Masaryk University Faculty of Arts
Department of English and American Studies English Language and Literature
Barbora Němcová Yesterday Was Miserable, Today Is Sad, and Tomorrow Uncertain: South African Townships Bachelor ’s Diploma Thesis Supervisor: PhDr. Lidia Kyzlinková, CSc., M. Litt. 2007
I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. ……………………………………………. Barbora Němcová Acknowledgement I would like to express my thanks to my supervisor, PhDr. Lidia Kyzlinková, CSc., M. Litt., for her helpful suggestions and valuable comments. I would also like to thank Jiří Šimša for his help, support and time, and Geraldine Kempel for her friendship and permission to use her photographs in my thesis. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ...... 1 2. History of South African Racism and Segregation ...... 3 2.1 The Dutch Rule at the Cape (1652 – 1806) ...... 4 2.2 British Colonialism in South Africa (1806 – 1910) ...... 6 2.3 The Union of South Africa (1910 – 1948) ...... 9 2.4 Apartheid (1948 – 1994) ...... 11 3. South African Townships: History and Life Inside ...... 14 3.1 History of Townships and Their Development before 1948 ...... 16 3.2 Townships and Apartheid ...... 19 3.2.1 Living conditions ...... 19 3.2.2 Social life ...... 21 3.2.3 Violence ...... 21 3.2.4 The role of the state ...... 23 3.2.5 Social protests and uprisings ...... 25 3.2.6 Forced removals ...... 30 3.3 Townships Today ...... 33 3.3.1 Visit a township: Kayamandi ...... 35 4. Township Literature ...... 36 4.1 Forced Removals in Richard Rive’s ‘Buckingham Palace’, District Six ...... 37 4.2 Anti apartheid Struggle in Mongane Serote’s To Every Birth Its Blood ...... 40 5. Conclusion ...... 43 6. Works Cited ...... 47 7.1 Appendix A – Photographs ...... 51 7.2 Appendix B: Samples of iKaya Gazette ...... 57 7.3 Appendix C: Crime Statistics ...... 60 1. Introduction
I am Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town,
I am Langa, Chatsworth and Bonteheuvel.
I am discussion, argument and debate.
I cannot recognise palm fronds and nights
Filled with the throb of the primitive.
I am buses, trains and taxis.
I am prejudice, bigotry and discrimination.
I am urban South Africa.
These words of Richard Rive (1931 – 1989), a well known South African writer, literary critic and teacher, are written on the floor of the District Six Museum in Cape Town, South
Africa, which is devoted to the history of forced removals. Although Richard Rive died too early to see the end of apartheid, the political system which made urban segregation – the topic of this work – completely legal, his words remain relevant. Thirteen years after the first democratic and free election in the Republic of South Africa (hereinafter referred to as
South Africa), South African cities are still showing their sad history of segregation and racism as the process of their re establishment is a long term one.
The world of today is shaped by the world of yesterday. History influences us and very often determines important political, social and other aspects of life. South African townships are one of these responses to history, one of these historical defects that are very hard to change and improve. That is why I write about South African townships as they continue to be an inseparable part of one of the Commonwealth countries.
My aim is to show that the study of South African townships is critical for deeper understanding of contemporary South Africa. This is done via explanation of the history of
South African townships with connection to racist and segregationist ideas in this area, and
1 via discussing in what way and to what extent the townships and their people have been influencing the political, cultural and social structure of South Africa.
First of all, one must be aware of the fact that the subject of townships is very broad and that it is necessary to contextualise the topic in order to understand the creation and development of townships. As explained later in greater detail, urban townships are a direct result of the policies of racism and segregation that were present in South Africa since the arrival of the first Dutch settlers at the Cape 1, and that were being developed throughout centuries during the British colonialism as well as during the apartheid regime. I therefore start my thesis with the historical overview of South African racism and segregation as they led to the development of townships.
The following chapter deals with the townships as such from their very beginning.
I shortly concentrate on their creation and history, however, my focus is mainly on life there during apartheid as well as today. The aim is to demonstrate the significant influence that townships have had on South African political, cultural and social life. Forced removals, a part of the National Party’s politics which was seriously influencing lives of black (and also coloured) South Africans, are also discussed here. The last part of this chapter is devoted to twenty first century townships and the changes that have taken place since 1994, as well as the problems that people living there have to face presently. A sub chapter called “Visit a Township: Kayamandi” depicts the life in townships and is based on my personal experience.
The fourth chapter is devoted to the township literature which supports my statement that townships have presented an important aspect of South African cultural life and have deeply influenced South African society in a number of areas. Here, I explore works of two prominent township writers, Richard Rive’s ‘Buckingham Palace’, District Six (1986) and
1 The Cape refers to the Cape colony that was established by the Dutch in 1652 and lasted until 1910. It included about half of the modern South Africa’s territory.
2 Mongane Serote’s To Every Birth Its Blood (1981), and the ways their novels were affected by townships. The thesis is concluded by a summary and evaluation of facts stated throughout the text.
2. History of South African Racism and Segregation
Racism and segregation are inevitable parts of the history of South Africa. From the first moment when racism appeared in the relations between native Africans and Europeans settlers, the ideas of segregation began to develop. The main point of this chapter is to show that racial segregation was not a creation of apartheid, but it had existed centuries before the political system of apartheid officially started.
The word ‘segregation’ is relatively young. It was coined in the early twentieth century in South Africa to describe “the set of government policies and social practices which sought to regulate the relationship between white and black, colonizers and colonized” (Beinart and
Dubow 1). Beinart and Dubow also claim that the segregation policies of apartheid had their
“precursors in the period of Dutch rule between 1652 and 1806, as well as in the nineteenth century Boer republics and British colonies” (1).
Most authors agree on the negative effect of European colonization, however, the French geopolitical school Lacoste Hérodote , offers a markedly different point of view.
According to Yves Lacoste, the founder of the school, it is too simplistic to claim that
“colonizers and imperialists were the only culprits of all the ills and weaknesses” of the African continent (Claval 251). The contemporary problems of the Third World, to which South Africa belongs, “have much older origins than it is generally thought”
(Lacoste 134). In his opinion, it is the “pre colonial structures which made possible the European domination” (Lacoste 134). This view is by no means interesting as it provides
3 a markedly different perspective on the problem. However, the majority of the scientific circle researching the contemporary problems of South Africa do not share this opinion.
2.1 The Dutch Rule at the Cape (1652 – 1806)
As stated above, the Dutch ruled over the Cape from 1652 until 1806 when the power definitely went into the British colonial hands. 2 Worden argues that “segregation was the product of the Mining revolution [which came in the late nineteenth century]” but he also claims that racism was “apparent from the earliest colonial encounters of the Dutch settlers with Khoikhoi 3 pastoralists at the Cape” (75).
The Dutch Verenigde Oostindische Company (VOC), that first arrived at the Cape, originally ordered Jan van Riebeeck, its first commander, to “treat the Khoikhoi with respect and to do nothing to disturb their cultural integrity and socio economic stability”
(Terreblanche 154). Van Riebeeck at first strictly followed this policy (the Dutch were dependent on the Khoikhoi’s cattle). However, the first problems in the relations were to appear soon. Only seven years after the Dutch came to the Cape, “a little war of plunder broke out between the VOC and the Khoikhoi” (Terreblanche 154). The VOC won the war, banned the Khoikhoi leader, Autshumaou, to Robben Island 4, and thus, according to Terreblanche, began “the colonial process of land deprivation that continued for more than 250 years [...]
[and] culminated in the Land Act of 1913 [which is described later]” (155).
The African people were not open to friendly relationships with the European settlers either. They “were prepared to offer as effective a resistance as they could technically
2 Between 1975 and 1806 the rulers at the Cape changed three times: the Dutch lost the Cape in 1975 to Britain, then gained the power again during the Batavian period (1803 to 1806), after which they ceded it to Britain for good (this definitely happened in 1814). Britain was colonially involved in South Africa until 1910 and kept its influence there until 1948 (Terreblanche 179). 3 The Khoikhoi was the indigenous tribe that kept cattle and sheep. The second indigenous tribe living at the Cape was the San, the hunter gatherers. The collective name for those two tribes is the Khoisan. They had lived in southern Africa for at least 8000 years before the Dutch arrived (Terreblanche 154). 4 Robben Island, the most feared prison during the apartheid era, had been used as a prison since the first Europeans came to the southern most part of Africa.
4 manage” (Bloom 141). Thus, the Dutch were at an unknown place, surrounded by the indigenous people who were alien in race, religion and culture. Despite all this, the Dutch managed to survive at the Cape, which strengthened their belief – based on their Calvinistic religion – that they were of the Chosen People (Bloom 141). This idea was kept by the Afrikaner 5 people for centuries and served the apartheid regime to make them believe that they were superior to other South African ethnic groups.
The population barriers, in the beginning, were based more on the “difference between bond and free, between Christian and heathen” than on race (Bunting 31). Racial intermarriages were allowed and quite common during Van Riebeeck era. Nonetheless, Van
Riebeeck’s successor saw the relations between people of different race as unhealthy which is shown in his instruction issued in 1662:
The Hottentots 6 and Capemans, with whom a free access has been hitherto allowed,
shall still continue to enjoy the same; and you will on no account suffer them, out of
wantonness, or upon trifling causes, to be called by the garrison, the cattle herds,
or the sailors, ‘black stinking dogs’, still less to be kicked, pushed or beaten.
(Bunting 31)
The relationships between the Khoisan and the European settlers were influenced by the fact that slavery was still present at the Cape (where most of the slaves, as in other parts of the world, were black). By the end of the eighteenth century, there were several racially discriminatory regulations against the Khoisan and slaves. In addition, pass laws, an important feature of all future regimes, were established already in the 1760s, according to which the Khoisan and the slaves were obliged “to carry passes signed by their employers to prove that they were not runaways” (Worden 76).
