Cape Town SECOND CARNEGIE INQUIRY INTO POVERTY and DEVELOPMENT in SOUTHERN AFRICA By
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I I I SECOND CARNEGIE INQUIRY INTO POVERTY AND DEVELOPMENT IN SOUTHERN AFRICA Area study of cape ToWn: Profile of Nyanga by Dinga Slkwebu carregie Q)nferenoe Paper NJ. 10a 1 3 .- 1 9 Apr il 19 U 4 Cape Town ( ISBN 0 7992 0806 X TABIE OF CCNl'ENl'S SIZE AND DEM:X;RAPHIC L<XATICN 1 HISl'ORICAL BACKGOOUND 1 POPUIATICN FACILITIES 3 The Nature of Housing 5 Pental 8 EOOCATICNAL FACILITIES 9 11 TRANSPORl' FACILITIES 13 TRADING AND BUSINESS FACILITIES 15 RELIGIOOS FACILITIES 16 HEALTH FACILITIES 17 OULD-CARE FACILITIES 18 GENERAL FACILITIES 18 18 BIBLICGRAPHY 18 ~ 1 Population of Nyanga 1948-1980 1 2 l\drn:I.nistration EstiInates of Nyanga' s Population 2 3 State Housing in Nyanga ) 4 &ployer built familu housing in Nyanga, 4 5 State-financed Jostel Accx:moodation 4 6 Site Rental in Nyanga 8 7 Se=ice Charges in Nyanga 9 8 Schools, Pupils and Teachers in Nyanga in 1982 9 9 Taxi Fares fran Nyanga 14 SIZE Ar-ID DF.MJGRAFHIC IOCA'I'I~ Nyanga is a residential area simated about 20km fran cape Town city centre exclusively set aside for •Africans'. According to a 1960 proclamation, the tcMnship is 427 hectares :In size, oordered by Lansdowne lbad :In the south. Klipfontein R:>ad in tl~ north, NY 78 :In the west am fok:robe Street :In the east. Nyanga, therefore, lies between Guguletu and Old Crossroads. Accord:lng to this delineation. K'OC and New Crossroads are part of Nyanga. This is not acceptable to residents am tenants of the area. To them, Nyanga is CCII1pOsed of the Old IDeation (Elokishini Enda1a), ~faU-Mau. Zwelitsha, White City and Newlands. The developrent of Nyanga was procl.aiJned in 1946. In 1948, tlle first musing schene of 208 muses was cc.npleted. Fran then until 1973, Nyanga was under tlle control of the cape Divislona1 COuncil, wreri it was transferred to the \'lestern cape Bantu Jldministration Board (BMB), which is now knc:Mn as Western.cape Adm:lnistration Board (WCAB) • .Mau-Mau. Zwelitsha, New1ands and White City were built in 1952, 1957, 1968 am 1981 respectively. Fbr many years Nyanga has also cOntained ~tter camps such as Browne's Camp, Kraaifontein, Jakka1sv1ei, Sakkies-Dorp am t."K:. 1\11 tlese settlements, except the latter. had been cleared b-; the late 1970's. KlC re-emerges from time to time. The population of 1 000 :In 1948 had grown to 24 000 by 1980. TlIBLE 1 Population of·N¥anga 1948-1980 Year I\:Jpulation Sources 1948 1 000 Hansard, 1948, COl.1347 1958 11 000 SAIRR, 1958: 187 1959 19 446 SAIRR, 1959: 165 1960 21 750 cenSIJS 1965 20 000 oa:: Chairman 1967-8: 7 1966 17 500 oa:: Chairman 1967-8: 22 1967-8 24 000 oa:: Chairman 1967-8: 27 1970 15 894 Census 1980 24 020 census 2 The following trenis can be observed fran Table~. 1: i) the err:mrous increase between 1958 and 1960 is indicative of the re settl.enelt of fElOple in Nyanga Transit canp. This carrp was establisred to 'screen' people woo were 'illegal' in the Western cape. Officialdan regarded this as necessary because nest of the 'African' people were , scattered' all over the western cape. This caused problems for the officials in applying influx control. ii) the sudden drop between 1960 and 1970 gives an indication of partial su:cess in the 'screening' process. 'lb:>se wOO did rot qualify to be : legally' in the cape Peninsula acoording to section 27 of Native Laws J\mendment 1\ct.~. 54 of 1952, were 'endorsed out' of the Western cape. The massive nature of this process can be understood if we recognise that between 1959 and 1962 a minimum of 26 211 people were 'endorsed out' of the Western cape (SAIRR: 1962: 1111. Therefore, tightening of influx control cootriliuted to the decrease. According to the plan tOOse wOO qualified, were given oouses in the newly establisred Gugulebl, which was tren known as Nyanga west or relocated in the already estab lisred townships of Nyanga and Langa. A very inportant point needs to be made about the validity of these statistics. The figures probably only include people who are in the area 'legally' .. They exclu:'le toose woo are officially regarded as being in Western cape 'illegally'. In other words, trey exclu:'le tOOusands of people wOO flock fran tre 'b:melands' to urban areas because "f econanic necessities and better health facilities. They also excllue toose staying with relatives because of lack of aca:mroda tion. What was evident wren interviews were conducted is that occupants of oouses are resitant to divulge infoIl!lation eitrer about their 'legality' or the nunber of people in the oouserold. Clearly, whatever nl.i11bers people reveal cannot be relied upon. The following figures, given by BA.l\B, illustrate tre point. TABLE 2 lIdrninistration Estimates of Nyanga' s l'Opulation Age "Group Males Females 'lbtal tmder 18 3 090 3 219 6 309 OVer 18 8 183 4 192 12 375 'lbtal lL273.:," .. 