History of Mitchell’s Plain

Mitchells Plain was designed in the mid seventies as a model ‘dormitory suburb’ for Coloured people, on the Cape Flats about 20 miles from the city centre. The 56 original dwellings were built on a standard box-like design and laid out in neat rows with wide roads between them. The government liked to show international visitors their housing efforts in Mitchell’s Plain. By 1989, there were 33,000 dwellings in Mitchells Plain and development contintued rapidly in the 1990s.

Mitchell’s Plain History

Michell’s Plain was created in the 1970 to alleviate the housing shortages in the Coloured community of Cape Town. In 1975 it was estimated that there were well over 30,000 inadequately housed families in Cape Town. To wipe out this backlog and cope with the natural increase 40,000 houses would have to be provided by 1981, this would mean having to build an average of 7,000 houses per year for the next 7 years.
The need for an area like Mitchells Plain was envisaged way back in the 1960 the first proposal was tabled by the City Engineer in 1965. The green light to go ahead to develop Mitchells Plain was given to the Cape Town City Council in 1971.
What we the residents do not know about is the daunting and the magnitude of the task that it took to create this place we call home, a few interesting facts;
A large number of Grys, Rib Buck and tortoise were carefully captured and relocated to the Cape Point and Silvermine Reserves.
By 1980 14,5 million cubic metres of earth have been moved – this is enough to fill 80% of the Duncan Dock.
In the beginning of 1976, in two days of a south easterly gale wind, 130,000 of sand was lost off an area that had not been stabilized. This spread itself thinly over a the land from Mitchells Plain to Devils Peak and then out to sea
An extensive ground water resource underlies most of the 3,100 ha that is Mitchells Plain. Some of the exploratory boreholes are being used to recover water for horticultural purposes to supplement the main supply and boreholes were also sunk to specifically cater for the sports fields.
When building began, houses were built at a staggering rate of 33 units per working day or one house every 15 minutes. The Town Centre was developed on a budget of R25million and completed in 12 months.
Now this Mitchells Plain which was built on the idea of have a self-sufficient segregated dormitory Town far from the white areas and the City, is now home to over 400,000, with a spending power of over R100million per month is a major player in the Politics of the Western Cape, and should now become a major factor economically.
We have 9km of the False Bay Coast from Standfontein to Swartklip.

Some facilities in or near Mitchells plain include Wolfgat Nature Reserve, Strandfontein Pavillion, Mnandi Beach, Blue Waters, Monwabisi Beach, Westridge Gardens, Portlands Indoor centre etc

Mitchells Plain has a good infrastructure eg. Mitchell’s Plain Police Station Police SAPS, Strandfontein Police SAPS, Phillipi East police station, Mitchells Plain Post office, Department of Home Affairs, Department of Justice, Department of Labour, Strandfontein sewerage works, Mitchells plain Traffic Centre in Eastridge etc

Mitchells Plain also boast loads of medical facilities eg. Lentegeur Hospital, Mitchell’s Plain Medical Centre, Melomed Centre, Mitchells Plain Day Hospital, Mitchells Plain MOU, Mitchells Plain Promenade Medical Centre, Mitchells plain Town Centre Medical Centre, Lukhanyo clinic mitchells Plain, Eastridge clinic, Lentegeur Mitchells Plain Dental Clinic, Mitchells plain Community health clinic, Westridge community health clinic, Lentegeur Municipal Clinic, Rocklands municipal clinic, Strandfontein Community Health Centre, Tafelsig Mitchells plain clinic etc

Mitchells Plein Commerce & Retail is currently thriving with many shops, supermarkets, businesses, banks, convenience stores, petrol stations etc. Examples of these are Colorado Shopping Centre, Westgate Mall, Liberty Promenade Mall, 7/11, Multisave, Checkers Shoprite Lentegeur, Shoprite Rocklands, Shoprite Mitchells Plain, Pick n Pay Mitchells plain Promenade, Shell, Engen, Caltex, BP Westridge service station, FNB, Standard Bank , Nedbank , ABSA, Mitchells Plain Town Centre, Clicks, Woolworths, Total, Clocktower motors lentegeur, Woodlands Service centre, Cedars Service Centre, Seaview Service centre, Fruit and veg city mitchells plain, Steers westgate, Nandos mitchells plain, Debonaires Westgate Mall, McDonalds Mitchells plain, KFC Westridge, Steers promenade, Lentegeur Shopping centre, Rocklands Shopping Centre, Mitchells Plain Shopping Centre

Schools in Mitchells Plain are plentiful eg. Highlands Primary School, Northwood Primary School, West End Primary School, Woodlands High Secondary School, Meadowridge Primary School, Hyacinth PrimarySchool, Cornflower Primary School, Lantana Primary School, Lentegeur Secondary School, West End Primary School, Aloeweg Primary School, Aloe High SecondarySchool, Hazeldene Primary School, Portland Primary School, Duneside Primary School, Jamaica Primary School, Mondale Secondary School, Caravelle Primary School, Spine View Primary School, Eislebeen Rd Primary School, Seaview Primary School, Glendale High Secondary School, Dennegeur Ave Primary School, Strandfontein Primary School, Hillside Primary School, Strandfontein High Secondary School, Parkhurst Primary School, Ridgeville Primary School, Harvester Primary School, Beacon Training Centre, Westridge High Secondary School, Westville Primary school, Bergsig Lane Primary School, Princeton Secondary School

Examples of Sports facilities in Mitchells Plain and  sporting codes include Potlands Sports Complex, Westridge Swimming Baths, Rocklands sports centre, Stephen Regan Sports complex in Westridge, Tafelsig sports field.

Sporting codes most popular in Mitchells plain are Swimming, soccer, baseball, rugby, tennis, table tennis, chess etc

Below you will find documents explaining more in detail the History and the progress of Mitchell’s Plain over the years

Mitchell’s Plain narrative

URP_Comms_and_Marketing_Strategy

Health

The history and progress of Mitchell’s Plain comes from our Grandparents, ourselves, our children and their children. If you have any stories pictures you would like to add , please do so.