in the new Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download

Growing up Titles.indd 1 2010/02/26 1:46 PM in the new South Africa CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE IN POST-

Rachel Bray • Imke Gooskens • Lauren Kahn • Sue Moses • Jeremy Seekings Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download

Growing up Titles.indd 2 2010/02/26 1:46 PM in the new South Africa CHILDHOOD AND ADOLESCENCE IN POST-APARTHEID CAPE TOWN

Rachel Bray • Imke Gooskens • Lauren Kahn • Sue Moses • Jeremy Seekings Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download

Growing up Titles.indd 2 2010/02/26 1:46 PM Published by HSRC Press Private Bag X9182, Cape Town, 8000, South Africa www.hsrcpress.ac.za

First published 2010

ISBN (soft cover) 978-0-7969-2313-4 ISBN (pdf) 978-0-7969-2314-1 ISBN (e-pub) 978-0-7969-2315-8

© 2010 Human Sciences Research Council

Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Human Sciences Research Council (‘the Council’) or indicate that the Council endorses the views of the authors. In quoting from this publication, readers are advised to attribute the source of the information to the individual author concerned and not to the Council.

Copyedited by Mark Ronan Typeset by Baseline Publishing Services Cover design by Michelle Staples Printed by [printer], Cape Town, South Africa

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Distributed in North America by Independent Publishers Group (IPG) Call toll-free: (800) 888 4741; Fax: +1 (312) 337 5985 www.ipgbook.com Contents

Tables and figures vii Preface ix The valley: Maps and photographs 1

1. Growing up in post-apartheid South Africa 21

2. Discourses and realities of family life 48

3. The familiar world of the neighbourhood 97

4. Segregated and integrated spaces: Mobility and identity beyond the neighbourhood 135

5. The real worlds of public schooling 170

6. The social aspects of schooling: Navigating an educational career 203

7. Freedom, ‘fitting in’ and foreign territories: The world of friends, dating and sex 253

8. The quiet violence of contemporary segregation in Cape Town 294

Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download 9. Conclusion 323

Notes 331 The authors 334 References 335 Index 350

v Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Tables and figures

Table 1.1 Details of participants in ethnographic research 35 Table 1.2 Markers or indicators of the transitions to adulthood 40

Table 2.1 Whereabouts of (biological) mothers and fathers of children aged 0–13 in Cape Town (% of total) 51 Table 2.2 Whereabouts of (biological) mothers and fathers of adolescents aged 14–17 in Cape Town (% of total) 51 Table 2.3 Proportions of adolescents aged 14–17 who report spending time with mother, father or both parents, according to parental whereabouts (%) 82

Table 5.1 Distribution of test scores by neighbourhood income quintile (16-year-olds) 176

Figure 1.1 Household incomes in the Valley 26

Figure 2.1 Family-based household types, adolescents aged 14–17 52 Figure 2.2 Proportion of children aged 0–13 in Cape Town co-resident with parents, by race and household income 53 Figure 2.3 Proportion of life spent with parents, by race and income, adolescents aged 14–17 54 Figure 2.4 Frequency that adolescents spend time with absent parents 81 Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download Figure 3.1 Safety in the neighbourhood as reported by young people aged 17–20 105 Figure 3.2 Perceptions of friendliness and helpfulness of neighbours 108 Figure 3.3 Participation in sports or religious or music/dancing groups among adolescents aged 14–17 114

Figure 5.1 Matric candidates and results (1993–2006) 172 Figure 5.2 Grade attainment in the Valley (2001) 173 Figure 5.3 Test scores by current grade (2002) 174 Figure 5.4 Test scores by neighbourhood income (Cape Town, 2002) 175

Figure 6.1 Who in the family helps with homework? 214 Figure 6.2 Educational expectations of parents of adolescents aged 14–17, by neighbourhood 217 Figure 6.3 Educational expectations of adolescents aged 14–17, by neighbourhood 218

vii Figure 6.4 Educational expectations of adolescents aged 20–22, by neighbourhood 218 Figure 6.5 Current educational reality of adolescents aged 20–22, by neighbourhood 219 Figure 6.6 School attendance by age, Ocean View (%) 227 Figure 6.7 School attendance by age, (%) 228 Figure 6.8 School attendance by age, Fish Hoek (%) 228 Figure 6.9 Reasons for not being enrolled in school, ages 15–17 231 Figure 6.10 Premature departure from school, by age and neighbourhood type 232 Figure 6.11 Study and work status, by age and neighbourhood type 243

