Reconstructing 'home' in apartheid Cape Town: African women and the process of settlement

Journal of Southern African Studies

Volumn 31, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 611-630

  Lee, Rebekah ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF LONDON   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE; HOUSING CONDITIONS; SETTLEMENT HISTORY; WOMENS STATUS;

AFRICA; CAPE TOWN; EASTERN HEMISPHERE; SOUTH AFRICA; SOUTHERN AFRICA; SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA; WESTERN CAPE; WORLD;

EID: 25444453800     PISSN: 03057070     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/03057070500202998     Document Type: Article

References (110)

1. R. Ginsburg, '"Now I Stay in a House": Renovating the Matchbox in Apartheid-era Soweto', African Studies, 55, 2 (1996), p. 129;
2. Y. Breytenbach, 'A Socio-Spatial Analysis of the Occupancy Patterns of a Typical African Township Plot' (BSocSci (Hons) thesis, University of Cape Town [UCTI, 1988), pp. 22, 27, 50.
3. S. Magona, Forced to Grow (Cape Town, David Philip, 1992), p. 14.
4. Gugulethu was the only major African settlement in Cape Town built during the 'high' phase of apartheid state housing production, from 1950 to 1980. The main characteristics of township planning in this era were established by the NBRI in the early apartheid years. An 'ideal' township was bounded by 'buffer strips', which were normally rivers, railways or major roads. Only a handful of roads served as access points into the township, which, when combined with its particular positioning, meant that state security forces could easily seal-off the township in cases of unrest. Residential development was conceived of in terms of dormitory neighbourhoods made up of standardised houses with little in the way of commercial zones, and roads were designed for easy vehicular access rather than pedestrian traffic. Gugulethu's own design reflects all these elements. See D. Japha and M. Huchzermeyer, 'The History of the Development of Townships in Cape Town, 1920-1992' (The Integration and Urbanisation of Existing Townships in South Africa, Working Paper No. 2, University of Newcastle and University of Cape Town, 1995), pp. 16-19.
5. For a more detailed discussion of apartheid social engineering through residential design, see J. Western, Outcast Cape Town (Cape Town, Human and Rousseau, 1981).
6. Rebecca Ginsburg makes a similar observation in her analysis of Sowetan home improvement strategies in '"Now I Stay in a House"', pp. 134-5, 137.
7. This article is derived from my doctoral research, in which a total of 32 respondents (30 female, two male) across three generational cohorts provided oral testimonies. One respondent, Georgina Dwangu, is not part of the transgenerational set whose testimonies provide the major basis for my dissertation. However, her account of the various renovations to her council house in Gugulethu, where she has lived since the 1970s, is used in this article as supplementary material. See R. Lee, 'Locating "Home": Strategies of Settlement, Identity-formation and Social Change among African Women in Cape Town, 1948-2000' (DPhil thesis, University of Oxford, 2002).
8. This study's small sample size allows for an in-depth, detailed approach to these questions, although it is acknowledged the findings of this research are therefore limited in scope.
9. C. Morton, 'Dwelling and Building in Ngamiland, Northern Botswana' (DPhil thesis, University of Oxford, 2002).
10. N. Gwagwa, 'Women as "Home-makers" and Men as "Heads" of Households: Who is Responsible for Housing Improvements?', in S. Sithole-Fundire, A. Zhou, A. Larsson and A. Schlyter (eds), Gender Research on Urbanization, Planning, Housing and Everyday Life (Harare, Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre and Network, 1995), pp. 42-60;
