NelsonT. Sambureni

University of SouthAfrica

Introduction againstthe state'sforced removals,but turned instead to focus on municipalraids againstshebeens. The late 19508 were a watershed in African popular resistance and protest, especially in Cato Manor in Certainly, the urban riots of 1959 were the most acute Durban. The African National CongressOOcame highly expressionsof deep-seatedshifts in the structure and influential in shantytownsocieties, assisting residents to organisationof urban African society-shifts, moreover, resist forced removals. It was during this decadethat the fcr which the statehad been largely responsiblethrough National Pany government implemented coercive racially defined policies. This article analyses some removals of Africans from inner-city shantytowns to struggles from oolow, people'shistory; it is about how newly createdtownships, "far afield, where they would "ordinary" people resisted apartheid policies, and be cheaplyhoused, physically controlled, and politically explains their perceptions and experiences. It is contained".2 In terms of the Durban City Council Group primarily concerned with the outbreak of riots and Areas proclamation, Cato Manor was ear-marked for violence in Cato Manor from 1959 until 1963, during White occupation in 1958. As for the shantytown which period Durban experienceda sustained era Umlazi all considerabledistances away from central their history based on their 1949 and 1959 struggles. Durban. This was part of the National Party The future of Cato Manor remains one of political government's restructuring process of African urban controversy.It is its cruel past which makes it a fiercely society. For the processto succeedin Durban. both the and often violently contestedarea and it is only through central and local government authorities were agreed analysingthe historical context in which the riots took that Cato Manor should re cleared of Africans. even if it place that one can fully understand the controversy meant using force againstthem. surroundingCato Manor today.

Many -both women and men -were illegal residentsin The Outbreakof Violence the shantytowncalled Cato Manor and lived in lX>verty. Few could afford or were qualified for any form of During the late 1950s,the municipality of Durban began accommodationin new townships. Men who qualified to remove Africans forcibly from Cato Manor to f(X' urban residencein terms of Section 10 of the 1952 KwaMashu.The removal processbegan in March 19583 Amendments to the Natives (Urban Areas) Act of 1945 and for a while did not face any seriouschallenge from simply did not resist the restructuringprocess because it the residents of the area. In August 1958, the upgraded their standard of living. The restructuring municipality made an attempt to demolish the shack plans lX>sed the greatest danger to the economic settlementof Thusini, where most of the mobile workers existence of shacklords, illegal traders, shebeenqueens had lived for several years. Very little resistancewas and other emerging entrepreneurs, whose survival offered and most people simply moved away and re- largely depended on the existence of the shantytown erectedtheir shackselsewhere. The local advisoryboard, society. These were the people who resisted the state's the Cato Manor Welfare and DevelopmentBoard, under new plans of "ordering" society. However, protestsand the chairmanship of Isaac Zwane, could not tAlkeany riots, marked by violence, were not mounted directly

CONTREE38/1995 23 OOcisiveaction fcx it was divided over the issue of life, illicit beerand poor wages.12However, the central ranovals. issue was that women wantro permanent residential rights in Cato Manor OOcauseshack demolition and During these early removals,the ANC launchedan anti- mass removals meant the end of their economic municipal campaign and the Director of Bantu existencein the urban area. New housesin K waMashu Administration, S.B. Bourquin, was called "the Satanof and Umlazi were occupiedonly by legal male tenantsor the Bantu people."4 The whole issue was viewed by prospective buyers with their recognised wives and Albert Luthuli, the ANC President General, as an children and single women were automatically oppornmity to gain followers, thereby leading to a disqualified from the new set-up. growth in ANC membership. Although the ANC had support in the shantytown of Cato Manor, some In pursuit of their Sb"uggleagainst removals, a sizeable members of the community remained indifferent to number of shebeenqueens invaded the Cato Manor politics. It