents to the disease and thus have no parental supervision or care. Others are infected themselves and have been ostracized and at times abandoned by their parents, family members and their communities who are either unwilling or unable to care for them. Many other children are left to care for themselves because their parents or caregivers are dying of AIDS.

Source: Stats SA Census 2001, City of Cape Town website

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