Figure 7.1 Sexual activity and pregnancy among girls, Cape Town 258 Figure 7.2 Sexual activity and impregnation among boys, Cape Town 258 Figure 7.3 Sexual activity and pregnancy among girls, by type of neighbourhood and age, Cape Town 259 Figure 7.4 Sexual activity and impregnation among boys, by type of neighbourhood and age, Cape Town 260 Figure 7.5 Young women’s expected and actual ages of maternity (2002–2005) 278

Figure 8.1 Control over life, by neighbourhood (17–20-year-olds, Cape Town) 297 Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download

viii Preface

This book is the product of a collaborative effort by researchers in the Centre for Social Science Research (CSSR) at the University of Cape Town. It presents primarily qualitative research, and has its origins in a perceived need to go beyond quantitative research. The CSSR was established in 2001 with the goal of strengthening capacity in quantitative social science. One of the CSSR’s major projects was the Cape Area Panel Study (CAPS), for which a ‘panel’ of almost 5 000 adolescents across Cape Town were interviewed repeatedly over several years as they grew into adulthood. CAPS was a joint project of the CSSR and scholars at the University of Michigan, and was co-directed by Jeremy Seekings (from the CSSR) and David Lam (from the University of Michigan). The first wave of interviews was conducted in 2002, and subsequent waves in 2003/04, 2005 and 2006. It soon became clear that progress in understanding transitions into adulthood would require a combination of qualitative and quantitative research, and so an ethnographic research project was initiated within the CSSR in 2004 by Rachel Bray and Jeremy Seekings. Rachel Bray led the ethnographic study and, with Imke Gooskens and Susan Moses, conducted 15 months of fieldwork in the Cape Town neighbourhoods of Masiphumelele, Fish Hoek and Ocean View respectively. This qualitative research proceeded in parallel to the successive waves of CAPS. Analysis of the qualitative data from each neighbourhood was conducted both individually and collaboratively by Imke, Rachel and Sue. Jeremy analysed the quantitative data and participated in discussions about the qualitative research. Rachel

Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download and Jeremy took responsibility for integrating material into composite chapters, with Rachel taking primary responsibility for about two-thirds of the chapters and Jeremy for one-third. Just about every chapter, however, includes substantial contributions from Rachel, Sue, Imke and Jeremy. The one exception is Chapter 7, for which Lauren Kahn was primarily responsible. Lauren had conducted fieldwork among adolescent girls in the same neighbourhoods in Cape Town, focusing specifically on their friendships and sexual relationships. She incorporated findings from her own research and from the research by Rachel, Imke and Sue into a composite chapter. Every chapter was discussed repeatedly in collective workshops, and read and reread by each member of the team. Both Rachel and Jeremy restructured and rewrote almost every chapter. Some sections of the book have appeared in other forms. Sue, Imke and Lauren drew on their analyses for their master’s dissertations (Gooskens 2006; Kahn 2008; Moses 2005). Jeremy, Sue, Imke and Lauren contributed articles to a special issue of Social Dynamics (32[1] 2006). Rachel and Imke co-wrote an article on the ethics of conducting research with children in Anthropology Southern Africa (Bray & Gooskens 2006). Rachel drew on this and further ethnographic work with mothers