was only during times of trouble that they beerballs on 17 June 1959 chasing men away.13 The tendedto rally behind political parties. riots which eruptedwere led by thousandsof embittered women who faced deportation to rural areas owing to Trouble began in earnest when the municipality their lack of legal documents. Serious disturbances attemptedto clear Mnyasana,the most notOrious shack began the following day when women blockaded the area in Cato Manor. It w~ dominatedmainly by a large beerballs,warning men not to try to enter. Thousandsof number of Mpondo migrant women, most of whom were African women from various parts of Cato Manor, "illegal" residents and who were well known for 00er fittingly describedas "one of the largestand most hor- bewing, illegal trading and prostitution.5 It was there rifying slums on the continent", were armed with sticks, women who championed the struggle against the hatchetsand piecesof wood. They marched,danced and municipal removals and tOOkit ontO the streets on 23 "shook sticks in dazzling defiance at the whole edifice of February 1959, supportedby women from other shack white apartheid authoritY".14 The ANCWL took an areas of Caw Manor.6 The women staged a active part in this women's sb"uggle;Dorothy Nyembe demonstrationat Bourquin's office and were assistedby and other Women'sLeague members organised marches Aaron Gumede,A.C. Shangaseand J.J.Shabalala,ANC to the Victoria Stteetbeerball and the Mobeni area.IS stalwarts and memrers of the "General Committee" of die Location Advisory Boards: A large proportion of thesewomen were brewersof beer, the sale of which was a sourceof livelihood to them and The demonsttatingwomen were also led by membersof their children.16 Women who failed to secure formal the ANC Women's League (ANCWL), including employment often made ends meet in this way. This Geruude Kweyama, T. Mazibuko, Dorothy Nyembe, oonflicted with municipal oontrols over such activities, F1«ence Mkhize, Ruth Shabane,Florence Mwelene and since the municipality had its own beerballs which were Lucy Mazibuko.8 The woman told the authorities that supposedto generaterevenue. There is no doubt that the &beyfailed to understandwhy they were being removed overriding factor to the oonflict in Cato Manor was from Cato Manor, their home, which "they fought for.. economic and its crux, according to Bourquin, was that they have spilt their blood for ...and having poverty: oonqueredthe Indians they will never give Cato Manor t.:k to the Indians".9 The women demandedan im- I wish to make oold and say that whatever mediate meeting with Bourquin and informed him that reasonshave been advancedare of a purely "since Africa belongedto them [his] office was part of it superficial nature. Even the women who and belonged to them... and that when Africa returned to started off the ttagic course did not express them they would in any case sack [bim]".IO The their grievancesin terms of bare,basic and in- involvement of women had far-reaching political trinsic facts...The basic and ultimate reasonis implications for the ANC and the ANCWL gained great an oconomic one. The poverty of the urban support from those women whose livelihoods were on Bantu; the discrepancyootween his earning the verge of destruction. As rightly noted by Edwards, capacityand his cost of living; his inability to sbebeenqueens who had previously shunned politics, meet the demandsof modern times in a city saymg "this thing with politics", flocked in numbers to modelled on the western ways of life; his jOin the women'sleague. I I inability even to meet the barest necessityof life, to feed, clothe, educateand househimself The tenseatmosphere created by the women'srevolt was and his family.17 associatedwith many complex issuesand evolveda wide range of 'emotions. At a later meeting addressedby While poverty constituted a major problem in Cato Bourquin, a number of complaints were raised. The Manor, the liquor questionwas an issue in its own right. women demandedthat forced removals be stoppedand Councillor Mervyn Gild saw the area as "an illicit Council beerhalls be closed and voiced their concern brewer'sand a prostitute's paradise"18which neededto also over lack of transport, aitd housing, influx control, becleansed. the inability to keep livestock, the destruction of family