5 Afrikaners are South Africans of Dutch ancestry. 6 The name ‘Hottentots’ was used in the past by the colonists to describe the Khoisan people. Nowadays, it is generally considered offensive. If I use this term in my thesis, it is only because it was used in the original text from which I am quoting.
5 2.2 British Colonialism in South Africa (1806 – 1910)
Great Britain began with abolishing slavery soon after it took over the Cape. It was not a quick process as it happened in three stages. In 1807 7 the British banned the slave trade so that no more slaves could be imported to the Cape; in 1834, they abolished slavery as such and all slaves were thus freed but still had to work for their old owners until 1838 (Bickford
Smith 16). After that, all men were supposed to be equal before the law but “only if they earned a certain wage or owned property” (Bickford Smith 16). This, obviously, made former slaves (mostly black) inferior again as they could not own property immediately after being freed and their wage was dependent on the white men.
The effect of the British rule in South Africa cannot be regarded as wholly beneficent.
Terreblanche mentions the “aggressive military and economic polices [...] [and] overtly racist character” of the British colonialism (180) of which Bunting gives concrete examples, such as the pass laws and the masters and servants laws (35). These had “bedevilled race relations in
South Africa” and “are to be sought in British legislation of the nineteenth century” (Bunting
45). The nineteenth century pass laws, for example, were predecessors of the apartheid pass laws that served to control the African population of South Africa in a very inhuman way. 8
The British were, nonetheless, much more liberal than the Dutch. Although the British
Governor Lord Caledon issued a proclamation in 1809 that “all ‘Hottentots’ must have a fixed pace of abode,” register with the local authorities and carry passes (Worden 76), the Cape authorities published the Ordinance 50 of 1828 which guaranteed the Khoisan and other people of colour who resided in the Cape “the same freedom and protection as enjoyed by whites” (Reader’s Digest 97). Ordinance 50, for example, abolished the pass law issued by
Lord Caledon, or allowed the Khoisan to own land.
7 Some authors claim it was in 1808 (Terreblanche 181). 8 These laws are discussed in chapter 2.4.
6 Although these steps seem very liberal and put the British colonists into a better light, the reality was different. Not only that it came too late and so the Khoisan’s “social structures and economic independence had already been destroyed;” it was also very short lived and lasted only until 1841 when the Masters and Servants Proclamation was issued
(Terreblanche 188).
This Proclamation was aimed at the African people and former slaves. It bounded
“workers to their employers, and imposed severe sanctions for breach of contract, including the subjectively determined ‘crimes’ of disobedience, defiance, and resistance” (Terreblanche
196). The African people very quickly lost their gained freedoms and a new form of slavery was established in South Africa by the British colonists.
As Britain was colonizing more of the South African lands, things were not improving.
Although the British government insisted on colour blind laws, the authorities in South Africa
“practised segregation and implemented blatantly racist policies” (Terreblanche 208 09).
From 1840 onwards, Britain was creating a system of racial capitalism in South Africa, based on a belief that “Africans can only be wrenched away from ‘barbarism’ and saved for
‘civilisation’ through direct British domination, and by forcing them to perform useful (and unfree) labour” (Terreblanche 182).
So far, mainly the beginnings of racism in South Africa have been discussed. Now, my attention turns to the origin of residential segregation. According to Worden, the first example of structured segregation was the ‘Shepstone system’ created in 1846 (81).
Theophilus Shepstone, who was in charge of native affairs in the Natal colony 9, established a system that led to the policy of indirect rule. Shepstone “allocated ‘locations’ which
Africans would have the right to cultivate undisturbed”; he claimed that this was in order to
‘protect’ Africans “from erosion of their society by European influences” (Worden 81 82).
9 Natal was a British colony from 1843 to 1910 in south eastern Africa, where the KwaZulu Natal province (South Africa) was established in 1994.
7 This statement is particularly important as it was used later as a reason for holding Africans out of towns and cities, as these were considered a creation of the white men and therefore for the white men’s use only.
In the middle of the nineteenth century, another event that was to determine the urban segregation policies and living conditions of Africans occurred – the discovery of diamonds and gold, which led to the industrialization of South Africa. The mining industry was in a need of a large unskilled workforce that would work for the lowest wage possible. This was to be done by the African men. However, the white people living in the cities emerging around the mines did not want the black people to live there with them. This was time for the pass laws to come on the scene again as a form of influx control. Only those Africans who had a job were allowed to stay in a city in order to “discourage the indiscriminate black urbanization” (Davis 59). Those migrant labourers, however, did not have the permanent rights of residence as they could stay only as long as their contracts were valid. They were accommodated in the companies’ hostels (compounds) that were to become an important feature of South African townships of the twentieth century as well as of the African people’s lives (Worden 44).
In the 1850s, official urban segregation began. By the 1880s, urban segregation developed legally, for example, in Cape Town, where some areas were by law for whites only
(Bickford Smith 15). The early twentieth century then saw the spread of bubonic plague in
South Africa which resulted in the so called ‘sanitation syndrome’. As the plague spread mainly in the poor areas, it was automatically seen as a ‘black disease’ 10 . The “moral panic and racial hysteria,” that followed, led to “demands for greater racial segregation” (Maylam
24).
10 Negative connotations of the word ‘black’, and their consequences, can be seen here. The popular name for the bubonic plague was the ‘black death’ and thus it “came to be associated more with the black urban presence than with the rats that carried it” (Maylam 24).
8 In the beginning of the twentieth century, “the first clear articulation of segregationist ideals” appeared in the form of the recommendations made by the South African Native
Affairs Commission (SANAC, 1903 to 1905) (Worden 83). The recommendations included
“racial separation of land ownership, the establishment of ‘Native location’ [known already from the Shepstone era] in towns” and so on (Worden 83). The Native Reserve Locations Act of 1902, which was already extremely racist and which was issued by the Cape government, was thus strengthened. The act ‘only’ gave the government the power to “force urban
Africans to live in locations,” the SANAC went even farther (Bickford Smith 19).
The white supremacy was definite by the 1900s. In 1909, the British Government passed the Act of Union which brought into being “a state in which non Whites were legally denied the right of election to Parliament and, in most of the country, the right to vote as well”
(Bunting 35).
2.3 The Union of South Africa (1910 – 1948)
The establishment of the Union of South Africa put an end to the Cape liberalism as the state soon “emerged as a major actor in formulating the country’s racist policies” and the British authorities started to “propagate and practise segregation as the country’s official
‘native’ policy” (Terreblanche 240). Terreblanche emphasizes the role of Britain in propagating the segregationist policies in another part of his book as well: “During the first half of the 20 th century the English establishment was obsessed with [...] entrenching racial segregation” (247). However, the government in the twentieth century often only legitimized the segregationist measures that were already in place (most of them from the British colonial era) (Terreblanche 252). 11
11 Historians generally disagree on a period or event that started segregationist ideology in South Africa.
9 The first legislative enactment embodying the principal of territorial segregation issued by the Union was the 1913 Land Act that “entrenched permanent racial separation and prohibited Africans from purchasing or leasing land outside of the designated reserves”
(Huchzermeyer 86). 12 Another law of similar character was the 1923 Native Urban Areas Act that, among others, “gave the municipalities greater powers to segregate housing, [...] to control movement by imposing passes” (Beinart 126) and that “divided urban land into residential areas for Blacks and residential areas for others” (Telschow 8). This law was based on the principle that “Blacks should be permitted into the city areas [...] for one reason, to satisfy the needs of the white man” (Telschow 8). The Black (Native) Laws Amendment
Act of 1937 then “prohibited Africans from acquiring land in urban areas” completely
(Terreblanche 278). In addition to the legislation that was directly and overtly racist, there were also some indirect forms of segregationist legislation, such as the 1919 Public Health
Act or the 1934 Slums Act (Maylam 27).
From 1930 to 1932 a new commission, not very different from SANAC, was working on policies regarding segregation. The report of the Native Economic Commission (NEC) projected a far reaching policy programme. It was based on the idea of ‘tribe’ according to which “Africans [...] had a different mentality from Europeans, shaped not only historically but racially. They were essentially rural and their way of life emphasized continuity, subsistence, and security” (Beinart 122). Thus, it was clear for the commissioners, urban life was ‘unhealthy’ for Africans and it was better for them to stay in the rural areas, no matter how densely inhabited they had already been.
Studying the laws of the Union demonstrates that racism and segregation were more than common. The field was ready for apartheid regime to come because it already had
12 Only eight per cent of South Africa’s total land area were set aside as ‘native reserves’ (Terreblanche 155).
10 a strong background. Although only Africans were forced to live in segregated areas,
“separate white and coloured 13 areas were also developing” (Bickford Smith 21).
2.4 Apartheid (1948 – 1994)
The word ‘apartheid’ that describes one of the most evil regimes of the twentieth century (the so called racial democracy) comes from Afrikaans and literally means “apart ness, the state of being apart, separateness or separation” (Bunting 23). In the context of South
Africa, apartheid means racial separation. The term was coined by the National Party (NP,
Herenigde Nasionale Party) to “distinguish its ‘native’ policy from the segregationist policy of the UP [United Party]” (Terreblanche 312). The regime, however, was not different from segregation.
The NP won the 1948 election on the basis of a manifesto which “made clear the party’s commitment to compulsory urban segregation” (Mabin, “Comprehensive Segregation” 419).
In order to fulfil the aim of urban segregation, Africans were being forcibly removed from city centres. 14 As living conditions in rural areas were worsening, more Africans were coming to the cities. To prevent this, the NP started its governing with tightening up the influx control system.
