Case Study: Blacksands

The squatter settlement of Blacksands is an interesting case study of traditional land tenure being played out in a modern and urban setting. Blacksands is not considered urban as it lies outside the municipal boundary, on Ifira land. Therefore it is not subject to urban laws, nor can it demand facilities such as running water, sewage disposal and electricity. The population of Blacksands is comprised of some Ifira islanders, who ironically moved to the mainland to ensure that their custom land was not inundated by outsiders, as well as islanders from the rest of the country. In Blacksands, as in Vila, many different cultures and worldviews meet, and so it is often hard to reach a compromise between people. Initially, immigrants were given some land by the Ifiran landowners to have house, for which they paid rent, and a small plot of land for a subsistence garden, for which they also paid rent, usually in the form of food. Overtime, with more and more immigrants coming in and choosing to settle in Blacksands rather than in Vila where there is a housing shortage and where rents are higher, there was less and less land for the custom landowners. The immigrants began to demand permanent rights to the land, having invested so much time and labour, as well as demanding that the area be zoned municipal so that it could benefit from urban facilities. With most of their land already lost to Vila town, the Ifiran landowners obviously do not want to lose their last rights to land, but are now being increasingly outnumbered by the immigrants. At this moment in time, however, the immigrants still are not a cohesive group due to the different island cultures they represent. As there are no municipal facilities in the settlement people use the Tagabe river as the main water supply (for drinking water, bathing and laundry). However, because outdoor latrines are used, the river is somewhat polluted and subsequently pollutes the sea by Blacksands. Yet the issue of the squatter settlement (environmental pollution to the nearby river and sea, demand for land, demand for urban facilities) is not yet resolved.

Joe Natuman of Tanna described the shanty towns of Vila in 1973[1].

“It’s mighty cold inside the shack as we lie crowded together on a large piece of cardboard on the damp floor. Now the rain is beginning to fall heavily and the dripping from the holes in the roof increases as we lie here in our soaked blanket. Then to add to our discomfort and misery, the water from the badly-made trench of our shack creeps slowly inside and we are sleeping in a pool of water.

Why did I come here in the first place to suffer all this? Oh, how I long for home, but you know I can’t go home because I have to work here so I can help my parents to pay the school fees for my brothers and sisters at school.

I arrived here two years ago with hundreds of other Ni-Vanuatu. ‘Urban drift’ you may like to call it, but it’s not our fault that we need money. We must send our children to school and provide them with good clothes.

The cyclone damaged our crops and we had to have cash to support our families. The price of copra dropped so we came to Vila seeking employment.

When we arrive there was nowhere to stay so we went to live in the slums with the other islanders. We collected sheets of iron, pieces of timber and other unwanted building materials that we found lying around and we built ourselves huts. Then when more people arrived, more shacks were erected until today we number more than two thousand people living in slum conditions here in the suburbs of Vila.

We may have to pay up to $20 rent to live in these hovels. Some employers too provide very poor accommodation for their employees and charge them very high rents. We cannot afford to buy any piece of land here in Vila because the price is very high. So we have to put up with the slums.”

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[1] Natuman, Joe. 1975. “Living in a slum.” Gong: Young Voices from Vanuatu. Ed: Anne Stamford. Suva, Fiji: The South Pacific Creative Arts Society, pp. 80-82.