CONTREE38/1995 The demands presented by the African women were large group of womenwere arrestedand [med £25 or 30 rej~ by the municipality on the grounds that they monthsin jail. were "quite impossible".19Meanwhile, the women sang, dancedand chanted: "The Boersare using us as a ladder Later that month men from Chief Nane's area demon- to climb on"; "When you strike the women, you have strated in solidarity with their women who had been struck a rock"; "Luthuli, give us Luthuli. His is the only convicted for the destruction of governmentproi>erty .~1 voice we will hear.,,2oThe presenceof the police led to a The ANC volunteered to pay their fmes but the m~n direct confrontation with the masses.Riots broke out resistedthe idea: "We don't want the ANC to pay their The "liberation of Mkhumbane,,21began as large groups fines becauseif this happens,they will be absorbedby of Africans of both sexesgathered in the streets,erecting the ANC and we will lose our control over them.,,32This barricades. illustrates a fascinating point about the struggles of the late 1950sand early 1960s:in Natal, and particularly in Violence shifted from persons to property, the main Durban, men feared that they had lost their traditionally target being the property of the Durban Corporation - strong control over their women if they entered the communityhalls, trading centresand buseso22The crowd politicalfray. becamejubilant with the collapse of burning buildings, shouting "Africa, Africa,,23and attacking all the "the A considerablenumber of women, especiallythe shebeen concretesymbols of domination and indeed any of the queens, did ~me involved in the ANC's political accessible works of the white man,,:4 While the programmes~ theseseemed to offer assistancein destruction of property was widely condemned,Kuper resolving their dilemmas. But, as rightly noted by B. maintained that though "...the behaviouris senseless...it Bozzoli: "The women's responses to the new social is perfectly intelligible,,:5 A similar perspective was movementswere varied and complex. Many remained adopted some years earlier, by British social historian apolitical, or even antipolitical, their resilience and E.P. Thompsonwho noted that "behind every such fonn deftance contin[ued] on a personallevel."33 However, of popular direct actionsome legitimising notion of right from June 1959,the ANC gained a considerablenumber is to be found".26 Nonetheless,the consequenceswere of supportersbecause of its programme of direct action regrettable; four people died during the clashes,while which addressedthe aspirationsand frusttations of those many womenand ANC leaderswere arrested. women and men who had to leave the city. For instance, on 27 June 1959 over 20 000 people attended the Concernof the Durban Corporationwas that as the illicit "Freedom Day" rally in Durban organised by the brewing of beergained momentum,the municipality lost CongressAlliance.34 the great profits it used to make. The municipal beerballs were closed down for a number of days and Further strtlggles betweenthe municipal authorities and this was followed by a boycott of beerhalls. During this the shackdwellers for urban spocein CatOManor con- period, the municipality on average sold only 900 tinued. By August 1959, most areas of Cato Manor - gallons of beer per day at all its beerballs, against the mainly Raincoat, Thusini, Dunbar Bar and Tintown - were cleared,35 and about 7(XX) shacks were previous averageof 14 000 gallons per day!7 A partial victory was therefore scoredby the shebeenqueens who demolished.36Most of the peoplewho failed to meet the supported "the campaign because they regarded the requirementsfor houseallocation In K waMashu,as well beerhallsas competitive institutions and a threat to their as illegal residents, simply re-erected their shacks in lucrative businessand their existence,,!8 The liberation other parts of Cato Manor: the masseshad resistedthe of Mkhumbane was not yet accomplished and the municipal authorities. In the wake of the ongoing struggle for control over the area continued into the disturbances, Bourquin called a meeting with the early months of 1960. Minister of Bantu Affairs to inform him of the defeatof the local authority in the area. Bourquin statedthat: Although the main thrust of African resistance during the 1950s came from within the urban ghettoes, the The authority of the Durban City Council - strugglewas "exported" to the rural areasof Natal by the the civil governmentfor the area -bas been ANC. It was in the Port Shepstonedistrict that the most challengedand overthrown...theCity Council serious disturbances took place. Again women were bas been defeatedat Cato Manor, and cannot involved. They desu-oyeddipping tanks and complained restore its authority without the fullest 00- about new Bantu