In 1950 the Group Areas Act was issued which influenced the lives of most urban
Africans, as well as of the coloured people. Its consequences were very broad from economic to psychological (they are discussed in chapter 3.2.6). The Group Areas Act divided towns and cities in South Africa along racial lines (Davis 90). To realize this the Population
Registration Act was passed and the people of South Africa were thus “subdivided into white, 13 The term ‘Coloured’ is a specific South African term that is difficult to define. When the Dutch came to the Cape, marriages between Dutchmen and Khoisan women were not uncommon as well as some non marital relationships between slave masters and their female slaves. This is the origin of the Coloured people. In very simplified words, a Coloured person is the one who is neither white enough, nor black enough. Although the group ‘Coloured’ was an official racial group during apartheid, it was often “impossible to distinguish a nominally Coloured person from one that is nominally White” (Bloom 143). 14 Forced removals are discussed in chapter 3.2.6.
11 coloured and black” (Telschow 8). These groups were supposed to live only in those areas that were allocated to them by the state. People who lived in areas allocated for a different racial group were forced to move to ‘their’ location. The Act aimed “to stop mixed residential areas in South African cities” (Bickford Smith 23).
The Natives (Urban Areas) Act of 1923 was amended in 1952 and through its Section
10 made life of Africans in towns even more difficult. According to this Section, “Africans were allowed only three days to look for work” (Bickford Smith 24). If they failed to find a job in three days, they had to return to their ‘homelands’ (also called ‘rural reserves’ or ‘Bantustans’).
The pass laws were also changing during the apartheid era. In 1952, the ‘Natives
(Abolition of Passes and Co ordination of Documents) Act’ was passed and ordered that
“[every] African man over the age of 16 had to carry a reference book with a photograph”
(Bickford Smith 24). The influx control was being ‘improved’ until the 1970s when its effects became extremely destructive on the African population. The influx control was abolished only in 1986, not from the government’s initiative, but because of the pressure from the corporate sector which considered the influx control to be an obstacle to hiring as much cheap labour as possible (Worden 140). With the abolishment of influx control the corporate sector gained easier access to black workers and the competition was thus higher which enabled the employers to pay the lowest possible wage.
An outline of the main apartheid policies and ideas is necessary to understand the political context in which townships were developing in the second half of the twentieth century. According to Terreblanche, the most important policy shift happened in 1959 when
Dr Hendrik Verwoerd (the prime minister of South Africa at that time) announced that the “policy of apartheid was to be replaced with the supposedly ‘non racist’ policy of separate development , also known as ‘grand apartheid’” (321). Verwoerd believed that
12 people of different races (or ethnic groups) should not live together. He claimed his ‘new’ regime would be non racist because all people would be segregated. However, the fact was that blacks and coloureds were segregated and put into much worse conditions than whites.
Thus it is clear that the ‘new’ idea was absolutely racist.
The situation had not changed until the 1980s when Frederik Willem de Klerk gained power and started the process of dismantling apartheid, beginning with important steps, such as freeing Nelson Mandela from prison and starting talks about the future of South Africa with him (the so called talks about talks). The process of abandoning the racial democracy in order to create a full democracy has been a difficult one, and, in my opinion, has not been finished yet. However, with the new constitution and the first free and democratic election in South African history in 1994, the country left its racist and segregationist laws and policies and the short introduction to the history of official South African racism and segregation can thus be finished here. 15
In summary, the aim of this chapter was to explain and describe the real roots of South African racism and to demonstrate the role of the Dutch rule and the British colonialism. The findings are that one cannot blame only the Afrikaner apartheid regime as it is clear that all the previous regimes, since the first Europeans set their feet on the South
African ground, were racist and tended to segregationist policies.
The chapter is concluded with a table that illustrates the evolution of black white segregation in the main areas of South Africa, as well as in South Africa in general, in the course of the twentieth century. The table is taken from Christopher (1992) and shows us the index of dissimilarity 16 which is expressed on a scale from zero to one hundred where
15 It is, however, laws and policies on the one hand, but the people on the other hand. In my view, it will take many South African generations to completely forget the past evils and to overcome the racism that has been rooted in the society since the seventeenth century. 16 The index is calculated according to the formula: ID xy = ∑ (x i – y i)/2, where ID xy is the “index of dissimilarity between the spatial distribution of the X and Y populations within
13 “0 represents an identical distribution of the two populations, while 100 represents the total separation of the two populations” (Christopher 562). There is no agreement on how to interpret the values, as some scientists suggest the boundary between segregated and unsegregated society to be fifty, while others suggest much lower values (twenty five to thirty); values above sixty or seventy represent high levels of segregation (Christopher 562).
Year Western Eastern Natal Orange Transvaal South Cape Cape Free State Africa 1911 68.9 79.1 30.3 79.7 47.1 69.5 1921 57.4 80.1 33.3 72.7 63.7 67.2 1936 65.2 86.7 47.7 83.4 70.0 74.5 1951 72.2 85.1 57.9 87.0 70.7 78.0 1960 71.7 91.7 67.3 91.4 82.3 83.7 1970 88.4 94.3 80.4 95.6 90.9 92.5 1985 89.3 95.6 70.3 95.6 91.0 92.5 Table 1. Regional Median Values of Black White Index of Dissimilarity 1911 1985 (Christopher 573).
Despite the debate over the precise interpretation of the values, the table clearly demonstrates that the levels of segregation in South African cities had been extremely high a long time before the apartheid regime officially took over South Africa. The table supports the statement that South African townships have a long history which started with the first racist and segregationist ideas and which needs to be understood before a closer study of the townships themselves is pursued.
3. South African Townships: History and Life Inside
Postcards portraying children playing in front of an endless rank of the so called matchbox houses are to be seen in every tourist shop all around South Africa. Townships have
the city, x i represents the percentage of the X population within ith tract, and y i represents the percentage of the Y population within the ith tract (Christopher 561 62).
14 become a tourist attraction where people can encounter ‘the real’ Africa. The morality or immorality of this kind of tourism shall not be discussed here; the important message of these postcards is as follows: Townships continue to play a significant role in South African life as they have always done since their foundation.
First, it is necessary to explain what exactly is meant by the term ‘township’. Macmillan
English Dictionary defines a township as “a town in South Africa where black people were intended to live”. This definition is very simplistic and not always correct as there have also been coloured townships. However, I use it as a base for my thesis, while adjusting it slightly.
It is more proper to claim that black and coloured people were forced to live there. Townships are not towns in the strict sense of the word; they are rather parts of towns or cities, in the periphery, usually a long way from the city centres, with appalling living conditions.
To define a township simply, however, is impossible. Kayamandi is a township and so is
Soweto; and Langa as well as Gugulethu. 17 They share some similar features but they differ in others: How were they built? Why? What was their original structure? Answers to these and similar questions would tell us that what is called township in South Africa today would be different to the meaning of township a few years ago. Some townships were ‘artificially’
(and officially) created by the South African governments (of any time), some were established ‘spontaneously’ as informal settlements, and others developed from what was known as compounds, barracks, or men’s hostels. All these variants are discussed here, although not to the same extent. Thus, for example, I briefly introduce the life in, and construction of, compounds as they later became an inevitable part of the ‘newer’
17 Kayamandi is a township in Stellenbosch, province of Western Cape; Soweto is a Johannesburg township, Gauteng province; Langa and Gugulethu are on the outskirts of Cape Town, Western Cape. Langa means the sun in Xhosa, Kayamandi ‘sweet home’ and Gugulethu ‘our pride’. This custom of giving the townships names in African languages with a very positive meaning shows us the cynicism of all of the South African authorities that were building them. Another example would be Khayelitsha in Cape Town meaning ‘our new home’.
15 townships, however, they are not described in greater detail as they used to play a rather opposite role to the original townships.18
3.1 History of Townships and Their Development before 1948
Although the first township was officially built only in the 1920s, their origin can be traced back to the nineteenth century when informal settlements “developed through the unauthorized invasion of land and construction of shelter” (Huchzermeyer 86). There have always been Africans in South African towns but there were no strict rules for the accommodation of them. In some towns, they built separate quarters to live in; in others, they were “scattered through the city’s poorer districts” and thus creating a racially mixed society (Ross 97).
First removals, a typical event of apartheid South African cities, came at the end of the nineteenth century when “Africans were driven out of those areas [...] where they lived in close contact with whites, and forced to settle in separate, controlled townships on the outskirts of the cities” (Ross 98). With the sanitation syndrome, forced removals became even more frequent. People were being moved to the so called locations which were everything but a pleasant place to live. They were “enclosed by a six foot high barbed wire fence [...]. The area was muddy, windy and flooded in winter. 19 The new location was not a healthy place to live” (Bickford Smith 18).
Another common origin of South African townships was the creation of compounds, or men’s hostels. They were built by the mining companies in order to have absolute control over the workers, i.e. Africans. The African workers were allowed to leave the compounds, in which the living conditions were absolutely inhuman, only to go to work (Beinart 30). 18 People – men only – who lived in the compounds in the beginning of the twentieth century were supposed to be temporary residents of the urban areas, as opposed to the residents of townships who had, to a certain extent, the right to stay in towns. 19 This description of a location in Cape Town shows that the living conditions of many South Africans have not changed at all after the end of apartheid as the winter of 2007 witnessed severe floods that affected primarily people living in the townships of the Cape Flats.
16 As the men staying there were considered migrant labourers, they were expected to leave the town as soon as they were not needed by the white men. Usually, they left their families behind and saw them once or twice a year. Although the compounds at the times of their beginning were not a part of townships (their inhabitants were rather in hostile relationship with the residents of townships), they were going to be very important in the future. First, they severely destroyed the social structures of the African people as the fathers were forced to leave their families for long periods of time. Second, the predominantly male population had “important consequences for African urban culture” (Beinart 30). Third, they later became parts of townships, as men began to bring their families and either stayed with them in the compounds, or built a shack in the surrounding area. This remains a striking feature of townships – what was previously a men’s hostel is now a place where tens of families live together, usually one bed being shared by a whole family, often of more than four members
(see chapter 3.3).
The first official township, Langa, was built in the Cape Town area in 1927 as the result of larger crowds of Africans coming to permanently reside in towns 20 and the obvious lack of sufficient housing (Worden 70). In the 1930s, the African immigration into towns intensified.