11. C. Mather and S. Parnell, 'Upgrading "Matchboxes": Urban Renewal in Soweto, 1976-86', in D. Drakakis-Smith (ed.), Economic Growth and Urbanisation in Developing Areas (London, Routledge, 1990), pp. 238-50.
12. Ginsburg, '"Now I Stay in a House"', p. 135,
13. Gwagwa, 'Women as "Home-makers"', pp. 52, 55.
14. Ibid., pp. 57-60.
15. Lee, 'Locating "Home"'.
16. The dynamics of this shift are developed in Lee, 'Locating "Home";
17. see also, in the South African context, D. James, Songs of the Women Migrants: Performance and Identity in South Africa(Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press, 1999);
18. Gwagwa, 'Women as 'Home-makers"';
19. and B. Bozzoli, Women of Phokeng: Consciousness, Life Strategy and Migrancy in South Africa, 1900-1984 (Portsmouth NH, Heinemann, 1991);
20. in the southern African context, see, for example, J. Livingstone, 'Reconfiguring Old Age: Elderly Women and Concerns Over Care in Southeastern Botswana', Medical Anthropology, 22,2 (2003), pp. 205-31,
21. and W. Izzard, 'Migrants and Mothers: Case Studies from Botswana', Journal of Southern African Studies (JSAS), 11, 2 (April 1985), pp. 258-80.
22. H. Fast, 'Pondoks, Houses and Hostels: A History of Nyanga 1946-1970, with a Special Focus on Housing' (PhD thesis, UCT, 1995);
23. B. Kinkead-Weekes, 'Africans in Cape Town: State Policy and Popular Resistance, 1936-73' (PhD thesis, UCT, 1992);
24. H. Fast, 'An Overview of African Settlement in the Cape Metropolitan Area to 1990' (Urban Problems Research Unit, Working Paper No. 53, UCT, 1995);
25. Y. Muthien, State and Resistance in South Africa, 1939-1965 (Aldershot, Avebury, 1994);
26. Lee, 'Locating "Home"'.
27. S. Parnell, 'Race, Class, Gender and Home Ownership Subsidies in South Africa' (paper presented at the Conference on Women and Gender, University of Natal, Durban, 30 January to 2 February 1991), p. 19.
28. The Act provided that only Africans with Section 10 rights could reside legally in a designated Urban Area. Three categories were specified: Section 10 (1)(a) rights were granted if a person had continuously resided in the urban area in question since birth; Section 10 (1)(b) rights were acquired if the person had lived continuously in the urban area for fifteen years or had worked for the same employer for ten years; Section 10 (1)(c) rights were acquired by the dependant of someone with Section 10 (1)(a) or (b) rights. If a person did not have any of these rights, then s/he had to obtain a permit to search for work. See M. Horrell, Legislation and Race Relations: A Summary of the Main South African Laws which Affect Race Relationships (Johannesburg, South African Insitute of Race Relations, 1978), pp. 35-6;
29. Fast, 'An Overview of African Settlement', p. 11.
30. Fast, 'Pondoks, Houses and Hostels', p. 260.
31. Cape Archives (CA), Administration of the Western Cape, AWC 3/45 156, Langa Bantu Advisory Board, draft minutes, 21 November 1968, 22 July 1969 and 1 September 1971.
32. Parnell, 'Race, Class, Gender and Home Ownership', p. 1;
33. Mather and Parnell, 'Upgrading the "Matchboxes"', p. 244.
34. Parnell, 'Race, Class, Gender and Home Ownership', p. 1.
35. A. Mabin and S. Parnell, 'The Question of Working-class Home Ownership' (Carnegie Conference Paper No. 159, Second Carnegie Inquiry into Poverty and Development in Southern Africa, South African Development and Research Unit, Cape Town, 1984).
36. Parnell, 'Race, Class, Gender and Home Ownership', pp. 14-19;
37. Fast, 'An Overview of African Settlement', p. 36.
38. Parnell, 'Race, Class, Gender and Home Ownership', pp. 20-21.
39. Gwagwa, 'Women as "Home-makers"', p. 47.
40. Ibid., pp. 58-60.
41. Bozzoli, Women of Phokeng, pp. 44-5.
42. Information as to the original structure of these council homes was gathered from various respondents as well as the detailed notations of Breytenbach, 'A Socio-spatial Analysis', p. 50.
