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Before flying to Durban we went on a guided tour of the black and coloured townships of Cape Town. It was a very interesting to see the conditions which a large part of the population had to endure, but we also learned that the situation was not hopeless and improvements were certainly happening. After spending the night in Durban we travelled back to Swaziland to stay at an orphanage in Nhlangano which was run by Borgny, a relative of ours.
South African Adventure 1999, Part 8: From Cape Town back to Swaziland via Durban
Jan Arild Teland2006-05-08 20:24:05
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empty on this sunday morning. Coming through the city we stopped at a place outside called District Six, where there wasn't much to see. There was a large open area here now, but Frank explained that this had once been a lively community. However, during Apartheid the people living there had been forced out of their homes and the whole are demolished. They had been relocated to where the government meant they ought to be living, classified according to race.
After District Six we drove around the mountain to the townships. We first stopped right outside a township called Langa. Frank showed us some tents on a green area between the township and the motorway, and explained that some young boys from Langa were living there. Apparently it was an old tradition that boys were sent out into the wilderness and had to prove themselves by finding their own food etc. This tradition seemed to have persisted, even though they didn't live in the bush anymore. Instead the boys were sent into this area of a few hundred square meters, bordered by the motorway and a huge power plant! There obviously wasn't much wildlife that they could hunt for food around here, so surviving was not easy! Frank explained that this was one of many example of old traditions getting in the way of progress.
We then drove into Langa itself and stopped in some street while Frank started telling us about this place. The street was lined up with several very small houses, often with a shack outside in a small garden. Frank explained that during Apartheid the houses were rented to black men who were working in Cape Town trying to support their family back in the socalled "homelands". When Apartheid was abolished, many families had moved from the homelands and into the cities, meaning these houses had to accommodate large families, which they were much too small for. This was the reason for all the shacks next to the houses. They were just an emergency solution as the
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See photographs from:
South Africa Gallery
,
Swaziland Gallery