ix and young children to co-write work on childcare, poverty and HIV/AIDS with Rene Brandt in, among others, the Journal of Children and Poverty (Bray & Brandt 2007). Most of these papers – and others – were published as working papers in the CSSR Working Paper Series. Ariane de Lannoy, a PhD student in the CSSR, who is researching educational decision-making among young people in Cape Town, provided particular input to Chapter 6. Katherine Ensler, a visiting student from Princeton, assisted with observational research in high schools in Fish Hoek and Masiphumelele. This research was only possible because of the enthusiasm shown by many children and adolescents in Fish Hoek, Ocean View and Masiphumelele, and by many of their family members and neighbours. We are especially grateful to the six teenage residents of the Valley who volunteered to join the team as young researchers: Riccardo Herdien, Thandolwethu Mbi, Karen Painter, Samantha Peacocke, Zahir Slarmie and Siyabulela White. All names used in the text are pseudonyms. We were able to conduct research inside schools through the generous assistance of the principals and teachers at Fish Hoek Primary, Middle and Senior High; Marine Primary; Ocean View Secondary; Ukhanyo Primary; and Masiphumelele High. We are also grateful to the Education Department for their permission – and especially to Dr Ronald Cornelissen. Staff and volunteers working in state services, NGOs and churches welcomed us into their work environments or gave their time for interviews or informal discussions. Nomatamsanqa Fani and Lindiwe Mthembu-Salter provided invaluable research assistance and translation services. The research presented in this book was funded largely by the CSSR. The funders included the Andrew W Mellon Foundation, as part of its grant to establish the CSSR, and the Ford Foundation, through a grant to the AIDS and Society Research

Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download Unit (which is part of the CSSR) to support research that generates new forms of knowledge. Sue Moses received a generous scholarship from the Potter Charitable Trust, which also funded a workshop in early 2005. The major funder of CAPS was the US National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, through grants R01-HD39788 (research on ‘Families, Communities and Youth Outcomes in South Africa’) and R01-HD045581 (research on ‘Family Support and Rapid Social Change in South Africa’). A number of academics provided important advice along the way, especially Andy Dawes, Pamela Reynolds, Fiona Ross and Susan Levine, and our colleagues in the CSSR who gave feedback on presentations in the CSSR seminar series. This publication was supported with generous assistance from the University of Cape Town and the South African Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development (SANPAD).

x The Fish Hoek valley

The research for this book was conducted in the Fish Hoek valley, with the participants in the study drawn from three of its major communities: Fish Hoek, Ocean View and Masiphumelele. This section provides a visual introduction to the area, as seen through the eyes of the young participants themselves. They took all the photographs presented here, and drew all of the maps with the exception of Map 1 and Map 7. Situated in the southern part of the , the Fish Hoek valley (referred to as ‘the Valley’ throughout this book) originally consisted of a middle-class coastal village, and farmlands. Under apartheid it was almost entirely a ‘white group area’ which meant that ‘non-white’ people were permitted to live in the area only if they were employed as domestic workers or farm labourers. In the 1960s Ocean View, a small working-class housing estate, was built in an isolated area in the Valley to accommodate ‘coloured’ people who were forcibly resettled there from other areas in the southern peninsula. The 1980s and 1990s saw significant growth throughout the Valley. The existing villages of Fish Hoek, Noordhoek and expanded, and new suburbs, such as Capri and San Michel, were developed. By the early 1990s, approximately half the population, occupying most of the Valley, was ‘white’ and just under half, confined to Ocean View, was ‘coloured’. Masiphumelele was established in 1991 as a semi-formal settlement for the small number of African people already living in the Valley, either legally or illegally. By 2001, however, Masiphumelele, too, had grown to the point Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download where it accommodated almost 25 per cent of the population in the Valley. Today, the Valley has become a suburban expansion of Cape Town, and the population has doubled. There are many signs of post-apartheid change – almost everyone throughout the Valley has access to electricity, basic sanitation, schools and healthcare facilities. However, the spatial impress of apartheid remains: the majority of the coloured and African residents live within the narrow confines of Ocean View and Masiphumelele, whilst the richer, white residents live in the lush suburbs and smallholdings that have developed across the area, from one coast to the other.