43. Gertrude Mvo, interview, 6 May 2000, 28 and 29 November 2000;
44. Zanele Mvo, interview, 5 April 2001.
45. Ginsburg, '"Now I Stay in a House"', p. 134;
46. Gwagwa, 'Women as "Home-makers"', pp. 49-50.
47. Grace Madibane, interview, 30 September 1999.
48. Lumka Kakaza, interview, 2 November 2000.
49. See S. Magona, To My Children's Children (Cape Town, David Philip, 1990), p. 151;
50. Ginsburg, '"Now I Stay in a House"';
51. Doris Vanda, interview, 12 December 1998;
52. Gertrude Mvo, interviews, 28 and 29 November 2000;
53. Malane Mfundisi, interview, 23 September 2000;
54. Patricia Mhlaba, interview, 29 May 2000.
55. Eunice Fundani, interview, 11 May 2000.
56. Ginsburg, '"Now I Stay in a House"', pp. 134, 137.
57. Respondents were generally vague regarding the amounts at issue in personal and other family members' wages, particularly when asked to estimate household incomes in past decades. Women engaged in self-employment enterprises were sometimes unable to estimate profit margins, as this income was often sporadic. Thus, it proves difficult to map renovations against any definitive rise (or drop) in household incomes. Also, dependants in these council houses were not uniformly contributing to household pursuits, and their involvement (or lack thereof) in home renovations may be another reflection of this.
58. Ngcokoto uses first-hand testimonies to detail the complex dynamics between youth comrades, elder community leaders, and elected Community Councillors, dynamics which were later manipulated by the state and police to instigate KTC's destruction. See B. Ngcokoto, 'The Day KTC Became Cape Town's Beirut: African Squatters' Struggles in Cape Town, 1983-1986' (paper presented at The History Workshop: Structure and Experience in the Making of Apartheid, University of the Witwatersrand, 6 to 10 February 1990);
59. J. Cole, Crossroads: The Politics of Reform and Repression, 1976-1986 (Johannesburg, Ravan Press, 1987);
60. Fast, 'An Overview of African Settlement', p. 27.
61. Eunice Fundani, interview, 11 May 2000.
62. I b i d.
63. Regina Mhlaba, interview, 19 December 1998.
64. See M. Ramphele, A Bed Called Home: Life in the Migrant Labour Hostels of Cape Town (Cape Town, David Philip, 1993), for a discussion of how severe spatial constraints in Cape Town hostels were negotiated by male labourers and the families who were resident with them;
65. for a more theoretical exploration of apartheid-era conceptions of urban space, see J. Robinson, 'Power, Space and the City: Historical Reflections on Apartheid and Post-apartheid Urban Orders', in D.M. Smith (ed.), The Apartheid City and Beyond: Urbanization and Social Change in South Africa (London, Routledge, 1992), pp. 292-302.
66. Eunice Fundani, interview, 11 May 2000.
67. Lumka Kakaza, interview, 2 November 2000.
68. Plot sizes of respondents' homes averaged approximately 400 square metres. Size varied depending on whether the house was free standing or semi-detached, and whether it was at an end or in the middle of a row of semi-detached houses.
69. Breytenbach, 'A Socio-spatial Analysis', p. 25, notes that the 'considerable' open space afforded by the single corner plot in Gugulethu which was the focus of her research, was used for a vegetable and succulent garden.
70. Urban greening initiatives, which promote self-sufficiency and income-generation through urban-based agriculture, have been a prominent feature of recent township development. See H. Hamann, 'The People's Garden', in the Green Trust Awards special insert, Mail & Guardian, 7 June to 13 June 2001.
71. Similar ratios were reported in Langa and Nyanga townships as well. See 'Socio-economic Characteristics: Langa, Gugulethu, Nyanga, Khayelitsha' (Urban Studies Unit, Cape Town City Council City Planners Department, 1995).