Those who “could not acquire legal occupancy of a stand would become sub tenants, often in back yards shacks” (Ross 108). Informal (illegal) settlements thus began to appear (Mabin,
“Dispossession” 17).
The living conditions in the new townships were difficult from their very beginning.
Langa, as well as other townships, was far from the city centre (Worden 70). Taking into account that the average income of a township citizen was very low, the cost of transport to work made life almost unbearable. However, life in the rural areas (the reserves) was even harder.
20 As the unemployment rate in the reserves was increasing dramatically, there was growing pressure on African men to move to towns in order to find a job.
17 The way the townships were built has had serious psychological effects on the people living there. For example, in Orlando all the houses were identical, packed together and built very cheaply; there were no parks, sports grounds, or services (Bonner and Segal 18).
At the Cape Flats in Cape Town, the situation was similar. A report from 1942 describes the huts as having been built from “pieces of corrugated iron, old tins and drums, rough boughs, sacking. Anything which can possibly offer protection against the weather. [...] There are no windows, ceilings, and very often no door. Sanitation is non existent” (Minkley 205).
The situation was worsening throughout the first half of the twentieth century as there were more and more people moving to the urban areas. Between 1904 and 1946, the number of urban Africans grew from about 350,000 to 1.8 million (Beinart 126). After the Second
World War, a huge invasion into cities began but there were almost no new housing units built. The result was terrible living conditions as it became normal, for example, that two families would share a two roomed house (Beinart 126). To describe the way people lived
(and, unfortunately, sometimes still live) in South African townships, I believe that the words of Jane Khanyeza, a resident of Orlando, would be sufficient and do not need any further comment:
In the morning..., it was so difficult. For instance, the father of the family had to
prepare to get to work while the children were still asleep. There was no bathroom;
there was no other room. He had to get out of bed and bite the end of the blanket
with his teeth to cover his front part and put his legs into his trousers. There was no
other way of having privacy except to use the blanket.
When we went to sleep [...] there were so many of us. It was my father, my
mother, my sister and me and the other children [...]. We slept under
the table. My mother and father got the bed. (Bonner and Segal 24)
18 The pre apartheid townships were also a place of social protests. The first protests took place in the compounds between 1915 and 1917. Some were against “living conditions and high prices in the mine stores, [...] pass law regulations and inadequate housing” (Worden
58 59). However, most were against low wages and were not very organized. In the 1940s, urban protest gained more politicized forms. There were several – and sometimes quite successful – community based actions, usually against the increasing living costs, such as rent boycotts or bus boycotts 21 (Worden 72).
3.2 Townships and Apartheid
Life in townships had not been easy before 1948 and with the beginning of apartheid, it only worsened (Terreblanche 303). The living conditions were terrible and the government’s policies did not improve anything, rather the contrary – they made life there even more unbearable.
3.2.1 Living conditions
Loflin describes township life in her book very vividly: “Townships are huge ghettos.
[...] Every day there is a mass exodus out of the townships and into the city, where the jobs are; many have to commute for over an hour each way” (73). She also depicts the typical
‘house’ in townships as a “shack [...] made out of petrol tins, cardboards, and plastic” (Loflin
74). This, I believe, serves sufficiently as a brief introduction to a chapter which discusses some of the most obvious reasons for which township people were joining the anti apartheid struggle: horrifying living conditions.
Townships which were officially built by the government had one purpose: to help the state to control life of Africans in the cities; as was mentioned in Daily Dispatch of July
15, 1949: “The visible grid of plot, block and street would allow the authorities to control 21 Probably the most important struggle of the 1940s was the Alexandra bus boycott against the increased prices of bus tickets.
19 access to and movement within the remodelled township” (Minkley 209). The last thing the authorities were worried about was the living conditions. They devoted, however, some time to the defence of the township houses design. Council for Scientific and Industrial
Research prepared a report in 1954 which clearly shows the inhuman treatment of township inhabitants:
“[T]aking into account the fact that many persons to be housed in urban Bantu
houses have been living in shacks or traditional Bantu dwellings, many of which are
known to leak severely during rain, it is reasonable in the lowest cost housing
to accept that occasional dampness in buildings is tolerable. [...]
A tap should not be provided in the kitchen as this will require further cost for
a sink and drainage for the sink.” (Minkley 211)
Why did people decide to live in these houses under such harsh conditions?
The answer is simple – the Africans were not allowed to own property in urban areas.
On the other hand, they were forced to live there by the economic conditions of the rural areas. The government was very much aware of this fact and thus it did not try to make the conditions any better as they knew the people would live there anyway, no matter how bad it was. As a result, they had to live either in the government built houses, or in the shacks that were being built around illegally. The so called matchbox houses, completely identical to each other, were all built to a uniform pattern and they were too small for the numbers of people that were going to occupy them. To achieve the ‘noble goal’ of no more than three people per room, bathrooms and kitchens were, at the end, counted as rooms, but the actual occupation still exceeded the legal limit (Dangor 360). The surrounding areas were similarly unpleasant. There was no domestic electricity, telephone lines, or street postal services, the streets were unpaved and lacked drains, street names, road signs, trees, or street lights
(Crankshaw and Parnell 440).
20 In addition to the government houses and the backyard shacks, there was another type of accommodation: men’s hostels. The living conditions in the hostels were equally inhuman as there were frequently ten to twelve men “put into rooms of less than 30 sqm and the sanitary installations were inadequate” (Telschow 18).
3.2.2 Social life
Despite all the regulations and restrictions posed on the township people by the government, the townships cultural and social life was often very productive. One area which the state was never able to control completely was the brewing and sale of home made beer and of alcoholic beverages in general. Shebeens , the illegal pubs, were not only the centres of recreation, notably sex and music (South African popular music comes from here) (Ross 157). They were also a major source of income for African women as it has always been women who kept them.
Another way of relaxation was soccer which, from the 1960s, became semi professional
(Bonner and Segal 63). This is a feature of township culture that is still reflected in contemporary South African life as soccer remains one of the most popular sports among
Africans. Several well known artists also lived and worked in townships, such as Richard
Rive, Achmat Dangor, or Mongane Serote.
3.2.3 Violence
Among the negative aspects of township culture were violence and township gangs.
Most of the gangs were created in the 1960s and early 1970s with a new generation of tsotsis 22 . Although they were often associated with thuggery, intimidation and vandalism, they “often started innocently enough as a way of simply passing the time” (Bonner and Segal
22 According to Macmillan English Dictionary , tsotsi is a South African word which means “a criminal who belongs to a group from a black township and has a particular style of clothing, for example narrow trousers”. In general, tsotsis led their lives in accordance with their hope to „live well, die young and leave a good looking corpse” (Ross 151).
21 65). This is also evidence of the enormous effect of segregationist and racist policies on every aspect of people’s lives. The truth was that children over fourteen were frequently denied the opportunity to study further and to find a job at this age was almost impossible (Bonner and Segal 65). Thus, the only activity left to them was to join other children, mostly boys, in the streets and do whatever came to their minds. Later, when the educational level of urban
African youth rose, various discriminatory measures were applied so that “their job advancement opportunities were blocked” (Terreblanche 404). The result was that “many opted to make a living from crime” (Terreblanche 404).
This all led to the development of the gang culture. What began quite innocently soon became a nightmare for everyone living in any part of a township controlled by a gang.
The government, however, was not concerned with this danger as long as the criminal activities were occurring only in the black townships without spreading to the white areas.
Violence in townships was nothing new. The situation was, however, growing more serious and in the mid 1980s, “over a quarter of all black deaths in Cape Town, Johannesburg and
Pietermaritzburg, at least, were not natural, and over half of these were the result of homicide” (Ross 151).
According to Ross, it is possible to trace three major sets of causes leading to this state. The first one would be “the violence of colonial conquest and that required to maintain the racial order”; the second may be associated with “the social degradation of life in the townships” where “people with no other hopes for advancement were led to prey on their fellows” and where “the criminal lifestyle became [...] attractive”; the last set of causes lies in the way young men were brought up, not only by their parents, but by the whole society, in which it was “generally accepted [...] that young men should be competitive, aggressive and brave” (Ross 151 52). As the social structures of authority broke down throughout the twentieth century, the situation became uncontrollable. Men, as fathers, were either absent
22 (which was common in the rural areas from where men went to the cities as migrant workers), or they were present but had no resources to provide for the family and could thus win no authority from their sons. In addition, as they could not stand their declining social status
(no chance of finding a well paid job and thus becoming the breadwinner), they often gave way to drunkenness which sometimes led to domestic violence. This not only meant the loss of respect on behalf of their children, but also showed their sons ‘the way to treat women’.
To mention this, in my opinion, is very important, as violence still constitutes an inseparable part of South African culture in general. Domestic violence, as one of the crucial issues of contemporary South Africa, could thus also be connected, at least partially, with the heritage of apartheid.
During the 1970s the political violence escalated. Although the Truth and Reconciliation
Commission, which was established in 1994 to provide “as complete a picture as possible of the causes, nature, and extent of the gross violations of human rights committed during the period from 1 March 1960 to 10 May 1994,” (Terreblanche 405) focused mainly on individual cases of violations of human rights and did not investigate the structural or systemic violence 23 , it nonetheless published a list of 18,000 victims of gross violations of human rights, as demonstrated in Terreblanche.
3.2.4 The role of the state
Township life was very much controlled and influenced by the governmental policies.
Influx control was probably the one that influenced lives of ordinary people most frequently.
The influx control was covered by the pass laws according to which Africans had to carry passes all the time. If they failed to do so, it was considered a criminal offence. These laws were originally aimed only at African men over the age of sixteen. However, in 1952
23 Thus its findings were far from being complete.
23 the Abolition of Passes and Co ordination of Documents Act was enacted under which women were also brought within the pass laws (Weeramantry 167).
