Specific Townships in South Africa
Copied directly from:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manenberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gugulethu
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langa,_Cape_Town
Manenberg
Manenberg is a township of Cape Town South Africa that was created by the apartheid government for low-income Coloured families in the Cape Flats. It has an estimated population of 70,000 residents. The area consists of rows of semi-detached houses and project like flats and was established by the municipal council between 1966 and 1970.
In 1975 the area consisted of about seven corner shops and two liquor outlets. There were no adequate commercial facilities or community services. A railway line from the black township of Gugulethu divides Manenberg. Nyanga Railway Station was established to service the growing population of Gugulethu and Manenberg. The outer boundaries can be traced by following Duinefontein Road which runs, for the most part, parallel to the railway line, to where it meets Lansdowne Road to the south and Klipfontein Road to the north.
The streets of Manenberg were named after rivers. The flats or "courts" were given female names such as Nellie or Mathilda Court, with the exception of the old Alpha and Omega Court, both situated at the entry point to Manenberg. The major road inside Manenberg was called Manenberg Avenue and is still a vibrant avenue filled with cars, minibus taxis and buses.
The area has become overcrowded and living conditions problematic with a high incidence of crime, gangsterism and social disturbance emerging. Manenberg was featured in the National Geographic television series Taboo: Blood Bonds for its street gangs, particularly "The Americans", "Hard Living" and "Clever Kids."
Graffiti exhibits portraying gangster life are prominent in Manenberg. Tupac Shakur features strongly in exhibits of the Hard Livings gang due to his rap lyrics glorifying gangsterism and a life of crime.
The feature documentary MANENBERG http://www.manenberg-themovie.com (2010) by directors/anthropologists Karen Waltorp & Christian Vium (Denmark) http://www.waltorpvium.com gives an intimate portrait of Fazline and Warren, two young people from Manenberg, who are coming-of-age under difficult circumstances. The film raises familiar questions about poverty and power, through the voices and experiences of two young people born into an uncompromising world. One of the most piercing questions of the film is about the power of place in determining oneʼs future. The documentary is based on Karen Waltorp's fieldwork in Manenberg from 2005 to 2009. MANENBERG has been awarded a number of prizes, among which are The Basil Wright Film Prize by The Royal Anthropological Institute in 2011, Best Film in the New Nordic Voices Competition of Nordisk Panorama 2011, as well as Best Film at Auburn International Film Festival 2011.
The famous and well respected jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim has a composition named "Mannenberg" after the township
Gugulethu
Gugulethu or Guguletu is a township 15 km from Cape Town, South Africa.[3]
Nowadays many developments take place and have taken place to develop the townships into suburbs where life can flourish. Mzoli's, S'khomas Butchery, and The Gugulethu Sports Complex are some of the better known hotspots in Gugulethu.
Geography
The main route NY1 runs through the township. The apartheid planners did not give names to any of the roads, all were simply numbered. NY1 stood for NATIVE YARDS 1. There is a strong pressure for many of the apartheid era terms to be named properly.
History
The name is a contraction of igugu lethu, which is Xhosa for our pride. Gugulethu, along with Nyanga, was established in the 1960s due to the overcrowding of Langa, which was the only black residential area for Cape Town at the time. During the Apartheid era black South Africans were not permitted to live in the city of Cape Town, and many people were removed from areas such as District Six to Gugulethu, Nyanga and Langa. The predominant language in Gugulethu is Xhosa.
Crime
According to data collected by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) over 700 people were murdered in Gugulethu between 2005 and 2010. "This amounts to one murder every two-and-a-half days for five consecutive years."[4]
Notable Events
The newest development in Gugulethu is the Guguletu Square Mall which was developed by Old Mutual, Tokyo Sexwale's Group 5 and local businessman Mzoli Ngcawuzele. The development has been controversial with claims of corruption, nepotism and significant protests against the mall's employment practices.[5][6][7] On 29 October 2009, police shot rubber bullets into a crowd of people protesting about the mall.[8]
Langa
Langa is a suburb found in Cape Town, South Africa. It was established in 1927 interms of the 1923 Urban Areas Act. Similar to Nyanga, Langa is one of the many areas in South Africa that were designated for Black Africans before the apartheid era. It is the oldest of such suburbs in Cape Town and was the location of much resistance to apartheid. Langa is also where several people were killed on 21 March 1960 same day as the Sharpeville massacre, during the anti-pass campaign. In 21 March 2010, now 50 years later, a monument was unveiled by the government in remembrance of the people who lost their lives.
Although Langa literally means 'sun' in Xhosa, the name of the township is derived from the name of Langalibalele - a chief and renowned rainmaker who in 1873 was imprisoned on Robben Island for rebelling against the Natal government. Various prominent people fought for his release and he was subsequently confined to a farm called "Uitvlugt", which is on the site of present day Pinelands. Langa, which adjoins Pinelands, commemorates this folk hero as it was developed in 1898 on the land known as "Langalibalele's Location". Hence Langa is often called "Kwa-Langa" meaning 'place of Langa'.
Langa is bordered by Jan Smuts Drive to the west, the N2 to the south, the N7 to the east and is served by Langa Railway Station.
In 2005 Gugas'Thebe, a cultural/ multi-purpose centre was officially opened in Langa after being in operation for a number of years (unofficially). The first Township B&B by the name of Ma Neo (mother of Neo) was opened in 1999.
Joe Slovo which was established in 1990 is the largest informal settlement in Langa and one of the largest in the country. It is currently being threatened with forced removal to make way for the N2 Gateway Housing Project. Some parts of the Joe Slovo informal settlement has since been removed, and transformed into the N2 Gateway Housing Project (2006), as seen when travelling along the Settler's Way N2 Highway out of Cape Town.
Langa has over the years produced some prominent figures in sport, entertainment and other social fields. These famous people in recent times include the late musician Brenda Fassie, international acclaimed marimba group Amampondo, former Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates captain Thabo Mngomeni, boxer Nika Khumalo, South African wicket-keeper Thami Tsolekile and many others. Even decades ago some well known public figures emerged from Langa.
