Cape Flats is a large, flat area of housing projects built in Cape Town, South Africa to house the Coloured community during the apartheid era. It comprises partly reclaimed, partly uplifted land that has very sandy soil. This is an extremely poverty stricken region with high unemployment and likewise high levels of gang activity.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was significant armed conflict between these gangs and PAGAD (People Against Gangsterism and Drugs), a vigilante organization.

There are attempts underway to reduce unemployment and crime through community upliftment.