The influx control was further tightened by the 1964 Bantu Laws Amendment Act
(Bonner 34). Section 29 of this Act previously allowed the authorities “to deport anyone declared “idle” out of the urban areas” which was, however, hard to enforce as there was no clear definition of what ‘idle’ meant (Bonner 34). In 1964 ‘idle’ was defined as “refusing employment three times and losing one’s job more than twice in six months” (Bonner 34).
The pass laws thus served as a symbol of inferiority, arrest, prosecution, imprisonment and broken families as the new definition made it easier to terrorise people through the usage of the new laws (for example, it was always possible for the police/government to create a situation in which people were not able to find jobs or keep them). Not only did they humiliate people, they also caused further economic and social burdens. Those who contravened the law either paid a fine, which was critical for low income families, or were imprisoned and thus lost their jobs. The imprisonment had damaging social effects on urban family life as it removed fathers (later also mothers) from their families and mothers were even more heavily burdened with financial and emotional responsibilities for child care.
In addition to the pass laws, there were some other instruments of influx control used by the government. As Africans could not own any property in urban areas and the provision of housing was thus dependent completely on the state, the availability of housing was used to prevent Africans from immigrating into cities. The government did not provide sufficient housing and if it did, it was only hostels that were built in order to make it even more difficult for families to live together in them (Terreblanche 326). This, however, did not stop Africans from coming to the cities (and the pass laws did not either), it rather caused the creation of more illegal (informal) settlements and worse living conditions.
24 3.2.5 Social protests and uprisings
Urban townships played a very important role in the struggle against apartheid. There were several ways in which people showed their anger and disagreement with the situation.
In general, it can be claimed that the protests and uprisings intensified in the course of the second half of the twentieth century.
The 1950s popular protests were relatively peaceful. They included bus boycotts, strikes, or civil disobediences. Some of them were not aimed primarily against the regime.
For example, the bus boycotts in the township of Alexandra (Johannesburg) were against the increased fares of buses (Worden 114). However, as the Group Areas Act was issued in
1950, protests against the regime, particularly against the forced removals which were a direct result of this Act, became more frequent.
In the course of forty six years of apartheid, there were many protests and uprisings, some more significant than others. On the one hand, there were protests that were unsuccessful and had no further influence on the state’s policies, for example, rent boycotts.
On the other hand, there were protests that influenced the whole political and social scene of
South Africa. Out of these, I have chosen two protests whose significance is still reflected by the fact that the days on which they happened are celebrated as some of the most important
South African public holidays. These are the Sharpeville massacre (March 21, 1960) and Soweto uprising (June 16, 1976).
The Sharpeville massacre 24 was probably the first event that had a country wide effect and as such it can be seen as “a dramatic turning point in South Africa’s history” (Worden
121). What turned to be a massacre started as an ANC/PAC 25 campaign against the pass laws.
24 Sharpeville is an African township in the Gauteng province. 25 ANC, African National Congress, currently the dominant party in South African political system, started as an organization fighting against apartheid. Nelson Mandela was an ANC member. PAC, Pan Africanist Congress, was another of anti apartheid organizations.
25 The police took action against the unarmed demonstrators and killed sixty nine people 26
(Terreblanche 306). The consequences were dire. It provoked a nation wide unrest which led to the proclamation of a state of emergency (Ross 129). The results were serious for African social and political movements, namely for the ANC and PAC which were banned. A period of terror and repression began and lasted for the following three decades. Although most authors refer only to these effects of Sharpeville massacre and although it is generally believed that the real international reaction against apartheid came only during the late 1980s,
Terreblanche claims that these events “caused a flight of foreign investment and a storm of international protest” (348). Since 1994, March 21 has been celebrated as Human Rights Day.
Soweto uprising, the other event of crucial importance, took place on June 16, 1976, when the police fired on peacefully demonstrating school children. Soweto27 is a birthplace of many important black activists (Nelson Mandela, Steven Biko 28 and others). It is said that what happens in Soweto one day is reflected in the rest of South Africa the day after. Soweto was already the largest African township in the country and it used to set the cultural and social tone (Beinart 195). This, alongside the cruelty of the government’s response to the uprising, made it one of the most decisive events of South African modern history.
The rebellion was initiated by school children in protest against the use of Afrikaans at schools. Afrikaans was seen as the language of the oppressor and African children, whose schools were already of a very low standard, were thus facing a situation that would farther worsen their possibility of better education.29 Most authors, such as Beinart, maintain that the protest was “specifically against the inequalities of Bantu Education and the introduction of Afrikaans [...] as a teaching medium for some subjects” (237). Some other authors, such as 26 Among the victims, there were eight women and ten children; another 180 people were wounded (Ross 129). 27 The name is an acronym from So uth We stern To wnship as it is situated in the south west of Johannesburg. 28 Steven Bantu Biko (1946 1977) was an anti apartheid activist, student leader, and founder of the Black Consciousness Movement. 29 The teachers at African schools usually could not speak Afrikaans and were not prepared for such a change.
26 Bonner, claim that it should be rather seen as “a result of an accumulation of various grievances” (31). In addition to the new language policy in Soweto’s schools, other factors were, for example, the “deteriorating economic circumstances” (Terreblanche 308), the serious housing shortage in Soweto, or some new segregationist and racist policies of the Vorster government. 30
Schools in Soweto became sites “of expectation, of deprivation, and of explosive political potential” as a result of which the school based South African Students Movement
(SASM) was established (Beinart 236). The protest of 1976 was not the first action organized by the SASM, although it definitely had the most disastrous effects. The march of thousands of school children ended in a bloody confrontation with the police. The police, unprepared to face such a protest, eventually opened fire and killed two school boys, Hastings Ndlovu
(fifteen years old) and Hector Peterson (twelve). Hector Peterson was the first victim and pictures of his mortally wounded body carried by his friends running away from the police became one of the icons of apartheid’s brutality. Hector and Hastings were not the only victims of the Soweto protest, although they were the first ones. The disturbances soon spread all over the country, the Coloured schools joined the Black schools in their struggle, people were horrified at the police killing children. The official death toll by the end of February 1977 stood at 575 (Bonner 30). The number of people arrested during the first year after Soweto was approximately 6,000 (Terreblanche 370).
The disturbances which were a direct result of the Soweto protest continued until the 1980s. Thus, the protest can be viewed as having a huge impact on the apartheid regime in that period. Ross believes that the “revolt was the beginning of the end of apartheid rule”
(143). Its importance was captured in the works of many writers (e.g. Rrekgetsi Chimeloane’s
30 John Vorster was Prime Minister from 1966 to 1978, and then President from 1978 to 1979.
27 Whose laetie are you? My Sowetan Boyhood ). The role of the children was stressed by
Mbulelo Mzamane in his novel The Children of Soweto :
Listen, our parents,
It is us, your children,
Who are crying;
It is us, your children,
Who are dying. (126)
The protests and uprisings escalated by the mid 1980s when “a virtual civil war existed in many parts of the country with the army occupying black townships” (Worden 137). There were several reasons, from the growing unemployment to the struggle for freedom and equality. Some urban townships, such as Crossroads near Cape Town, were, however, involved also in a different struggle than the one against the government. It was a struggle, although fuelled by the state, of one group of urban Africans against another. There were two groups: the militant youth (the amaqabane or comrades 31 ) and the conservative older leaders
(the ‘Fathers’or the witdoeke ) standing against each other (Robins 457). The amaqabane rejected the authority which they considered corrupt as it was supported by the state.
The witdoeke were helping the police, serving them as a third force. They, for example, set up their own ‘Pollsmore’ 32 where “comrades were held, beaten and killed” with the justification that they disobeyed or broke the law (Robins 467).
The confrontation of the youth and the ‘Fathers’ was not the only divide that arose from the inside of the townships. Another one occurred between the migrants, or amagoduka
(‘those who return home’), who lived in the hostels, and the permanent residents, or abantu baselokishini (‘the people of the location’), who lived in houses (Robins 461). The extreme political crisis of the late 1970s and the early 1980s led to violent conflicts between them. 31 Although those who fought actively against apartheid often called each other ‘comrades’, they were not all members of a Communist Party as could be assumed by a European reader. 32 The original Pollsmore is the largest prison in the Western Cape (Robins 467).
28 The main clash, however, continued to be the one between the oppressed people and the government. It escalated in the second half of the 1980s when South African Defence
Force was deployed in the townships and a partial state of emergency was declared
(Terreblanche 310). Following these events, the world became more aware of the state of affairs in South Africa as “millions of television sets in tens of countries showed South
African police and soldiers beating and shooting unarmed Blacks” (Thompson 232). This ultimately led to a growing pressure exerted by foreign countries on the South African government. It can therefore be stated that the township protests and uprisings accelerated the dismantling of apartheid and thus shaped the political life of the New South Africa.
By the early 1990s, it was clear that the apartheid regime was going to be defeated.
The role of black urban townships was significant for the success of the anti apartheid movement. At that time, it was estimated that seven million people lived in informal settlements (Beinart 277). This was a political power with a profound impact. African people obviously asserted their right to freedom of movement, as there were large new flows of people into cities. The struggle, however, was not easy and short. It was only in 1994 when the first fair, free and democratic election took place. South African history between 1990 and
1994 was chaotic and bloody, which was also reflected in townships. There were many clashes between the African township residents and the police and violence was growing every day. For example, on March 26, 1990, the police opened fire and killed eleven protesters in a township near Johannesburg (Thompson 247). This violence again demonstrates the influence that the events in the townships had as it worsened the relation between Frederik Willem de Klerk and Nelson Mandela, the key figures of South African transition to democracy.
It would be a mistake to see the African urban residents as a single and united power.