72. D. Japha, 'Townships in Cape Town: Demographics and Other Statistical Indicators' (The Integration and Urbanisation of Existing Townships in the Republic of South Africa Working Paper No. 5, University of Newcastle and University of Cape Town, 1995);
73. Japha and Huchzernmeyer, 'The History of the Development of Townships', pp. 32-3.
74. Mather and Parnell, 'Upgrading the "Matchboxes"', p. 245.
75. Cape Town City Council figures, cited in Japha, 'Townships in Cape Town', p. 19.
76. G. Cook, 'Khayelitsha: New Settlement Forms in the Cape Peninsula', in Smith (ed.), The Apartheid City and Beyond, p. 134.
77. Japha and Huchzermeyer, 'The History of the Development of Townships', pp. 3-4.
78. Pauline Mbono, interview, 12 September 2000;
79. Georgina Dwangu, interview, 3 October 1999.
80. Selina Matika, interview, 14 October 2000.
81. Eunice Fundani, interview, 11 May 2000.
82. Indeed, much of the academic and development-orientated literature ignores this aspect of residential improvement schemes, particularly in the rationale for site and service schemes - the sheer difficulty of finding reliable and affordable material, tabour and expertise with which to upgrade their homes.
83. Pauline Mbono, interview, 12 September 2000.
84. Thabo Madibane, interview, 2 June 2000.
85. Grace Madibane, interview, 20 December 1998.
86. I b i d.
87. Ellen Gqiba, interview, 7 December 1998.
88. The Superintendent of Housing in Gugulethu estimated in 1988 that more than 10,000 people remained on the waiting list for housing there. This glut was compounded by overcrowding, weighing in at an average of almost ten inhabitants per house unit. See S. Makosana, 'Aspects of the Historical Development of Guguletu, 1958-1987, with Special Reference to Housing and Education' (BA (Hons) thesis, UCT, 1988), pp. 37-8.
89. This is detailed in Lee, 'Locating "Home"'.
90. Rita Mfundisi, interview, 10 December 1998.
91. Ellen Gqiba, interview, 7 December 1998.
92. Rand Daily Mail, 4 and 5 March 1983,
93. cited in Mather and Parnell, 'Upgrading the "Matchboxes"', p. 245.
94. Zanele Mvo, interview, 5 April 2001.
95. Eunice Fundani, interview, 11 May 2000.
96. Pauline Mbono, interview, 12 September 2000.
97. It is unclear in this research whether men also employed informal approaches or used other means of finding out about, and acquiring, builders.
98. Pauline Mbono, interview, 12 September 2000.
99. Eunice Fundani, interview, 11 May 2000.
100. C. Moser, 'Women and Self-help Housing Projects: A Conceptual Framework for Analysis and Policy-making', in K. Mathey (ed.), Beyond Self-help Housing (London, Continuum International, 1992), pp. 53-73.
101. See Lee, 'Locating "Home"', pp. 187-9.
102. Zoliswa Mhlaba, interview, 28 November 2000.
103. Matumo Madibane, interview, 10 January 2001.
104. Buyiswa Matika, interview, 6 September 2000. Interestingly, part of the reason why there was no room in her shack was because she filled it with her own personal appliances - a large refrigerator, television, stereo system, microwave and stove dominated the interior.
105. Rachel Mhlaba, interview, 11 December 2000.
106. Zoliswa Mhlaba, interview. 28 November 2000.
107. Matumo Madibane, interview, 10 January 2001.
108. A. Spiegel, V. Watson and P. Wilkinson, 'Domestic Fluidity and Movement Patterns among Cape Town's African Population: Some Implications for Housing Policy' (paper presented at Africa Seminar, Centre for African Studies, UCT, 11 October 1994), p. 15.
109. Nomphelo Fundani, interview, 15 October 2000.
110. For example, given men's (lack of) participation in informal community-based mechanisms of finance, and given the male-dominated nature of the construction industry, one wonders how men may have differently mediated, participated in and perceived the project of home improvement. Apart from male testimonies, African newspapers may provide an alternative, and valuable, source on which to base further analysis of changing African conceptions of house and home.