The supersession of the process of urbanization by what has been termed “polarization reversal” and “counterurbanization” in advanced developing and developed countries has become a much debated issue over the past 15 years. Disaggregated migration studies indicate that in addition to mainstream population migration patterns, undercurrent migration patterns may be evident which could differ quite substantially from the former. Such divergent migratory patterns occurring at the same time in the same country are called “differential urbanization”. As a potentially important urban development policy consideration, attention is focused in this paper on differential urbanization trends in South Africa at the metropolitan level. Recent informal urban settlement patterns of the African population within the major metropolitan areas are contrasted against these differential urbanization trends to determine the implications of both for residential development in the metropolitan areas during the post-apartheid era.