Township

Apartheid, the Afrikaans word for the policy of segregation of races, ended less than twenty years ago, but its evidence and its legacy are impossible to ignore here in South Africa.  Even if one chose to visit only private game parks, golf courses and high end resorts, you would still drive by a Township, Location or Informal Settlement on your way from the airport to your luxury destination.  Today, most foreigners would see them as slums or shanty towns, but for Jon and I, it was important to understand how they came to be, and what they are like inside, given that millions of South Africans call them home and that we had driven by so many of them.  We drove through one township on the edge of Kimberley, but without a guide or an invitation, we did not gain much insight.  So in Cape Town, where tours are easily available and affordable, we signed up to visit two, Langa and Khayelitsha, as well as the District Six Musueum.  Tours are welcomed by township leaders, as they bring both tourism dollars into the township but also make "outsiders" more aware of the conditions and challenges faced by these communities.  Just like the South African media, these tours put it all out there.  Nothing is swept under the rug, not the ugly, not the bad, and not beautiful.

Khayelitsha is home to over 2 million people.

Around 1913 and 1936, the British, who controlled South Africa at the time, began to segregate Black Africans, Asians from India and Indonesia, and people of mixed race, into reserves to contain these populations and to preserve most of the remaining land for those of European descent -- much as native Americans were forced onto reservations in the US.  When the National Party (Afrikaans) came to power in 1948, this policy of segregation was formalized into the creation of "Homelands" for the dark skinned people.  They got about 13% of the land, and the white-skinned people got about 87% of the land.  But the English and Afrikaans wanted cheap labor to work in their mines, factories and farms, so they created segregated places for this labor (men only) to live.  Their families had to remain in the Homelands, and the men lived in newly- created "Townships" near work, and usually along a major highway for ease of transportation.  There were separate townships for Black Africans, Asians, and Colored (people of mixed race).  All Townships were -- and are -- enclosed by tall fences.

Old dormitory at Langa awaiting renovation.

Originally, townships consisted of dormitories.  Langa, founded in the early 1920s under the Urban Areas Act, is one of the oldest townships around Cape Town.  An older unit (within one building) we visited initially housed about 18 men; three men to a room that is smaller than a typical college dormitory room, and about six rooms per unit which had a small common room and kitchen area.  These men would work from January through November and go home to visit their families in December.  Their families were not allowed to visit them and they had to carry a Pass at all times indicating where they were allowed to go.  After Apartheid ended, families were able to join their husbands and fathers, and now, where three men once lived, three families now live.  That is one small room, three single bunk beds, with small children on the floor, adults sharing the bed and older children sleeping out in the common room.  The beds are high so that there is storage room underneath, and some storage suspended from the ceiling.  It is not a lot of space and there cannot be much privacy.

An old dorm room, now accommodating families.

Sign from the era, District Six Museum

But not all who live in a Township arrived there under this method of labor camps giving way, post-apartheid, to family homes. In Cape Town, there was a neighborhood called District Six.  It was close to the waterfront and people of different races lived there together.  From the 1960s to 1980s, the government -- seeking to make Cape Town more white, removed all the dark-skinned people who lived there out of their homes and into one of the several townships around Cape Town.  Their homes were destroyed, much of the area is still vacant, and only the churches are left from the original community.  Today, the Methodist Church, which had been a liquor store before becoming a church, has been turned in to the District Six Museum.  This museum is dedicated to preserving the memories of what the community once was like, the memories of those who lived there and to serve as testament to the extent to which the Apartheid regime would go to keep different races segregated from each other and from the white community.  Our young guide was born in Langa Township, but his family had been evicted from District Six and moved there against their will.  People did not have a choice to where they were moved, and neighbors were separated from each other indifferently, and due to the Pass law, were not free to visit each other.

An individual home, view to the left.

That is how Townships came to have homes other than dormitories.  What looks like an individual shack is a family’s home, cobbled together from what ever materials they could get.  They are sometimes no more than 10 feet by 10 feet and are very, very close together.  They are hot in the summer and cold in the winter, because they are made out of spare wood, cardboard, tin, and plastic.  Those who cannot afford the pay-as- you-go electricity cook their food and heat their homes with small burners, which often results in fires and loss of life.  Access to water and proper sewer are also major issues.  For the most part, we saw port-a-potties, but the occasional out house was also evident.

The same home, view to the right.  All very combustible.

Renovated dorm for single family.

Some homes in some townships are nicer and were built by the companies that employed the workers.  Some dormitories were, and are being, renovated by local governments to accommodate families.  Those that live three families to a room, pay 20 Rand a month in rent.  That is 6-7 US dollars.  A renovated single-family apartment costs about 300 Rand a month (about $37).  If someone makes enough money, they can buy a “mortgage” home in a township and live “upscale” compared to their neighbors.  What struck Jon and I as being so different from America was that people more often than not stayed in their township, even if they made more money.  They either added a second floor, or moved to a newer home within the township.  In America, if one makes more money, one often moves to a more expensive neighborhood.  Here in South Africa, people love their communities and, even though the community was founded against their will, it is now their home and many choose not to leave, even if they can.

Brand new houses along the edge of Langa.

Woman carrying sheep heads for the grill.

