Duncan Village is a township in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The township is located about five kilometres away from the East London central business district (CBD). Duncan Village is divided into six wards, with each headed by a ward councillor. There are no clear divisions between the informal and formal parts of the township since most shacks are planted on the open spaces within formal houses. [1]
The township of Duncan Village was founded in 1941. It was named after the then Governor-General of the Union of South Africa, Sir Patrick Duncan, who oversaw the opening of what was called a "leasehold tenure area" in the East Bank location. The township was created to solve a housing crisis in East London during the late 1930s and early 1940s. The decision to establish Duncan Village was based on the recommendations of the Thornton Commission of 1937, which was put in place to solve overcrowding in East Bank, East London. The commission recommended the building of an entirely new location on a new site, the utilisation of East Bank and that all the wood and iron dwellings in the East Bank be demolished and replaced with houses built "on town planning lines". [2]
The response of the East London Municipality to the commission's recommendations was to build Duncan Village in 1941. By 1944, 628 houses had been completed in the new township. Contrary to the Thornton Commission's recommendations, the shacks were not demolished in East Bank. The first residents in Duncan Village were black African migrant workers from the rural areas surrounding East London and a small group of black Africans who regarded themselves as fully urbanised East London residents with no links to the rural areas. Hygiene proved to be a problem in Duncan Village, largely because the government was struggling to maintain the streets and sanitation. The township was dealing with a serious case of tuberculosis in the 1940s. In 1949 every third child born in the location died from the disease. [2] To deal with the issue of overcrowding and poor hygiene in the township and surrounding areas, the East London Municipality created Mdantsane in 1962. Between 1964 and 1983, 80 000 people were moved from Duncan Village to Mdantsane. [3]
In 1985, the East London Municipality launched a plan to improve Duncan Village into a middle-class neighbourhood. This proved unsuccessful as the state could not move the 15,000 shacks which were in the area at the time. [3] In describing the government's attempt to move residents from Duncan Village to Mdantsane, one of the councillors interviewed by Patricia Ndhlovu for her research paper titled Understanding the local state, service delivery and protests in post-Apartheid South Africa: The case of Duncan Village and Bcmm, East London said, "For us it was an 'anti-removal struggle', we were supposed to be removed from this place in 1985; they made it worse in 1985. There was a call from the ANC abroad that we were following to render the country 'ungovernable', and apartheid 'unworkable' and we started with anti-removals because we were supposed to be moved to Mdantsane. We resisted but at a cost, we lost over 30 people and had massive funerals in 1985." During the 1990s and early 2000s, Duncan Village residents received houses in the Reeston area. This failed to combat the increasing number of shackdwellers from the surrounding rural areas. [1]
On 9 November 1952, 1500 residents of East London's locations attended a mass meeting at Bantu Square in Duncan Village. The residents gathered in support of the African National Congress' 1952 Defiance Campaign. But the 9 November meeting followed in the wake of rioting in Kimberley and Port Elizabeth, a ban on gatherings and the restriction of 52 Eastern Cape leaders in terms of the Riotous Assemblies and Suppression of Communism Acts. The ANC Youth League President, Skei Gwentshe, himself restricted, obtained permission from the chief magistrate and the district commandant for a prayer meeting to protest the bannings.[ citation needed ]
Police were monitoring the meeting. As soon as the meeting ended, the police dispersed the crowd, the crowd retaliated. A battle between the residents and the police ensued. A white insurance salesman, Barend Vorster and an Irish nun, Elsie Quinlan, were killed in the unrest. Quinlan (also known as Sister Aidan) a medical doctor who had set up the St Peter Claver mission hospital in East London, was stoned to death and burnt beyond recognition. According to newspaper reports, there nine people died, including seven black Africans from Duncan Village, and 27 reported injured. However, Ntsebeza 1993 , p. 46 records a certain D. Card, stating about 200 people were shot by the police. In his words, Card said: "Newspapers carried out that only nine people were shot, but from the removal of bodies we established that there were round about 200 people shot." No police were injured during the riots. Within 10 days, 150 Africans were arrested for pass offences. Fifteen were charged with the murder of Dr Quinlan, five convicted of murder and two hanged. [2]
On 11 August 1985, following the funeral of murdered UDF leader Victoria Mxenge in Rayi village, returning mourners carried out arson attacks, and violence continued on the following days. All six community councillors' homes were burnt down and homes of police officers and suspected collaborators were also attacked. 19 people died and 138 were injured. [4] On 28 March 2008, former South African President Thabo Mbeki unveiled the Duncan Village Massacre Memorial in honour of the victims of the 1985 massacre near the Duncan Village Cemetery. [5]
East London is a city on the southeastern coast of South Africa, in the Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality, Eastern Cape Province. The city lies on the Indian Ocean coast, largely between the Buffalo River and the Nahoon River, and hosts the country's only river port. As of 2011, East London had a population of over 267,000 with over 755,000 in the surrounding metropolitan area.
In South Africa, the terms township and location usually refers to an under-developed, racially segregated urban area, from the late 19th century until the end of apartheid, were reserved for non-whites, namely Black Africans, Coloureds and Indians. Townships were usually built on the periphery of towns and cities. The term township also has a distinct legal meaning in South Africa's system of land title, which carries no racial connotations.