Violent clashes between different groups of township residents created serious obstacles to
29 the negotiations. In particular, the already mentioned conflicts between hostel dwellers and the permanent township residents were growing at an alarming rate. For example, there was considerable bloodshed on June 17, 1992, when “Zulu hostel dwellers at Boipatong, forty miles south of Johannesburg, made a vicious attack on a neighbouring shack settlement and killed forty five people, mainly women and children” (Thompson 254). These tensions were usually fuelled by the police and although de Klerk tried to appease the residents, he failed as people did not trust him. The distrust was probably even strengthened when Mandela, as a result of this attack, suspended all the talks with the government (Thompson 254).
This period did not bring only blood and violence but also some important achievements, such as the repeal of the Population Registration Act (1991) 33 and of the Group
Areas and Natives Land Acts (Ross 185). Moreover the Abolition of Racially Based Measures
Act was passed which removed about sixty pieces of racist legislation (Ross 185). These were all, at least partially, achievements of the struggle of African people in townships, as well as in rural areas.
Although the transition period was not far from getting South Africa into a civil war, it was, eventually, concluded with a free and democratic election which is often considered a miracle.
3.2.6 Forced removals
As stated above, forced removals were a direct implication of the 1950 Group Areas
Act. As there were too many places where forced removals took place, I choose only one example, the District Six in Cape Town, to illustrate the situation of the people affected by this Act.
33 As a result of which people could not any longer be deprived of rights on the basis of racial or ethnic classification.
30 In general, it can be said that “races other than white [...] were primarily affected” by the legislation (Davis 91). The consequences were fatal; Davis mentions only some of them, such as “the dismemberment of racially mixed residential areas, the dispersal of people over wide areas and their rehousing – often in inferior accommodation – in the completely unfamiliar environment” (91). Many of the areas from which people were removed were city suburbs whose residents worked in the major cities. Their removal forced them to commute, often two or three hours by bus, to their places of employment.
What actually happened? The government assigned certain areas to be white only.
People of colour living in those areas were forced to leave them. They were first informed about the government’s decision and they had the chance to leave ‘voluntarily’ to places newly assigned for their use (black or coloured areas). Some of them moved because they believed they were going to be given accommodation of the same quality as their previous one. Some of them did not want to leave but were forced to as the state started demolishing the houses they had occupied. The outcome was the same: they were moved to accommodation of very poor quality, frequently far from their families and friends, in townships that were anything but welcoming. As Davis puts it, they found themselves
“in this new vast concrete jungle of similarity away from former friends” (91). An African woman who had been removed to a Homeland told an interviewer:
When they came to us, they came with guns and police... They did not say anything,
they just threw our belongings in [the government trucks]... We did not know, we
still do not know this place... And when we came here, they dumped our things, just
dumped our things so that we are still here. What can we do now, we can do
nothing. We can do nothing. What can we do? (Thompson 194)
Some authors give numbers of people relocated under the Group Areas and Separate
Development legislation to illustrate the gravity of the situation, for example, according to
31 Worden, it was circa 3.5 million people between 1960 and 1983 (126). Others are doubtful about the exact figures (Thompson 194).
District Six, originally named Kanaladorp, was built between 1885 and 1905 and occupies an area with Table Mountain on one side and the Cape Town docks on the other. Although most of its inhabitants were Coloureds, a considerable number of
Africans and European immigrants lived there as well; they thus created a mixed, or multicultural, community.
Originally inhabited mainly by the working class, District Six became a slum by 1950
(Davis 92). There were, however, some positive aspects of life in District Six: the people living there created a closely knit community strongly identifying with their locale (Davis
92). They considered District Six their real home, moreover because it was also “the heart of coloured culture in the city” (Ross 137). The heart of District Six was Hanover Street, which is also the location where Richard Rive’s novel Buckingham Palace , one of the works to be discussed later, takes place; it was Hanover Street where “social activity, entertainment and trading took place” (Swanson and Harries 65).
The beginning of the end of District Six falls on February 11, 1966, when it was proclaimed a white area. The forced removals started two years later when the first District
Six inhabitants were removed to the Cape Flats, a Cape Town township outside the city. The areas in the Cape Flats where original District Six inhabitants were forced to live were, purposefully, called after the main parts of District Six area, such as Hanover Park. A huge number of people were relocated, however, there are no records of the exact numbers; it could probably be something between 40,000 (Davis 93) and 60,000 (Swanson and Harries 63), and the chances are that the numbers were even higher.
Ironically, the area of former District Six remained empty. The only exception was the building of the Cape Technikon and some houses for the police. People’s homes were
32 destroyed and their lives with them; as Richard Rive puts it: “We all died a little when we parted from the District” (126).
3.3 Townships Today
Thirteen years have elapsed since the first democratic election in South Africa.
On the one hand, there have been some improvements, such as electrification of townships. According to available statistics, “the level of electrification in South Africa has risen from 36% in 1994 to 71% at the end of 2004” ( World Business Council for Sustainable
Development ). The percentage of population with access to drinkable water has also risen and in 2004, eighty eight per cent of the total population could use improved drinking water sources ( UNICEF ). These changes had a positive impact on the whole country, including the urban townships. The shift to democratic regime made lives of township residents easier, although it is clear that there remain several serious problems awaiting workable solutions.
One of the problems that are very visibly reflected in urban townships is the economic situation. None of the programmes that were supposed to address the poverty in townships (e.g. Reconstruction and Development Programme) had the necessary finance. Living conditions of the poorest are not improving, although living conditions of the richest are; the gap between the rich (including the new black elite) and the poor (overwhelmingly African) is widening. The South African Gini coefficient 34 , which measures the income inequality, grew from 0.69 in 1996 up to 0.77 in 2002 (Schwabe).
On the one hand, new middle class houses are built in the urban township areas.35
34 The Gini coefficient is a number between zero and one, where zero mean perfect equality (everyone has the same income) and one means perfect inequality (one person has all the income and everyone else has nothing). 35 People who were born in a township and grew up there sometimes do not want to leave the township even after they become richer and can afford housing in different parts of the cities as they want to stay where they believe they belong to. This probably is very closely connected to the spirit of ubuntu which is said to be typical of Africans. Ubuntu is a South African word which means
33 On the other hand, the number of backyard shacks is on the increase (Thompson 283) and the accommodation in which the whole family of circa six members has to share one single bed is not uncommon.36 In comparison to the apartheid past, there are legal places of entertainment, such as playgrounds, and people are free to move as they please.
The sanitary conditions, schools, or hospitals are, however, often in a very bad state.
Another serious problem is violence. South Africa is among the top ten countries regarding different kinds of crimes, such as homicide, manslaughter, murder, or rape.
Although these crimes are experienced by most South Africans, the African urban residential areas might be seen as more endangered as these are the places of high concentration of poverty, alongside with the rural areas. Graphs reflecting the statistics 37 concerning selected crimes in South Africa are included in the Appendix C to provide a better illustration of the gravity of the situation. 38
Moreover, the government, although it is mostly composed of members of the ANC, an African political party, sometimes treats the urban township residents similarly to their apartheid predecessors. There have been cases of attempts to remove urban township inhabitants to different areas and although the people were not forced by the government to leave, there has been a considerable pressure. The case of Gugulethu, a Cape Town township, could serve as an example. Gugulethu inhabitants were asked to leave their homes and move to the houses built from asbestos 39 which were even farther from the city centre, and thus from work, than their current houses. Acts of this kind are hardly
“a quality made up of sympathy, kindness, and respect towards other people that is considered to be a part of the African way of life” ( Macmillan English Dictionary ). 36 This is not only the case of former men’s hostels where whole families live in inhuman conditions without any privacy whatsoever, but also of the informal settlements and the houses built by the new government. 37 For the statistics see Nation Master
34 comprehensible considering the fact that the majority of the people who were supposed to be removed in this manner are ANC voters.
Taking into account all the above stated facts, one can say that the conditions of the urban township residents remain appalling. The townships played an important part in the struggle against apartheid and can therefore be considered a strong social, if not political, power with the potential to force the government to implement some reforms. However, it is not, in my opinion, probable that the township people would gather to stand against the government in order to replace it, as the political situation of the country remains very specific and the government enjoys, despite all its imperfections, a widespread support.
3.3.1 Visit a township: Kayamandi
To illustrate the living conditions of townships of the twenty first century, Kayamandi, a Stellenbosch township, is described here in more detail. This sub chapter is based on my personal experience as I had the opportunity to work at the local primary school (iKaya
Primary School) and one of the kindergartens as a volunteer from January to June 2007.
Photographs of Kayamandi, the Cape Flats and Gugulethu, included in Appendix A, farther demonstrate the situation and living conditions in South African townships.
The name Kayamandi means “sweet home” in Xhosa and bears a bitter irony with itself as more than seventy per cent of the population of about 33,000 lives in shacks ( Prochuros:
Community Development ). Kayamandi is a typical African urban township in several respects: one clinic with only one doctor visiting once a week; an average family consisting of eight people is often forced to share one single bed; crime, HIV/AIDS, drugs and alcohol abuse are topics that even primary school children consider to be normal as is demonstrated in
Appendix B, which includes examples from iKaya Gazette, a newspaper created by the iKaya
Primary School pupils (aged ten to fifteen) during a programme called English in Action.
The programme, which lasted from January to June 2007, was organized by a group of
35 volunteers from the International Student Organization Stellenbosch (ISOS) as an extracurricular activity which aimed to help the primary school children from previously disadvantaged environment with English language (the first language of the children who participated in this activity is Xhosa). The pupils were asked to write an article on a topic of their choice and violence, rape and other crimes were depicted frequently.40
In addition, there is almost no proper infrastructure; it is not uncommon that from seventy five to one hundred people share one toilet ( AfricaLife ); no running water in some of the housing units, no privacy, no bathrooms. For the whole township, there is only one primary school and one high school. There are several kindergartens that operate in terrible conditions without beds, tables, or educated staff. As the shacks often lack electricity, people use paraffin lamps as the source of light and heat, which causes fires that can destroy a whole street due to the fact that the majority of the shacks are built from wood, cans, paper and other material that is cheap to obtain but not protective.
