Parallel State

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Opened in September of 2021, Steyn City is the largest private estate in South Africa. Situated just north of Johannesburg, the development was built by Douw Steyn, an insurance mogul who named the creation after himself. It includes schools, shops, a hospital, a petrol station, generators, a golf course, biking trails, fishing dams, all-day security, and even a helicopter landing pad. The intent, is that the residents would never need to leave.¹
        Properties such as Steyn City outline exacerbated levels of economic inequality in South Africa, and the urge to live in sanctuaries in a country where citizens feel increasingly wary that the state cannot seem to provide essential services, or curb crime.
        Security is the most apparent instance where privatization is rapidly outpacing the state. In 1997, there were roughly the same number of police officers as active security guards - one-hundred-and-ten-thousand, to m one-hundred-and-fifteen-thousand, respectively. Since then, the police force has increased by approximately thirty-one-percent, to account for population growth and a larger mandate to support and provide safety to South Africa’s citizens. At the same time, private security has ballooned by three-hundred-and-eighty-seven-percent, to a total of five-hundred-and-fifty-seven-thousand personnel.² Walled suburbs and control rooms have become common sights in South Africa.
        Just North of Steyn City lies the township of Diepsloot. This neighborhood is densely populated, housing many poor South Africans. Renowned for its criminality, the precinct has the fourth-highest rate of violent assault in the country, with only a tiny portion of people considered to be benefiting from the multi-billion-rand estate next door. Security concerns have occasionally led to vigilantism with neighbors organizing the arrest and even killing of perpetrators forming their own “private parallel state”.

Image source:  14-Lane Gateway houses, photographed in 2020, Steyn City, Accessed on 23 March 2022, https://www.steyncity.co.za/14-lane-gatehouses/