On the cusp of its 50th anniversary: monumental moment for Mitchell's Plain

This time next year, Mitchell’s Plain will be marking its 50th anniversary and as preparations are under way to commemorate this critical moment in its history, we look back at how the area took shape from the sandy plains and dune land it is rooted in.

- Simoneh de Bruin

Begun in 1974 to house a quarter of a million people by 1984, Mitchell's Plain was one of the most ambitious new town developments in the world and actually won an award for “The Most Outstanding Civil Engineering achievement” from the SA Institution of Civil Engineers in 1979 (“In the beginning: April 1976”, Plainsman 21st anniversary souvenir edition, October 25 2000).

The need for “a Mitchell’s Plain”, different from low-cost letting schemes, was envisaged way back in the mid-1960s and in October 1971, Mitchell’s Plain was proclaimed for “coloured” housing.

Research showed that the only land available for a development of this size was a farming area of 3 100 hectare south of Philippi.