Infrastructural inequity in urban expansion: water, sanitation, and waste in the city of Polokwane's dormitory locations of Juju Valley and Mamahule Park

The expansion of dormitory settlements on city peripheries remains a dominant feature of South Africa's post-apartheid urbanization, yet it persistently replicates the spatial and infrastructural inequalities of the apartheid era. This paper examines the governance of basic infrastructure focusing on water, sanitation, and solid waste as a critical lens to analyze peripheral urban expansion in the city of Polokwane. Through a qualitative case study of two settlements on privately owned land, Juju Valley and Mamahule Park, the research interrogates how divergent political and economic logics produce distinct infrastructural injustices. While both occupy private land, Juju Valley emerged through a politically led land takeover, orchestrated by the EFF, with yards or plots allocated freely to residents. In contrast, Mamahule Park developed through a familial entrepreneurial venture, with some family selling stands on the property as they regarded themselves as the beneficiary of the land which belonged to their fore-fathers and was taken from them during apartheid forced removal. Framed by postcolonial urbanism, the analysis reveals that infrastructure deficits are not mere service delivery failures but manifestations of enduring spatial legacies and contemporary governance fragmentation. The results show that the municipality's split and reactive approach to crisis management and political negotiation in Juju Valley while attempting to control and coordinate bulk services in Mamahule Park exacerbates socio-environmental dangers and politicizes basic human rights. The paper concludes that moving beyond the current impasse requires a paradigm shift toward infrastructural justice , centered on proactive land management, equitable service planning, and the recognition of infrastructure as the core terrain of urban citizenship in South Africa's secondary cities.