Alexandra, informally abbreviated to Alex, is a township in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality and is located next to the wealthy suburb of Sandton. Alexandra is bounded by Wynberg on the west, Marlboro and Kelvin on the north, Kew, Lombardy West and Lombardy East on the south. Alexandra is one of the poorest urban areas in the country. Alexandra is situated on the banks of the Jukskei River. In addition to its original, reasonably well-built houses, it also has a large number of informal dwellings or "shacks" called imikhukhu.
The following lists events that happened during 1987 in South Africa.
The Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality situated on the east coast of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It includes the towns of East London, Bhisho and Qonce, as well as the large townships of Mdantsane and Zwelitsha.
Khayelitsha is a township in Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats in the City of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality. The name is Xhosa for New Home. It is reputed to be one of the largest and fastest-growing townships in South Africa.
Mdantsane is a South African urban township situated 15 km away from East London and 37 km away from Qonce in the Eastern Cape. It is the second largest township in Eastern Cape and 17th largest in the Top 20 largest townships in South Africa.
Chief Botha Sigcau was a King in Eastern Pondoland, Transkei, South Africa (1939–1976) and later the figurehead President of Transkei from 1976 to 1978. A graduate of the University of Fort Hare, Sigcau was an early supporter of the Bantu Authorities in Transkei and was rewarded by the South African government when he was appointed chairman of the Transkei Territorial Authority, the parliament before independence.
The Landless People's Movement is an independent social movement in South Africa. It consisted of rural people and people living in shack settlements in cities. The Landless People's Movement boycotted parliamentary elections and had a history of conflict with the African National Congress. The Landless People's Movement was affiliated to Via Campesina internationally and its Johannesburg branches to the Poor People's Alliance in South Africa.
South Africa has been dubbed "the protest capital of the world", with one of the highest rates of public protests in the world.
The Constitution of South Africa protects all basic political freedoms. However, there have been many incidents of political repression, dating back to at least 2002, as well as threats of future repression in violation of this constitution leading some analysts, civil society organisations and popular movements to conclude that there is a new climate of political repression or a decline in political tolerance.
Matthew Goniwe OLS was a South African anti-apartheid activist and one of The Cradock Four murdered by the South African Police in 1985.
On 18 July 1983, Mdantsane and East London communities embarked on a bus boycott to protest an unannounced five cent increase in bus fares. The residents abandoned the partly Ciskei government-owned Ciskei Transport Corporation (CTC) buses for taxis and trains. On 4 August 1983, the Ciskei police tried to prevent residents from taking the train at Egerton train station in Mdantsane. After hesitating, the crowd advanced a few paces. However, as the police drew their guns, the people stopped. Without warning, the police fired into the crowd killing 11 and injuring 36 commuters, leading to what is now known as the Egerton railway station bus boycott massacre, the Mdantsane bus boycott massacre, the Egerton massacre, and similar terms.
The Cradock Four were a group of four anti-Apartheid activists who were abducted and murdered by South African security police in June 1985, named as such as all four were from the town of Cradock, Eastern Cape. The South African apartheid government denied that they had ordered the killings, but a document leaked to the press years later resulted in the removal of several police officers. At the second inquest, a judge ruled that the "security forces" were responsible, but named no one individual.
On 17 November 1985, 2000 residents from Mlungisi township in Queenstown, Eastern Cape, gathered in Nonzwakazi Methodist Church to hear back from the Local Residents Association, who, in early November, had met with the Department of Education and Training, the Queenstown municipality, the Eastern Cape Development Board, and the Queenstown Chamber of Commerce to discuss the end of the consumer boycott. The meeting was short-lived as members of the Queenstown branch of the South African Police stormed into the meeting and opened fire on the residents. In the ensuing conflict between police and residents, 14 people were shot dead and 22 were injured. This incident is known as the 1985 Queenstown Massacre.
Elsie Quinlan, religious name Mary Aidan, was a Dominican sister who was killed in Duncan Village in 1952, by a mob of ANC rioters.
Donald Card was a South African security constable and politician who was the Mayor of East London, South Africa.
Bus boycotts in South Africa were a series of protests that took place in the Union of South Africa and in the present Republic of South Africa against increasing prices of transport fees and segregating practices during the Apartheid to the present.
In early January 2022, the Eastern Cape province in South Africa experienced heavy rain and flooding following a thunderstorm that swept away homes, personal belongings and loved ones. These flash floods have left hundreds homeless, especially in township of Mdantsane which is situated on a floodplain making it more vulnerable to these types of natural disasters. Scientists believe that climate change is responsible for the droughts and floods along the eastern coastline. There were 20 casualties from this disaster, including a police rescue diver who, after saving three lives, got caught on a rope and drowned.
The Vaal uprising was a period of popular revolt in black townships in apartheid South Africa, beginning in the Vaal Triangle on 3 September 1984. Sometimes known as the township revolt and driven both by local grievances and by opposition to apartheid, the uprising lasted two years and affected most regions of the country. The government of P. W. Botha did not succeed in curbing the violence until after it imposed a national state of emergency in June 1986.