Coping strategies adopted by inhabitants with asbestos cement roof houses in south African legacy township

Abstract

The apartheid regime’s housing development policy, whereby asbestos was used in roofing these houses, still exists in several towns in South Africa. One such community is Phomolong, where several houses are still roofed with dilapidated asbestos, posing a threat to households living in these houses. The study aimed to ascertain the coping strategies adopted by the inhabitants to navigate the challenges posed by the asbestos-cement roofing in Phomolong. A qualitative research approach was adopted to interview inhabitants living in asbestos-cement-roofed houses in Phomolong via face-to-face interviews with a structured interview guide. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using a thematic content analysis approach to identify main and sub-themes. The findings show that Phomolong inhabitants with asbestos-cement roofed houses experience several challenges. In coping with these challenges, inhabitants adopt strategies including placing materials such as tyres and rocks on roofs, sealing and painting roofs inside, placing buckets when it rains, and using binding wire on walls to hold roofing, among others. Due to the post-apartheid government's slow pace in replacing asbestos-cement roofing from legacy houses, inhabitants continue to experience hardships, forcing them to adopt an unconventional strategy to survive living in these houses. This situation, therefore, leaves them exposed to dangers associated with asbestos, posing further health risks to the community. The study contributes to the growing academic knowledge of challenges related to asbestos-containing material (ACMs) in non-occupational settings. It has outlined the lived experiences of a legacy township’s inhabitants in South Africa, challenges and strategies they used to contain them, thereby making their plight further known to the government for possible intervention.