Cape Town township tour - by Vicki

South African townships have a long and violent history under the apartheid era. In the post-apartheid era I was keen for us to visit a township in Cape Town and see how black South Africans were getting along. We used Vamos tour company because they support community projects in Langa and employ locals. This is not the cheapest way to visit a township but probably the safest.

The first township we visited was Guguletha, which has a population of around 400 000 people. This township has a history of violence that is still present today. We drove along the main thoroughfare passed the memorial to the 'Gugulethu Seven', seven young men bashed to death by police, and the memorial to Amy Biehl, a young white anti-apartheid activist killed by township residents’. Both memorials are poignant reminders of the violence of the apartheid era. Despite the continuing social unrest in this community both memorials are in very good condition.

Memorial to the 'Gugulethu Seven'

Amy Biehl Memorial

Typical of all townships there are only two entry/exit points. This township has two modes of public transport available – mini-buses which take people to other towns/suburbs and train stations, and cars (“cockroaches”) which carry people only within the township. Private car ownership is low. The township has various housing options ranging from shanties and small to medium detached houses. Detached houses make up about 65 per cent of the housing stock, which surprised us because images of shanties dominate the electronic media. Nonetheless the shanties occupy the fringe of the township and are most visible from the highways.

Langa is the second township we visited, it was established in 1924 and is the oldest in Cape Town. Langa’s population is around 90 000 and continues to grow. The population is predominantly Xhosa, whose language includes three distinct “click” sounds and is fascinating to listen to. More importantly, from an overseas visitors’ perspective, there are low levels of crime and personal safety is fairly good.

Langa is a small township by current standards and has little land available to expand. There is an on-going program of redeveloping hostels and converting them to family housing, building three and four storey apartment blocks for family housing and building new detached housing where shanties have been demolished. The community has quarantined a small area of land for traditional initiation ceremonies – rites of passage to manhood. The recently initiated young men are seen wearing their “Sunday best”, which they wear for one month. Traditional initiation ceremonies for women are conducted as part of a wedding ceremony.

Our walking tour of Langa began at the Community Centre which runs training projects in ceramics, painting and picture framing, and beading to foster job opportunities for its residents. The ceramics program takes 24 trainees per year and covers all aspects of producing plates, bowls, mugs etc.

Langa Community Centre and ceramic workshop “in action”

 
Outside the Community Centre Gladstone, our guide, lists the range of services within Langa – schools, hospital, police, local government (manages housing) - and a railway station nearby. The housing stock ranges from shanties, to hostels and family apartments to detached houses. Gladstone also tells us that there is some wealth in the township signified by car ownership and attending school outside the township. The only green public space in Langa is the park beside the Community Centre, with its large shady trees.

Young children rush to greet us.

Our first stop has to be the smallest dwellings at Langa – a steel shipping container divided into two rooms each with a small window and uninsulated. There are two rows of six containers which share an ablutions block where water is supplied free. A look inside one room reveals a double bed, wardrobe, fridge, electric double hotplate, and TV with barely any room left to stand up. The occupants, a woman and two small children, have been living there for five years. Gladstone suggests that she could have to wait another two years before she gets allocated something bigger – amazing! Electricity is supplied to each room using a pre-paid system like pay-as-you-go mobile phone vouchers.

One room 'half container' houses

Langa residents are perpetually on a housing waiting list – always waiting for a bigger home. We wonder if this upsets people or they believe there is an opportunity for their number to come up. Gladstone suggests that most people are optimistic and believe the system works even though there is constant evidence of corruption and  bribe taking.

Down the street there are small shops selling fruit, vegetables, traditional alcohol, cigarettes and sheeps heads. Sheeps head are a local delicacy prepared over open fires – they take hours to prepare and are sold for only R40 (AUS$4.40). This is women’s work and they toil in the heat under a burning sky – it is such a small reward for their effort.

Preparing sheeps heads (they mainly come from Australia and New Zealand!)

 Playing dominoes

Onward through Langa we wander amongst an area of hostels shoulder-to-shoulder with a central lane between. One of these hostels is where Gladstone grew up. Hostels are entered in the middle into a large shared area (4x5metres) with two concrete picnic-style table and benches, a fridge, and a sink. Off to each side are three bedrooms (2x3metres each) with three beds each plus a bathroom and a kitchen at each end of the hostel. Adults sleep in the bedrooms, children sleep on the floor and table tops. During Gladstone’s time in the hostel up to 30 children slept in the middle area. There is a pay-as-you-go box for electricity to each bedroom and one for the shared area. Resident’s pool their money to buy cleaning products and electricity for the fridge. In the bedrooms all you own is your bed – a platform across two concrete piers to put a mattress on and store your personal items below. The lack of personal space and privacy are insurmountable. School (home)work is done after midnight when everyone has gone to bed. The hostel is spartan but clean.

A hostel bed costs R20 (AUS$2.20) per month.  

Hostel blocks

In a nearby hostel a traditional medicine man is selling (“mutti”)herbs and other items. People come and go. We visit another hostel recently renovated into family housing – privacy guaranteed. TVs are common place in most homes because we hear the noise drift outdoors. Fridges are also common place. Down the street further we walk passed some beautiful three storey apartments and detached houses. The detached houses have three bedrooms, garages and carports and are fenced for privacy.

Beautiiful new houses, yet to be occupied

Along the edge of Langa we wander through the shanties. Toilets are in rows on the external road, interspersed with tap stands for bucketing water to the shanties. One large communal wash stand is centrally located. An interesting range of building materials have been used – strips of wood, metal and plastic signs, bits of corrugated iron, and a small window here and there. Some shanties have fences and gardens, a few have animal (goat) pens.

Shanties

There is evidence of shanties being removed and we wonder why people don’t rush to build again. Gladstone explains that the community knows that new housing is planned here and they will ensure that no-one builds because others are on the waiting list for this new housing.

Inside a shanty, a 6x3 metre two room residence, built of wood and corrugated iron we see walls lined with plastic signs and linoleum over packed earth. This young family of three has a TV, micro-wave, fridge, two hot-plate stove and kerosene heater for use in winter. They have electricity but no running water and there is little insulation - I am sure it is very cold and wet here in winter. They pay no rent to the local government and therefore it is understandable why a young couple with energy and some building materials would choose to live in a shanty for an indeterminate time while they wait for better housing.

We looked inside this typical shanty as well as seeing the laundry.

It is now later afternoon and children are streaming home from school. Our last stop is Happy Feet, a community project for children funded by Vamos. The aim of the project is to provide some afternoon tea and activities to divert children away from gangs and other anti-social activities. Happy Feet is a reference to the dance troupe based on miners’ singing and dancing – a stomping, gum-boot slapping set of dances. Happy Feet have a simple stage, their name is graffitied on the fence and they have an old container for a club house. On our arrival we are greeted by dozens of children – two or three hold each of our hands. It is clear that they are proud of their dancing and that many of the younger children aspire to become part of the dance troupe.

Happy feet troupe and followers

From our short visit we left with the impression that Langa is a place where optimism and opportunity are alive. There are projects and people seeking to make Langa a good place to stay rather than flee. As a visitor we barely touched the surface of what makes this community tick. Nonetheless visiting a township is an experience I would recommend to others.

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