For the estimated 2000 residents of Freedom Farm informal settlement, situated on the boundary of the Cape Town International Airport aircraft runway, the sound of airplanes taking off and landing is a constant background noise. 

Some shacks forming part of this community are erected as close as 500 metres from the aircraft runway on the northern boundary of the airport. Residents of these shacks live with the clattering and clanging of corrugated metal sheets-the building materials of their homes.

An unemployed young man who lives with his sister in Freedom Farm, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, says one can barely have a conversation on the phone when an airplane is flying overhead. “I am currently a jobseeker. One of the companies I applied to had phoned me. When I picked up the phone, I couldn’t hear a word from the person I was speaking to,” he says. Luckily the company called back a few minutes later. 

He only recently moved to Freedom Farm. His sister has been living here for over three years and complains about the sleepless nights she endures. But her children, aged two and three, were born here and seem to be getting used to the noise.

Noluvo Joni (40), originally from Ntabankulu in the Eastern Cape arrived in this community in 2023. During her first week at Freedom Farm she barely slept a wink. But now she is only startled once a night. But she does fear for her hearing. 

“I hope the housing project currently underway in Delft can be finished within the specified timeframe so that we can be relocated from this noisy environment,” she says, 

In December 2013, the City of Cape and ACSA signed a memorandum of agreement to relocate three informal settlements, including Freedom Farm, built on the ACSA precinct through the Symphony Way housing project. The City of Cape Town recently relaunched the Symphony Way housing development project in Delft which is earmarked for the relocation of families living in Freedom Farm, Blikkiesdorp and Malawi Camp. 

Health effects of noise exposure

Many community members that Health-e News interacted with were not aware of the long-term effects associated with high noise exposure. 

Asked about how her daily life is impacted by the airplane noise, the community leader Zoliswa Zwelidala who has been living in this community for more than 15 years, says “I have been exposed to this noise all these years and I have no choice. Sleeping a few hours has become a norm to me. I guess this has had an adverse impact on my health which I’m not aware of.” 

The head of the health and rehabilitation sciences department at the University of Cape Town, Professor Lebogang Ramma explains that there are many long-term effects of noise exposure. 

“As an example, children who live in the environment that you have described above, generally have poorer academic outcomes when compared to other children who live in less noisy environments.”

He adds that even if the socio-economic status of these residents could be changed, the residual effects of the noise exposure could remain a problem. Being exposed to loud noise over a long period of time is a major risk factor for hearing loss. 

Ramma says the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) could have put measures to mitigate the effects of noise pollution on the people living close to the airport. 

“They know the harmful effects of aircraft noise on people, especially children,” he concludes.

Other less obvious effects of prolonged noise exposure include stress-related conditions such as hypertension and mental ill health. – Health-e News