Authorities Regulations which operation and most active assistanceof the stipulated that dipping tanks be refilled by the benefici- government.37 aries, although no remunerationwas provided for this service.29Women also complained against anti-squatter It was not until January 1960 that the Durban local laws and increasedtaxation. On 21 August 1959 trouble authoritiesonce again recommenced removals from Cato began when Chief Nane banned a woman, Manhlamvu Manor to KwaMashu although they were warned by the Cili, from his area of jurisdiction, for being a leaderand ANC that removalswould be greatly resisted.The ANC influencing women to fill a dip tank with stones.3oA intervened in the removals on behalf of the shack-

CONTREE38/1995 2S dwellers; it contactedthe Mayor of Durban requesting the city fathers were failing to implement tougher the suspension of the removal programme.38 The removal policies.s1 They relaunched the removal municipality placed notices at vantage points in programme,and the residentsof Mnyasana,who earlier Ezinkawini and Mnyasana shack areas advising the had resistedby simply re-erectingtheir shacksafter the residents of the impending clearance.39 The demolition, were served with eviction notices.S2 The municipality wanted to demolish 100 shackscontaining demolition of shacks remained in force, with some 300 African families in the two areas.40 womenopposing it although they were fighting a losing battle. Some women spread propaganda about It was in Ezinkawini and Mnyasanathat violence broke KwaMashti in order to persuade others to continue out on the evening of 24 January 1960, partly provoked resisting the removals alleging that K waMashu was by police searching for and arresting illicit reer- deliberatelyconstructed on a swamp that was likely to brewers.41Many arrests took place and violence was subsideand drown all the African ~les3 -a somewhat sparked off when Constable Biyela trod on a woman's contortedstory. Nevertheless,some residentsdecided to foot.42This seeminglyminor incident ignited the already brave the swampand made their way to the newly built discontentedand frustrated people into violence against houses of KwaMashu township. Those Africans who the instrumentsof the state-the police. could afford to pay rent or purchasefreehold land and who qualified for the privileges of urban residence in Women were once again back on the streetswith their terms of Section 10 of the Amended Natives (Urban struggle against removals in January 1960 led and Areas) Act of 1952, simply moved into their new houses championedby, in Bourquin's words, in the townships. Even the Mpondo women from Matatiele district who were basedin Cato Manor hardly people who had an axe to grind or who had resisted the removals. In the late 1950s, the Mpondo certain interests in the Cato Manor area- community was known for fierce resistance to the particularly the illegal traders, the shebeen removals,but this time they simply volunteeredto move keepers, the gambling school keepers etc. out and they erectedtheir shacksin the Newlandsarea.54 Now they were going to lose out on this rather lucrative trade, and they agitated against this R~ul~ of Forced Removak: The Birth of New removal- they knew that they would not Shanti~ qualify, or be unable to continue their activities in a well controlled township...43 The survival of the newly "cleansed"apartheid city w~ threatenedby the explosion of shantytownswhich re- These were the people in the forefront attacking the emerged soon after the removals from Cato Manor. police and chanting "Mayibuye i Africa" and "kill the Quite clearly, the new shacklandcities -like the old - Dutchmen".44 The violance that followed claimed the provided women -unmarried, widows, divorcees and lives of nine policemenand one resident4Sand a sizeable prostitutes -with the necessaryfreedom they wanted, number of African residentswere arrestedfor murder46 unlike the conservativerural setting, which imposed In response,the Minister of Justice banned all p<>litical normative restrictions and social control over them. It meetings in the locations for four weeks47and, for a was unthinkable for most of these women to migrate while, the situationwas normalised. back to their rural homes; in fact, they bad their own ~pirations in the city. During March and April 1960, there were organised demonstrationsin the townships againstthe detentionof The new shanties were erected mainly by those who Chief Albert Luthuli and other African leaders.On 31 were unable to afford rent or purchase payments for