4. Township Literature
As stated above, townships had a profound impact on South African social and political life; their influence upon literature is examined in this chapter. Several authors, such as Anita
Marshall, Alex La Guma, Mothobi Mutloatse, Miriam Tlali, Mbulelo Mzamane, or Rrekgetsi
Chimeloane, devoted at least parts of their works to township life. To demonstrate the reflection of township events, two significant novels are analyzed: Richard Rive’s
‘Buckingham Palace’, District Six (1986) and Mongane Serote’s To Every Birth Its Blood
(1981).
40 The full version of iKaya Gazette is to be found online on ISOS website (http://sun.ac.za/isos/docs/ikayagazette.doc).
36 4.1 Forced Removals in Richard Rive’s ‘Buckingham Palace’, District Six
Rive’s novel ‘Buckingham Palace’, District Six is based on his own personal experience as he was born and lived in Caledon Street, District Six. Considering the fact that he was writing about District Six and its gangs in a slightly romanticized way, it is ironic that he died during an armed robbery when he was stabbed to death by thieves at his home in 1989.
‘Buckingham Palace’, District Six is a series of nineteen episodes which are divided into three major sections (1955, 1960, 1970), each of which follows the history of District Six and is introduced by the narrator. All episodes are connected by the main characters (Mary and
The Girls, Zoot, Pretty Boy and Oubaas, the Abrahams family, Last Knight the barber and his wife) who live in ‘Buckingham Palace’, a row of five cottages owned by Katzen, a local
(white) Jewish shopkeeper, and by the historical events of that time, forced removals in particular. According to Davis, Rive’s purpose was to “to reveal the interrelationship of personal and political history” (103). It is “a novel of the townships, but also of remembrance, commemorating the community of District Six in Cape Town” (Loflin 78).
The novel is based on life in District Six before the area was assigned white, during the time when people were being told to leave and after they all left. In the first two sections of the book, the lighter side of life in District Six is emphasized. Rive celebrates the efforts of the community whose members stand by each other no matter what and no matter that they have no closer ties than living in the same place. Although none of them are law abiding citizens, the reader cannot blame them as they are all depicted as good people with morals who love District Six and protect it as their only and real home. The probable reason for viewing District Six as a better place than it actually was can be found in the words of one of the characters, Milton “Zoot” September:
37 “You know, it’s a funny thing, but it’s only in the District that I feel safe. District
Six is like an island, if you follow me, an island in the sea of apartheid. The whole of
District Six is one big apartheid, so we can’t see it. We only see it when the white
man comes and forces it on us, when he makes us see it – when the police come, and
the council people and so on – or when we leave the District, when we leave our
island [...]. Then we see apartheid. I know the District is dirty and poor and a slum
[...] but it’s our own and we have never put up notices which say “Slegs blankes”
or “Whites only”. They put up the notices.” (95 96)
The characters and the place are slightly romanticized throughout the novel. Although it is known that District Six was a slum, as Rive himself acknowledges (also see Davis 92), it is depicted as a wonderful place for living. When Zoot says that they “knew that District Six was dirty and rotten,” he also adds that they know only because “the newspapers told us so often enough” (Rive 197), and not because it really was a slum. However, the political and social situation is shown as it was. Not only does Rive describe township life, he also stresses the policies based on racism and their impact on the discriminated people. Those people could be divided into two groups: the angry ones (Pretty Boy) and the scared ones (Moena Lelik).
Pretty Boy and Moena Lelik strongly feel the apartheid regime, for example, while walking on a beach which was for the whites only:
A young white beach constable hurried towards them waving his arms.
“Come on, come on, get off this beach! You’re not allowed here!”
“Why not?” Pretty Boy asked, annoyed at the uncalled for hostility.
“Can’t you read the notices? This beach is for white people only.”
“We’re not making any trouble. We’re just looking,” Moena said. (93 94)
These, however, turn out to be only minor nuisances after the District is finally declared a white area. They all receive notices telling them to leave, telling them they will be given
38 new houses in a coloured township on the outskirts of Cape Town, the Cape Flats. Rive describes the process of dividing people into racial groups. For example, a government official, Mr. Engelbrecht, comes to the District to ask people to fill in forms in which they declare to what racial group they belong. Some District inhabitants are easily persuaded to do go, however, the majority share the attitude of Amaai Abrahams, who lives in a house with his parents and siblings and whose reaction is as follows: “Now you take your forms and shove them up your backside or I’ll do it for you” (Rive 142).
People’s attitudes towards moving out do not matter as the government is much more powerful. Everyone has to leave the District, most move to the Cape Flats, as all the District
Six houses are razed to the ground. In the narrator’s (Rive’s) words, “[e]veryone in the District died a little when it was pulled down. Many died spiritually and emotionally.
Some like my mother also died physically [...]. To part is to die a little. We all died a little when we parted from the District” (126).
The impact of the new ‘home’, the Cape Flats, is also described. Even those who leave the District voluntarily realize that it is a trap set by the government. The Knight family are among those who leave the District without much pressure because they believe that the new place will be better for their children. However, when at the Cape Flats, they are soon confronted with the harsh reality. As Last Knight explains the situation to Zoot:
The flats were all in a bad state of disrepair [...]. Our one [...] had no ceiling.
The lights had been disconnected and not been reconnected. The first few nights we
spent in the cold and the dark. [...] The walls were full of cracks. [...]
We were completely cut off. There was nothing but filth and sand and rows and
rows of washing lines. [...]
One afternoon, three days after we had moved in, some skollies interfered with
her [his daughter Charity] and tore at her clothes. (161 62)
39 Richard Rive himself, as the narrator, describes the Cape Flats houses as soulless, in comparison to District Six which had a soul (127). The total destruction of people by means of the forced removals is perfectly expressed here: “Although a relatively young man,
I existed alone with my memories in my separate cocoon in my separate area set aside for my separate group” (127). An event that was experienced by many township residents in apartheid South Africa is thus reflected in Rive’s novel with all its features and consequences.
4.2 Anti-apartheid Struggle in Mongane Serote’s To Every Birth Its Blood
Different themes are reflected in Mongane Serote’s To Every Birth Its Blood . Mongane
Serote (born in 1944), a poet and novelist, was one of the most prominent township poets of the 1970s. He was involved in political activism and development of black identity for which he was arrested under the Terrorism Act in June 1969. Serote had spent nine months in solitary confinement before he was released without being charged.
To Every Birth Its Blood was written in the dark times of John Vorster and
P. W. Botha (Serote spent five years working on the book, from 1975 to 1980), which is reflected in the overall atmosphere of the story. To Every Birth Its Blood deals with another important aspect of apartheid townships – anti apartheid struggle.
The novel is set in the township of Alexandra, outside Johannesburg, of which one gets a realistic view, without romanticizing:
Alexandra is one of the oldest townships in South Africa. It is closely related
to Johannesburg. From the centre of the Golden City [Johannesburg] to the centre of
the Dark City [Alexandra] is a mere nine miles. [...] The difference between the two
is like day and night. [...]
Alexandra is a creation of schizophrenics like Jan Smuts; it is a makeshift place
of abode, a township – that is, black people live here. (21 22)
40 Or elsewhere:
But what is this shit, what is this thing called Alexandra? Seven streets. Twenty two
avenues. Houses. Tin houses. Brick houses. Torn streets. Smell. Dongas. Dirty water
in street. Dark city. The devil’s kitchen. Township. Alex. What is this mess? Our
home. Our country. Our world. Alexandra. Permits. Passes. Police. Security police.
Permit police. (36)
The novel is divided into two parts, from which the second one is directly about the anti apartheid struggle. First, the reader learns about the troubles township people had to face every single day, such as the pass laws, persecution of the people who did not succumb to the regime, forced removals, or demoralising effect of the apartheid system.
The main character of the novel is Tsi, a journalist who works for a white owned newspaper in Johannesburg and “finds it difficult to find a place for himself within the township that is not personally humiliating” (Loflin 80). Throughout the first part of the novel, he resists joining the Movement, a political organization which is not farther specified, although he is aware that many of his close friends have already done so. He tries to solve his restlessness, dissatisfaction, frustration and despair in a way very typical of township men – through drinking, sex and aimless roaming.
Tsi’s family is directly affected by the apartheid policies which destroyed people’s lives and which put people to prison without any legal trial. Tsi’s brother, Fix, is imprisoned at Robben Island and nobody has any news of him: “We had all speculated about what could be happening to him wherever he was, and tried guessing when, if ever, he would come back”
(80). In this story, Serote indicates the overwhelming control which the apartheid government had over these people’s lives.
Tsi, although seemingly indifferent towards the anti apartheid struggle in the first part of the novel, becomes a member of the Movement in the second part. He appears to have been
41 forced to do so by the circumstances. The second part is thus directly about the revolution.
Serote, influenced by the situation of the after Soweto era, prophesies South African future in the worst possible light as he believes that there is no other way to change the country but the fight. He puts this idea into the characters, for example, Dikeledi, whose father is sent to
Robben Island as a political prisoner:
[S]he understood so well that South Africa had shut out all other choices. There was
no way now that any other thing could be done with the present way of life, with this
South Africa, [...]; there was nothing else that could be done to save it; there was
only one way left – people had to fight. (132)
In the second part of the novel, the main characters – Tsi, John, Dikeledi, Oupa and others – join the fight. This means killing the government’s informers and attacks which sometimes lead to death, as not all of them are successful. Death is faced by the main characters every day, sometimes it is seen as salvation, in comparison to being arrested. Some people have to leave the country; others die, such as Oupa, Tsi’s nephew, or Mandla, the leader of the Movement. Serote uses Oupa’s death to illustrate the cruelty of the apartheid police:
He was badly smashed. [...] His leg was aching. His face was swollen. [...] Oupa was
whisked over to John Vorster. They had banged him some more there. [...] As he
was staggering, trying to gain balance, the man who had hit him behind the head,
held him by the scruff, pinned him against the wall, and smashed his head against it.
