Mbali Mosia was born in Umlazi’€™s G Section, as were her three children. She lives with her parents in a four-room former council house now owned by her mother.

Not long ago, Umlazi was characterised by a high level of political violence. Today the township is still clearly demarcated into ANC and Inkatha areas, but acts of violence are now criminally rather than politically motivated.

G Section is relatively quiet, says Mosia who does not feel nervous to walk a fair distance from the bus stop to her home in the evenings. The local councillor, Sithenjwa Nyawose, seems to be running a tight ship. The community policing forum is very active, says Mosia, with branches in every block that meet often. People tend to report crimes directly to the councillor’€™s office.

“The councillor has a good relationship with the police,” says Mosia. “His office tries to deal with the smaller problems like family disputes. They take the more serious problems to the police station.

“There were some gangsters in the area but they ran away when they saw that the people were organised,” she adds.

Unemployment is the single biggest problem in the area, and according to council statistics 20,2% of people are employed while 16% of households report that they have no source of income.

Development in G Section has been plentiful since 1994. Roads have been tarred and given names. Most homes, including those in the informal settlements, have electricity.

Standpipes have been laid in the informal settlements, which make up almost half of G Section. At present, water is free, as no one controls the community taps. This runs contrary to unicity policy, but imposing water tariffs is likely to be difficult for council officials as citizens are used to free access.

A public swimming pool is the pride of the neighbourhood, all the more so because local labour were involved in building it.

At the top of a hill stands the impressive Dorothy Nyembe clinic, which is two years old. Initially, it was only open two days a week but it now opens from 7am to 3pm daily.

According to eThekwini nursing services, the clinic staff of five treat about 3 500 patients a month. Common health problems include diarrhoea, Helminth infections, respiratory ailments, sexually transmitted infections and skin infections.

While the clinic runs weekly AIDS awareness sessions, Mosia says there “is not much being organised about HIV”.

She says HIV/AIDS is “definitely here in the community” and there are “quite a few” AIDS orphans. But there are no organisations caring for the sick at their homes and no ongoing prevention campaigns.