1 Locating the Valley

Map 1 The Fish Hoek Valley This map shows the three neighbourhoods researched (reading from left to right): Ocean View, Masiphumelele and Fish Hoek, with the main arterial routes linking them to Greater Cape Town in the north. The insert shows the position of the Valley relative to Cape Town. Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download

2 Local neighbourhoods

Photo 1 Ocean View central Ocean View has a handful of formal shops, including a small supermarket, butchery and video-hire store, as well as informal shops operating out of people’s homes. The only sports facilities are bare soccer fields. The young person who took Photo 2 makes quite clear the reason for the name of her neighbourhood. Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download

Photo 2 Ocean View residential

3 Photo 3 Masiphumelele central Masiphumelele has only informal spaza shops run from shacks, roadside sellers and shebeens (bars). Its soccer field is a patch of ground filled with rubble, which until recently was covered with temporary classrooms for the high school. Although there are some three-room brick homes recently built by the government, most people live in small, informally built shacks like the one shown in Photo 4. Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download

Photo 4 Masiphumelele residential

4 Photo 5 Fish Hoek central Fish Hoek has a wide range of supermarkets and shops; restaurants; an 80-year-old department store; a well-stocked library; tennis courts and lush sports fields with clubhouses. Quiet, tree-lined streets and solidly constructed homes characterise the residential area. Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download

Photo 6 Fish Hoek residential

5 Mapping our neighbourhoods

Map 2 Ocean View: Dangerous places A group of grade-9 boys from Ocean View mapped the areas in their neighbourhood that they consider to be dangerous.

Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download In the top left corner they drew an area of informal housing named Mountain View where they say a lot of gangsters live, and you are likely to be robbed or stabbed if you go there. To the right is Soetwater, an area slightly outside of Ocean View, where people go drag racing. It is an unsafe place because cars crash and spectators get hurt. On the right, behind a row of houses, is an open space near the rubbish dump, often used for illicit activities. Because it is unlit it is particularly dangerous after dark, when you risk being attacked if you stumble across someone lurking there. In the centre of the map are the ‘flats’ (blocks of one- and two-roomed apartments), where many of the children live. These are dangerous because people drink and take drugs, resulting in fights and stabbings. The children who live there stay in after dark because ‘gangsters come and sit on the stoep (veranda) and smoke dagga and make a noise. They often don’t want to leave. Sometimes adults help to chase them away, but if there are no adults home then we shoot stones and marbles with a catapult at them or throw hot water over them and then they go away.’ ‘Nella’s Pap’, in the bottom left-hand corner of the map is one of the many shebeens in Ocean View. The boys say they are dangerous mainly after dark, when people get drunk and become violent.

6 Map 3 Masiphumelele: Our yard Praise, a girl aged 12, drew this map of her immediate surrounds in Masiphumelele.

Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download She describes her map: I live in this shack [bottom left quadrant]. We’ve got a stove and a fridge in our kitchen, and my parents have a bed with a beautiful cover. We share our yard with other families [points to other shacks in her drawing]. Our houses are built close together and they are all different sizes – some of them are big [points to the house in the top right quadrant] and some are very small [indicates the house in the centre]. I like staying here because all my friends are here and they can come to my house and I can go to their houses. Sometimes my friends’ places can also feel like my own home, so I have drawn the furniture in their houses too. We all use the toilet and the shower and tap here [points to bottom right quadrant]. And after we’ve washed our clothes we hang them up between our houses [indicates the line of washing in her drawing]. My friends and I always help each other and the other aunties to hang up the washing and take it down again.

7 Map 4 Fish Hoek: My community Drawn by 13-year-old Helen, this map depicts her immediate ‘world’ in Fish Hoek and its surrounds. Her map includes several friends’ houses, none of which are within walking distance: they are spread across an area which ranges from a five-

Free download from www.hsrcpress.ac.za Free download minute to a 20-minute drive from her home. Below her house in the centre-left of the map, Helen includes in her world the beach and the railway station, roughly a five-minute drive away. In the centre she has drawn a nearby shop she sometimes walks to with her mother. To the right is Fish Hoek itself, where she has shown the school she attends, her church and two of her friends’ houses. For Helen, getting to any of these places entails a ten- to fifteen- minute drive with one of her parents. In the top right corner of her map, Helen’s world expands beyond the Fish Hoek Valley to include the place where her father works in Constantia, a wealthy suburb 20 minutes’ drive away from her home. On the other side of the mountain, in Noordhoek, she has shown another friend’s house and the Longbeach Mall, where she goes shopping with her parents on weekends (a ten-minute drive).

8 How we spend our time

Photo 7 Ocean View: The Fiesta Girls Mina and her friends have given themselves a group or gang name ‘because we do everything together’. Here they are outs