March 1960, the residents of Cato Manor erupted housesin the new townships.Workers who felt that they violently and destroyed governmentproperty .48 Buses could not pay to live in the new township, togetherwith and lorries were stoned. The ANC organised marches illegal residents, made their way to the newly created into the Durban city centre demanding the release of shantytownsof Malukazi and Magabangenjubane55and their leaders. On 1 April the residents of Cato Manor, built themselvesdifferent cities. By the 1960svast shack led by ANC stalwartsand the ProtestAction Committee, settlements had re-emerged around the Durban also marched into town and clashed with the police.49 metropolitanarea. During this period, most of the areas in and around Durban -particularly Clermont, KwaMashu, Cato The new Mkhumbane, Tintown, was erected in the Manor and S.l. Smith hostel -were rocked with unrest.5o Malukazi area in 1960.~ The area The area had fallen Violence continued for several days at S.l.Smith hostel under the jurisdiction of the Makhanyatribal authorities and in Lamontville township. It was only after the arrest at the beginning of the nineteenth century and had of the leadersthat this resistancemovement was greatly becamepart of the urban squatterfringe of metropolitan weakened. Durban. It was located on the southernborder of the Umlazi township and fell within the decentralised Meanwhile. the municipal authorities avoided further industrial zone, which attracteda drift of mobile worlcers criticism from central governmentcircles which felt that to the area. The tin shackswere erectedon Indian land

26 CONTREE38/1995 and the shack dwellers paid a rent of one pound a townships and the type of industrial proletariat which month.S7Most of the people who erectedshacks in the they accommodated. area, particularly the Mpondo of Transkei, were from Cato Manor. It was estimated that 10 000 African The demolition of shantytownsby the municipal auth- dwellers lived in Malukazi shantytown in 1961 and a orities intensified during the 1960s as new shacks large proportion were legally employed in Durban and emerged on the borders of the townships, where there qualified for house allocation in the townships.S8 was accessto water and other facilities. In time, conflict arose between the legal township residents and the The residents of Malukazi formed a ResidentsAssoci- illegal shack dwellers. By 1963, Cato Manor had a ation and were organised at grassroot community level squatterpopulation of 20 000 Africans who still had to by leaders who, having mobilised a large following, be resettledin the townships:64and in the middle of that organised invasions of the "unoccupied lands". The year the Benoni, Kumalo and the Dabulamanziareas of Association was led by David Gasa.S9 Though this Cato Manor were demolished.Those residentsof these Associationwas not recognisedby the local authorities, areaswho were regardedas illegals made their way into it presentsan important point about the way in which the valleys and re-erectedtheir shacks.Thus creating a the residents collectively defended their integrity as new squatter belt in the Mariannhill- Thornwood- urban residents.During these years,residents intensified Dassenhoekarea extending to the Umgeni River and their group activities as people affected by government Inanda district north of KwaMashu.6s JX}licy: they coped with the hardships of urban-cum- industrial life by forming associations. It was in this Although at times intense, murmuring of the masses, respectthat Malukazi emergedas a major shackarea in dovetailing with strikes, marches and meetings did not the 1960s. last for very long. After the massacreat Sharpeville in March 1960 and the consequentbanning of the ANC In 1961 the Bantu Administtation and Development and the PAC,66resistance faltered and urban removals officials suggestedthat the squattersof Malukazi should became frequent and aggressively executed allover be allocated houses in Umlazi township. Those who South Africa. From this time onwards, the state qualified for the allocation were the residents who had employed considerablyexpanded repressivepowers to previouslybeen shifted from the area to pave the way for suppress any form of resistance, particularly from the construction of a township, and also all the Zulu- Africans. In Cato Manor, removals continued under speaking people in the squatter camp who were police protection and the municipal authorities did not employed in the southern part of Durban.6O The face any real challenges. remaining residents