squatter camp
A South African term for an informal settlement or shantytown — a community of makeshift dwellings built on land without legal title, typically on the outskirts of cities.
Definitions
A South African term for an informal settlement or shantytown — a community of makeshift dwellings built on land without legal title, typically on the outskirts of cities. The phrase is widely used in South African English in both official and everyday contexts, though it carries the social weight of poverty and inequality associated with such settlements.
Thousands of families were living in squatter camps on the edge of the city with no running water or electricity.
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(South Africa) A settlement of makeshift shacks.
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Semantically related
- shackland73%
(South Africa) An unofficial urban settlement composed of shacks.
- squatter72%
One who occupies a building or land without title or permission.
- town camp72%
(AU) A suburban shanty town inhabited by Aboriginal people.
- shackdweller66%
Shackdweller is a South African English term for a person who lives in an informal settlement shack — typically a home constructed from corrugated iron, timber, or other salvaged materials in a township or peri-urban area. The word is used both descriptively and politically: in activist and housing rights contexts it has been reclaimed as a term of dignity, most notably by the Abahlali baseMjondolo (shackdwellers' movement), which has become a powerful advocacy force in South Africa's ongoing housing crisis.