Life and business is vibrant in a township.  Small convenience shops are within walking distance, barber and beauty shops are nearby created from an old shipping container.  Local food is grilled for the equivalent of fast food carry out.  While grilled sausages seemed appealing, the sheep’s heads were a bit hard to imagine as being yummy.  But it shows the extent to which people will go to get protein.  The sheep heads are discarded from butcheries, but are put to good use by people who are too poor to afford a mutton roast or a leg of lamb.  Our guide told us that the cheeks, tongues and eyeballs were the best, but that even they would not eat the brain.  There is also a lively music scene at night.

In Khayelitsha, we visited the first Bed and Breakfast located in a Township.  Vicky is an entrepreneur who saw tourists visiting the New South Africa and thought she would go after some of their business.  Her first customers were young people from The Netherlands.  For those who want an authentic township experience, and some good food, she comes highly recommended in the Lonely Planet guide to South Africa.  She has inspired others to go into this business as well and puts some of her earnings back into the community by supporting school children who pass to the next grade.

We visited a nursery school, founded by a local woman who wanted the children to be prepared for primary school.  The population of these townships is very large, with Mitchell's Plain and Khayelitsha being among Cape Town's largest.  In Langa alone, with close to a million residents, there are four high schools; Khayelitsha is home to over two million people.  The human density is hard to imagine and is difficult to capture without aerial photography.

A shebeen, in Langa

Like any neighborhood anywhere in the world, township neighborhoods have their local pub.  It is called a shebeen, which comes from an Irish word used the world over to mean an illegal bar that sells home brewed alcohol.  In South Africa, some shebeens are legal bars, but the names still holds.  In townships, the local sorghum beer, called utshwala,  is definitely homemade.  And, we were told, the best beer is made by women.  Like drinking Kava in Tonga, Fiji and Vanuatu, drinking homemade beer is a social experience, where the men sit in a circle according to senority, the eldest drinks first and they all partake from a communal bowl (or bucket in the shebeen we visited).  I gave the local brew a try, but not being a beer drinker to begin with, I found it a bit too yeasty, thick, and sour for my taste.

Illegal shanty, OK for now, but not eligible for new housing

When one lives in a township legally, you are entitled to an electric box, which is used like a pre-paid phone card.  It is pay as you go, but for those who cannot afford to use electricity, they get 50 Rand worth per month so that they can get light without burning lamps.  There is also a grandfather clause that allows those who built their own homes prior to a certain date, to be eligible for a newly-constructed government home, government budget permitting.  If a home is built after that date, a blue circle with an "x" through it is painted on the home and it is ineligible for (legal) electricity and services.  This is the government’s way of handling squatting, the building of homes on land one does not own and tapping into the electrical grid without paying for it. It is OK to build, but you have no guarantees and no official services.  Adequate housing, like jobs, are in short supply, and the blue circles do not keep people from living there. Nor has it been possible to keep people from moving into the townships from rural areas in search of jobs, and ending up in squatters locations (known as informal settlements) when they cannot find work. And of course, the spaghetti nest of electrical wires illustrates that people will figure out ways to get electricity, whether it is sanctioned or not.  But it is not without personal risk.  Just as the housing material is often combustible, the illegal wiring is not always done properly and electrocutions and fires result.

South Africa's future is its children.

Though the government is slowly making improvements, there is not enough money to make it all happen over night.  There is progress, but there is still a long way to go.  Still, after nearly 20 years, some are angry with ruling African National Congress (ANC) for unmet expectations.  Complicating this housing shortage has been the influx of refugees from other African countries that make South Africa look like the land of golden opportunity.  There are many refugees from Zimbabwe, followed by the Congo, Malawi, Nigeria and other countries.  Sometimes these informal settlements are destroyed and its inhabitants evicted.  But new ones emerge, and will continue to emerge, until there are enough jobs and houses to make informal settlements a part of South Africa's history and not its present.

As we visited the District Six Museum and heard the stories about the creation of Townships, it was impossible for me not to feel the familiar pain and shame of the racism I witnessed as a child in Wichita Falls, Texas where public schools were desegregated under court order nearly 20 years after the Supreme Court ruled in Brown v. Board of Education.  As the recent American film, The Help, reminds us all, racism in parts of America remained pernicious a century after the Civil War and it took one hundred years after the end of slavery and the ratification of our 14th and 15th Amendments to the Constitution for Black Americans to be guaranteed the right to vote and for our own apartheid signs and policies to come down.  While there are still racists in America, and anyone is free to hold racist views, it is no longer socially acceptable and most people find it repugnant.

It is with this historical baggage as an American, that I look at the segregation of the races in South Africa and cannot help but feel heart broken by the sadness and cruelty of it in such an otherwise beautiful country.  And yet, what truly astounds both Jon and I, is just how little animosity there is among those who were most oppressed for those who oppressed them.  Such forgiveness is awe inspiring, and I believe for them, liberating.  And for those who do hold malice, the case of Julius Malema stands as a lesson.  He was the leader of the ANC Youth League, who spouted racial revenge and thought he could get away with it.  He was recently censured by the ANC, demoted from his position, just lost his appeal and his political future is in tatters.  As Jon wrote in his earlier blog on Pride, all the South Africans we have met love their country, love their families and look forward (some rather patiently) to a better tomorrow.