who did not qualify were to be evicted from the area. The municipality of Durban was pressuredby circum- stancesto intensify the removal programmeand by July Despitethe acceleratedconstruction of housesin the new 1960 all the scatteredsettlements in Cato Manor had townships, the housing shortage remained critical been destroyed.67 The total number of shacks which, in turn, led to the growth of the African demolished at that date stood at I 972 and the Cato Populationin the squattercamps. By 1962, another new Manor EmergencyCamp createdby the municipality as shantytownhad come into existence on the outskirts of transitional accommodation hosted almost 55 000 the Umlazi-Glebe areas. This was Magabangenjubane, people.68 and it fell under the leadership of J.B.Matonsi.61 The area was occupied by almost 10 000 people but was The banned ANC operatedthrough Ruth Shabanewho dominated mainly by women. In June 1962 this area too in March 1960 had been electedas the chairpersonof faced demolition by the local authorities, with those the Cato Manor Advisory Board.69 The ANC's people who were legally employed being temporarily EmergencyCommittee worked underground,attempting accommodatedin Cato Manor emergency camp and to influence people from the emergencycamp not to KwaMashu township.62 On this occasionthere was no leave Cato Manor. Pamphletswere distributed by ANC resistance,and most women who were illegal residents stalwarts, urging people to continue with their moved away quietly and re-erected their shacks in the resistance.But the movementwas already fragmented Malukazi shantytown.63But their stay in Malukazi was and disorganised;very little support was given by the to be short-lived: by January 1963 that shantytownwas remaining people in the camp. Lacking a very clear also demolished. organisationalstructure and facing a statedetermined to proceed, resistance fIZzled out. With the State of Although the municipal authorities had succeededin Emergency in place, shack removals in Cato Manor clearing most of these peri-urban shantytowns for a continued unhindered and by the mid-1960s, the while. the struggle for shelter in the urban area municipal authorities had managed to clear away all continued throughout the 1960s. These squatter shantiesin Cato Manor. strugglesare crucially important in the histOry of South Africa for they represent the birth of modem urban

CONTREE 38/1995 27 Conclusion. 1959. See also M. BlumbeJ'g, "Durban Expl00es", Central to the analysis in this article has beenan attempt Africa South,4,2 (Jan -Mar.I960), 13. to demonsttateinitial mass opposition to apartheidurban 13 L. Kuper, "Rights and Riots in Natal", Africa South, 4, policies in Durban. However, during the 1960s, when 1 (Oct-~ 1959), 20. mass political organisations and activities were 14 14. KCAL, KCM 55178, Cato ManCl: Riots, June ruthlessly suppressed in every possible' way, the 1959; BlumbeJ'g,"Durban BxpIOOes",10. resistancemovement died out. As a group, Africans in 15 Edwards, "Mkhumbane Our H

28 CONTREE 38/1995 42 SAIRR,Days of Crisis,3. Seealso L.K. Ladlau,"The Cato Manoc Riots, 1959 -1960" (University of Natal, Durban,M.A., 1975),15. 43 KCAL, KCAV 174 -75, S.B. Bourquin by A. Mason and D. Collins, 18 Oct. 1979,8. 44..KCAL, KCM 55224, Extract From Report, 15. 45 NA, BAC, 0/3, Chief BAC to the Secr for BAD, 27 June1960. 46 Foc the proceedingsof the case, seeSupreme Court Records:Manor 158. 47 SAIRR,Days of Crisis,4. 48 Ibid., 18. 49 TheNatal Mercury,2 Apr. 1960. 50 SAIRR,Days of Crisis,23 51 Seethe deoorewhich took place scxXlafter the Cato ManocJune riots in TheHouse of AssemblyDebates, 25 Jan 1960. 52 The Daily News,16 Feb. 1960. 53 KCAL, KCAV 174-75,S.B. Bourquin by Masonand Collins. 54 Ibid., 9. 55 SeeIlangaLase Natal, 17 Sept.1960, 25 Nov. 1961, 12 May 1962. 56 Ibid., 17 Sept. 1960. 57 Ibid. 58 SAIRR,A Surveyof Race Relations,1962, 150. 59 Ilanga LaseNatal, 17 Sept 1960. 60 SAIRR,A Surveyof Race Relations,1962, 150. 61 IlangaLase Natal, 9 June 1961. 62 Ibid., 30 June 1962. 63 Ilanga LaseNatal, 20 Oct. 1962. 64 Ibid., 23 Mar. 1963. 65 Maasdorpand Humphreys(eds), From Shantytown, 70. 66 SAIRR, A Surveyof RaceRelations, 1959 -60,72. 67 KCAL, Bourquin Papers,File II, Municipal Native Admin Dept., Ann Reports1953 -69, KCM 55339 - 55351, Durban CorpcI'ation, Dept of BAD, Ann Reportfoc the Municipal Year Ended31 July 1960. Seealso The Daily News,21 Oct. 1960.Some shacks remained intact in 1960. 68 KCAL, File II, Dept of BAD, Annual Reportfor the year ending July 1960. 69 IlangaLase Natal, 12 March 1960.

CONTREE 38/1995 29