THE WALL OF SHAME: LANGA LIVES IN SEWAGE WHILE DA BUILDS MILLIONS-RAND WALL TO SEPARATE LANGA FROM PINELANDS
Mobile toilets on the freeway, shacks in dirty water, and millions spent on a wall to separate Langa from Pinelands — Residents say dignity hangs by the roadside in the richest city in Africa
By Mpho Dube, Editor-in-Chief
The Azanian | Truth. Fearless. Unfiltered.
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LANGA, CAPE TOWN — This is how the Democratic Alliance treats black people in the city it calls the best city in the world.
A shocking video investigation by activist Larry Varrie, TikTok @larryvarrie, has exposed the inhumane living conditions of black residents in Langa — the oldest township in Cape Town — where dignity has been reduced to a blue plastic toilet next to a freeway.
The footage is raw. It is painful. And it is damning for a City that boasts a budget of over R700 billion and a global number-one ranking.
In the video, Varrie stands next to blue Mshengu chemical toilets placed right on the edge of the N2 freeway. Behind him, rusted shacks made of corrugated iron. In front of him, a filthy river of sewage and rubbish flowing through the settlement with Table Mountain in the distance.
"Let me show you how the DA treats black people here in Cape Town. This is Langa," Varrie says. "This is where human beings live. Residents in the city of Cape Town live right here. It is completely unacceptable."
"This is where human beings live. These are toilets that people have to use. These are inhumane conditions that people have to use toilets right next to a freeway. How can this be a city that works for all if people's dignity has to hang by the wayside of the main road?"
Laundry hangs on fences next to traffic lights and cars speeding to the city centre. Children walk past the toilets on their way to school. The smell, residents say, is unbearable.
The DA markets Cape Town as a city that works for all. But in Langa, the people say it works for some — and forgets black people.
The second part of the investigation is even more powerful.
Varrie walks to a massive new concrete wall, metres high and hundreds of metres long, built along the railway line that separates Langa from Pinelands — one of Cape Town's historically white, wealthy suburbs.
"This is the wall that is built to separate Langa from Pinelands," he says as a blue Metrorail train passes behind him. "This is where money, taxpayers' money is going to. Langa lives on the other side of this wall and Pinelands on that side."
He shows the scale of the wall in the sand. "Money would rather be spent on a wall than to upgrade the conditions, the living conditions of human beings that are living that side."
"Human beings live and we'd rather spend money to separate them by a wall. Millions of rands to separate them by a wall. The money could have been used to transform the lives of people, to upgrade the standard of living for the people of Langa, instead of building a wall to separate them from the people of Pinelands."
Residents in Langa told The Azanian the wall is apartheid spatial planning with a new budget. A wall to hide poverty from privilege. A wall to keep Langa out of sight.
"If we are serious about transformation then we must be serious about human dignity," Varrie says.
The Mayor of Cape Town is Geordin Hill-Lewis — Mayor since 18 November 2021 and now Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance since 12 April 2026 after succeeding John Steenhuisen.
Under his leadership, Cape Town has won global awards. But Langa is asking: awards for who?
The City makes billions. But in Langa, people still live next to sewage, still use mobile toilets on the freeway, still wash clothes next to dirty water.
Why did the City choose to spend millions on a concrete wall instead of building proper toilets, proper houses, proper sanitation for Langa?
Why is the dignity of black people in Langa left hanging on a washing line next to a highway robot?
The DA must answer. The people of Langa are not asking for favours. They are asking for dignity. They are asking for their rights. They are asking for a city that truly works for all — not just for Pinelands on one side of the wall, while Langa suffers on the other.
The wall stands. The toilets stand. And Langa is watching.
THE WALL OF SHAME — PICTURED: Activist Larry Varrie @larryvarrie exposes how black residents of Langa, Cape Town's oldest township, live next to sewage rivers and use blue Mshengu mobile toilets placed on the edge of the N2 freeway where dignity hangs on a traffic light, while the DA-led City of Cape Town, led by Mayor and Federal Leader Geordin Hill-Lewis and boasting over R700-billion, spends millions on a massive concrete wall to separate Langa from wealthy Pinelands — Residents say it is apartheid spatial planning with a new budget. Photo Credit: TikTok @larryvarrie
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