urban growth in the context of structural adjustment, currency devaluations, state retrenchments, and little or no housing provision.• Viewing the state as a 'market enabler' led to theled to the privatisation of utilities and services, and massive decreases in provision;• For individuals, their various needs - affordable commodities, accommodation close to jobs, security, and the possibility of owning property - weresimply ignored by the imposition of ill-suited neoliberal 'boot-strap capitalism'.