7411 18 684 c· -' 3 The difference of 5 336, be~ the 24 020 given by the 1980 census report and the 18 684 of the BMB survey, :in:llcates h::M difficult it is to cx:rne up with what can be claImed to be accurate population statistics. Apart fran illustrating the vast difference in the census and the BMB survey statistics, the above table sh::Ms i) that there is an imbalance between the n1.l!1ber of young people and old people. The skewed effect is pronOl.mced1 ii) the sk~>ed distribution of males and females with a male/female ratio of 1:0,7'overall and 1:0,5 among adults. Both of these characteristics can be attributed to the presence of a large nunber of 'migrant' I«lrkers. The social o:mseqrences of the imbalance, such as prostitution, desertion, high divorce rate, rape, etc. are inevitable and are rife in Nyanga. FACILITIES 1. !busing Table th. 3 gives details of state-financed family housing stock: Table th. 3 State Housing in Nyan2 Narre th. of No. of Rental Year Units Poems p.m. Built Schere A 70 4 R3,24 1952 Schene D 557 2 Rl,37 1952 Schene E 456 3 Rl,24 1957 Schane M 360 3 lU,24 1962 Scherre N 210 4 R3,2'l 1948 Schere Sch 2 5 N/A Pre 1940 Screme XA 10 5 N/A 1946-1952 Sche.'ll:;! B 6 4 N/A 1981 Screme B 154 3 N/A 1981 Total 1825 5228 In Nyanga the 1825 units with 5 228 roc:ms give each unit an average of 2,86 roans. In such a situation overcrowding is a pressing iSSue. i~ I 4 Table No. 4 records employer built family ho~es: Table No. 4 Ehployer built family housing in Nyanga NaIre of atlployer No. of No. of Rental Year Units ~ p.m. Built Old Mutual 2 4 Rl6,76 1976 Bruply 1 4 Rl6,76 1976 Tamhouse actel 10 2 N/A 1976 'lbtal 13 32 The total nunber of family houses in Nyanga is thus 1 838 with 5 260 roans. State-financed hostel aroamodation for single nen is given in Table No. 5. Table No. 5 State~financedHbstel Acoammodation NaIIEl No. of No. of Total No. No. of Total No. Year Units ~ p.u. of~ Beds p.u. of Beds Built Schare F 29 4 116 32 928 1970· Scheme G 25 4 100 32 800 1968· Scl'lem;l H 14 4 56 32 448 19 ? Scheme K 32 4 128 32 1024 1957 Schane L 22 4 88 32 704 1962 Scheme 0 3 4 12 12 36 1952 DR/: 1 4 4 8 8 19 ? 126 4 504 31,3 3948 For their 'migrant' ~rkers, sane atployers also buiid hostels. These units were built between 1971 am 1982. There are 210 units, each with four roans am with 4 190 bilds, giving 20 beds per unit. In Nyanga, tre total hostel acCc:mtDdation for 'migrant' workers consists of 336 Imits, wlth 1 314 roans am 8 138 beds. I I 5 Tre p:>int made earlier about the unreliability of the population figures alSo ooIds here. Acoording to tm housing figUres, there are 8 138 'migrant' workers in Nyanga. Tre likelihood of this figure being inaCcurate is very great. Nyanga's 6 574 roans must afford shelter to 24 020 people if the 1980 population census is reliable, or 18 684 if BAAS statistics are preferred. * Overcrowding is rife in the area. This is clearly evident because IOOst of tm family units contain shacks built of corrugated zinc am'tlOOd either in their backyards or attached to the houses. Trese extensions are used to rouse luneless families or to let. The emergence of Crossroads, Nyanga Bush and K'lr. is an indication of the problem of overcrc:llding in the area. This causes desperation and frustraticn. The situation is aggravated by the phasing out of any new building in the area as a result of the planned resettlement of the b61ants in Khayelitsha. Tre Nature of IIous~ In t:he area under investigation, there are various schemes: i) Scheme N This schel1le, buUt between 1946 am 1948,is knCMl as Elokishini Endala ('Old IDcaHon), because it was the first to be built in Nyc!nga. The majority of its residents uc;ed to be slDpkeepers, teachers, nurses, priests - generally regarded as 'well off' and middle class. This is no 10ngp_1:' the case.