Gugulethu

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Gugulethu
Outside Mzolis.jpg
Guguletu Supermarket.jpg
Pavement Meat Market.jpg
From top, Mzoli's restaurant & butchery. A spaza shop/grocery run out of an informal house (centre left). A roadside meat market operating out of a household (centre right). The Gugulethu Seven Memorial (bottom).
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Gugulethu
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Gugulethu
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Gugulethu
Coordinates: 33°59′S18°34′E / 33.983°S 18.567°E / -33.983; 18.567
Country South Africa
Province Western Cape
Municipality City of Cape Town
Main Place Cape Town
Government
   Councillor Melody Klaas (ANC) (Ward 40)
(Belinda) Ntombende Landingwe (Ward 41) (ANC)
Mandisa Matshoba (Ward 42) (ANC)
Faiza Adams (Ward 45) (DA)
Area
[1]
  Total
6.49 km2 (2.51 sq mi)
Population
 (2011) [1]
  Total
98,468
  Density15,000/km2 (39,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
[1]
   Black African 98.6%
   Coloured 0.9%
   Indian/Asian 0.1%
  Other0.4%
First languages (2011)
[1]
   Xhosa 88.6%
   English 3.6%
   Sotho 1.9%
   Afrikaans 1.7%
  Other4.2%
Time zone UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)
7750, 7752, 7756

Gugulethu is a township in Western Cape, South Africa and is around 20km from Cape Town. [2] Its name is a contraction of igugu lethu, which is Xhosa for our pride / our hope. The area was the third township to be established in Cape Town, after Nyanga and Langa. [3]

Contents

History

The name is a contraction of igugu lethu, which is Xhosa for our pride/ our hope. The establishment of the township began in 1959 as the government was preparing to forcibly remove blacks in Kensington and other suburbs. Africans were officially banned from District Six in 1964 and were forcibly removed to Gugulethu. Because of the large number of blacks who had been residents in District Six, Gugulethu quickly became the most populous township in the Cape Flats. The predominant language in Gugulethu is Xhosa. Gugulethu is passionately called or referred to as "Gugs" by the locals, which is a nickname stemming from the shortening of the name Gugulethu.

Black residents living in Windermere were forcibly moved to Gugulethu when it was declared a black township. Windermere was declared by Apartheid regime to be a colored area. [4]

Gugulethu was one of the first townships in Cape Town to have a community information technology Center to provide training in multimedia and youth development. [5]

Places of interest

The 'Gugulethu Seven Memorial' was built to commemorate the life of seven activists that were ambushed and killed by the South African security forces on March 3, 1986. The activists were members of uMkhonto weSizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). [6] The seven murdered were Jabulani Godfery Miya, Zandisile Zenith Mjobo, Zola Alfred Swelani, Mandla Simon Mxinwa, Themba Mlifi, Zabonke, John Konile, and Christopher Piet. On Human Rights Day 2000, the memorial was unveiled. [7]

Notable people

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." [16] In a 2017 study of the 50 most violent cities in the world, Cape Town ranked number 15. [17]

Notable incidents

Organisations and projects in Gugulethu

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Main Place Gugulethu". Census 2011.
  2. Busgeeth, Karishma; Rivett, Ulrike (2004-07-07). "The use of a spatial information system in the management of HIV/AIDS in South Africa". International Journal of Health Geographics. 3 (1): 13. doi: 10.1186/1476-072X-3-13 . ISSN   1476-072X. PMC   471560 . PMID   15239839.
  3. "Gugulethu Township". www.sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
  4. Leander (8 November 2013). "Gugulethu Township".
  5. "Gugulethu". www.sa-venues.com.
  6. Leander (8 November 2013). "Gugulethu Township".
  7. "Gugulethu Seven Memorial". www.sa-venues.com.
  8. 1 2 "Gugulethu, Cape Town: The Official Guide". 18 January 2018.
  9. "Gugulethu Square - Home". Gugulethu Square.
  10. "Gugulethu Gets Large Shopping Mall - Property24.com". www.property24.com.
  11. "Gugulethu Sports Centre - Noero Architects". www.noeroarchitects.com.
  12. "Directions from Cape Town to Mzoli's in Gugulethu". www.capetownmagazine.com.
  13. "Maboneng Township Arts Experience". www.sa-venues.com.
  14. "Visiting Ntonga Music School In Gugulethu South Africa - Playing for Change". 15 June 2012.
  15. "Celebrating 8 of the Most Influential Black South African Women Writers". 25 July 2016.
  16. Sapa (16 November 2010). "Over 700 murders in Gugulethu since 2005". Mail & Guardian. Retrieved 19 November 2010.
  17. "These were the 50 most violent cities in the world in 2017". Business Insider .
  18. "Remembering the Gugulethu Seven". www.capetownmagazine.com. Retrieved 2019-12-27.
  19. "Apartheid security police lured youth 'to their slaughter' - ex-Mandela cop". News24.
  20. "Apartheid-era police officers 'decorated' for violent acts - ex-Mandela cop". News24.
  21. Jan Herman (27 January 1994). "Amy Biehl Was a Casualty of the System". Los Angeles Times .
  22. Dan Newling (8 December 2014). "Dewani trial: what really happened and how did police get it so wrong?". The Guardian .
  23. Sesant, Siyabonga. "'Rehabilitation of cannibal killer unlikely'".
  24. "CTown man alive when heart ripped out – cop". The Citizen. 7 October 2014. Archived from the original on March 19, 2015.
  25. "Gugulethu 'heart eater' pleads guilty to murder". 2 February 2015.
  26. Tswanya, Yolisa. "'Cannibal' sentenced to 18 years". www.iol.co.za.
  27. "'Cannibal' was coerced into ripping out heart, court hears". News24.
  28. "'Boko Haram' vs 'Guptas': winner-takes-all battle behind Gugulethu shooting". TimesLIVE. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  29. Fisher, Shamiela. "Gugulethu mass shooting death toll rises to 8, police still hunting shooters". ewn.co.za. Retrieved 2020-11-04.