(172 73)
What follows is a real civil war. That is what Serote believed to be the fate of South
Africa. Although the message of the novel seems to be very pessimistic, by analyzing its ending, it can be claimed that Serote believed in the victory of the Movement as it ends with the birth of a child, a symbol of optimistic future.
42 The problems that were typical of the post Soweto townships – anti apartheid struggle, loss of identity, and death – are all presented in To Every Birth Its Blood alongside with the future that Serote prophesied for South Africa. Thirteen years after the novel was published, his prophecy turned out to be wrong as South Africa did not experience a civil war in the extent portrayed in To Every Birth Its Blood . Serote’s work, however, remains the most significant novel written by a black writer that appeared after Soweto (Shava 157).
5. Conclusion
The aim of the thesis was to examine the importance of South African urban townships and their relevance to social, political and cultural life in South Africa. In the first part, which discussed the creation and history of urban townships, it was established that townships are closely connected to the past racial and segregationist policies that were existent in the southern most part of the African continent almost from the very first time when the Dutch settlers arrived at the Cape. Although the barriers between people were not originally based on race, by the end of the eighteenth century, several racially discriminatory measures had already been in place.
The seizure of control over the Cape by the British led to the abolition of slavery; however, it also farther intensified racism and segregationism. Many laws, such as the Masters and Servants Proclamation (1841), were passed to strengthen the control of the white men over Africans. Official residential segregation started in 1846 with the ‘Shepstone system’ which created special locations for Africans. In the 1850s, the British started official urban segregation in South Africa, which was later developed in the form of recommendations made by SANAC.
43 The Union of South Africa was established in 1910 and it followed the British policies.
The most notorious acts regarding territorial segregation issued by the Union were the 1913
Land Act and the 1923 Native Urban Act. By the time apartheid was officially established in
South Africa (1948), the foundations of the regime had already been laid.
The establishment of townships was a result of the segregationist policies as well as racist attitudes of the whites towards Africans and partially also of the hostile attitudes of
Africans towards the whites. Before the first official township, Langa, was built (in 1927), there had already been several unofficial townships, i.e. segregated areas where only black
(or coloured) people lived. These were created either spontaneously, or as a result of forced removals (first occurred at the end of the nineteenth century) or sanitation syndrome
(in the beginning of the twentieth century).
The most important piece of legislation of the apartheid era concerning the township development was the 1950 Group Areas Act which legalised forced removals. It is estimated that approximately 3.5 million people were relocated under this Act between 1960 and 1983.
The Act also led to intensification of the social protests and uprisings in South Africa.
The protests and uprisings were often a reaction to the governmental policies, as well as the appalling living conditions that have been typical of townships since their very beginning.
Two key protests were discussed: the Sharpeville massacre (March 21, 1960) and the Soweto uprising (June 16, 1976). These events had a profound impact on South African social and political life as they indubiously contributed to the end of apartheid.
The third chapter also discussed township violence as it remains an inseparable part of township life. Three sets of causes were defined: the violence of the colonial era, the social degradation of life in townships, and the acceptance of men’s aggression by the society.
Nowadays, another factor could be added – the legacy of apartheid.
44 The post apartheid era has witnessed, on one hand, an improvement, sometimes considerable, in the living conditions in urban townships, such as electrification of townships, increased access to drinkable water, or availability of legal places of entertainment.
On the other hand, the income inequality in South Africa is growing (the Gini coefficient increased from 0.69 in 1996 to 0.77 in 2002), violent crime presents a serious issue and so does lack of housing. It therefore remains valid to claim that townships are often inhuman and one cannot talk about a complete removal of urban townships from South African cities in terms of near future. The reason for that may also be seen in the fact that the post apartheid period does not, so far, show any greater influence of the township people on the country’s politics, although there is a considerable potential as they constitute a large section of the electorate.
In the last chapter, township literature was examined, namely the works by Richard
Rive, a coloured author and a former District Six inhabitant, and Mongane Serote, an African writer and poet from Alexandra. The influence of township life upon their novels is evident, although both look at it from different points of view. The main topic of Rive’s ‘Buckingham
Palace’, District Six is the life in a coloured township in Cape Town and the common feature of the apartheid regime – forced removals. Whereas Rive slightly romanticizes the District
Six, Serote portrays life in a Johannesburg township – Alexandra – in To Every Birth Its
Blood as a continuous struggle against the regime, an unpleasant place to live, a place of terror and fear. He focuses on an anti apartheid movement, its activities and members as well as the reasons why the people decided to join the struggle.
Although both authors come from townships and thus have first hand experience, they both depict the life there in different ways and focus on different features. Their works, however, remain a tangible proof that townships have had a significant influence on cultural life of South Africa, namely on literature.
45 In conclusion, I would like to use words of Richard Rive who said that District Six “was never a place – that is was a people” (198) to stress that although the thesis deals with townships and proves the importance of their influence on South Africa, it should not be forgotten that it is not the places, but the township people who have been causing all the changes and who have been the key factors.
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50 7.1 Appendix A – Photographs 41
The Cape Flats (Cape Town): shacks (an informal settlement).
Kayamandi (Stellenbosch): a wooden shack (an informal settlement).
41 If not stated otherwise, the photographs were taken by the author in 2007 (January to July).
51 Kayamandi
Kayamandi: government houses.
52 Gugulethu (Cape Town): a backyard shack. Photographer: Geraldine Kempel.
Gugulethu.
53
Gugulethu: a view from the inside of a wooden shack.
Gugulethu. Photographer: Geraldine Kempel.
54 Gugulethu: “There was nothing but filth and sand and rows and rows of washing lines” (Rive 162). Photographer: Geraldine Kempel.
Kayamandi: iKaya Primary School.
55 Kayamandi: iKaya Primary School. The seventh grade’s classroom with brand new desks (English in Action volunteering).
Kayamandi: pre-school. No beds, no age limits, and dirt.
56 7.2 Appendix B: Samples of iKaya Gazette
The People Who Want to be not listen to that meeting they had. The Out of Shacks government promised them about the By Sisanda Ntengo houses that by the first or second month of 2007, they would be out of their shacks. The people who want to live in the But the government decided to start real houses are angry because they should making lights in the place of the houses. be in their houses but they are not right The people feel angry because in winter now. their houses fall down and get thrown At the first meeting about houses, the away. But now the government promises people of Kayamandi were angry because them that by June they will be starting the the government promised them, so they did building of the houses. Abuse to Children and Women in Kayamandi By Sinyanda Tshwili strange and do things they wouldn’t usually do. Sometimes this includes Abuse to women and children is violent and angry behaviour. occurring too much in Kayamandi. I think Abuse in Kayamandi happens most of the that raising awareness is important to stop time in streets and homes. Abuse in abuse. Abuse to women and children is Kayamandi makes people not free, afraid, wrong and can sometimes lead to death. and not safe. I think life will be better in Abuse in Kayamandi happens Kayamandi if we can stop the abuse. To because people in Kayamandi drink to do this we must raise awareness. much alcohol. Alcohol makes people act . What’s happening to this world Child Abuse in Kayamandi By Nosimphiwe By Ncebakazi Giyo What’s happening to In Kayamandi, many children are this world? being abused by adults. Verbal, physical, and This world of ours. sexual abuse happens in Kayamandi every Children go missing day. Abuse has been happening for so many every day. years and still happens today. Children are being This is important because abuse hurts raped. children and makes them feel so sad. It Yes, our future is happens because people do wrong things and being abused. take advantage of children. Abuse needs to stop. When it happens it makes big problems so please stop abusing children. iKaya Gazette was a project on which iKaya Primary School seventh graders worked during English in Action, a volunteer programme of English tutoring organized by ISOS (International Students Organization of Stellenbosch).
57 7.3 Appendix C: Crime Statistics Murder (in thousands)
30 20 10 0 95 00 02 03 20 994/ 9/ 001/ 1 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 2000/01 2 2002/ 2003/04 199
Graph 1. Source: Compiled by the author from the records of the Crime Information Analysis Centre – South African Police Service : Crime Statistics for South Africa (1994/1995 to 2003/2004).
Rape (in thousands)
60 40 20 0 95 00 03 4/ 20 2/ 9/ 000/01 199 1995/96 1996/97 1997/98 1998/99 2 2001/02 200 2003/04 199
Graph 2. Source: Compiled by the author from the records of the Crime Information Analysis Centre – South African Police Service : Crime Statistics for South Africa (1994/1995 to 2003/2004).
Neglect and ill-treatment of children (in thousands)
8 6 4 2 0 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 4/ 5/ 6/ 7/ 8/ /20 0/ 1/ 2/ 3/ 99 99 99 99 99 99 00 00 00 00 1 1 1 1 1 19 2 2 2 2
Graph 3. Source: Compiled by the author from the records of the Crime Information Analysis Centre – South African Police Service : Crime Statistics for South Africa (1994/1995 to 2003/2004).
58 Culpable komicide (in thousands)
15 10 5 0 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 4/ 5/ 6/ 7/ 8/ /20 0/ 1/ 2/ 3/ 99 99 99 99 99 99 00 00 00 00 1 1 1 1 1 19 2 2 2 2
Graph 4. Source: Compiled by the author from the records of the Crime Information Analysis Centre – South African Police Service : Crime Statistics for South Africa (1994/1995 to 2003/2004).
Drug related crime (in thousands)
60 40 20 0 0 95 96 97 98 99 0 01 02 03 04 4/ 5/ 6/ 7/ 8/ 20 0/ 1/ 2/ 3/ 9 9 9 9 9 9/ 0 0 0 0 19 19 19 19 19 9 20 20 20 20 19
Graph 5. Source: Compiled by the author from the records of the Crime Information Analysis Centre – South African Police Service : Crime Statistics for South Africa (1994/1995 to 2003/2004).
59