Lenasia
| Lenasia | |||
|---|---|---|---|
|
|||
| Coordinates | 26 ° 19 ′ 1 ″ S , 27 ° 49 ′ 40 ″ E | ||
| Basic data | |||
| Country | South Africa | ||
| Gauteng | |||
| District | Johannesburg | ||
| ISO 3166-2 | ZA-GP | ||
| height | 1580 m | ||
| surface | 20.3 km² | ||
| Residents | 89,714 (2011) | ||
| density | 4,423.8 Ew. / km² | ||
| founding | Early 1950s | ||
| Website | lenzinfo.org.za (English) | ||
Lenasia is a district of the metropolitan municipality City of Johannesburg in South Africa . At the time of apartheid it became the largest settlement of Indians in the Transvaal province .
geography
The township settlement Lenasia is about 25 kilometers southwest of the center of Johannesburg . South of Lenasia is the Lenasia South district. In 2011 Lenasia had 89,714 inhabitants, of which around 56 percent described themselves as "Indian" or "Asian" and 40 percent as "black". In the southern tip of the area is the settlement of Anchorville. A few kilometers south is Lenasia South, which forms its own sub-place and had 37,110 inhabitants. To the north, the Kliprivier separates Lenasia from Soweto .
Lenasia belongs to Region G of the City of Johannesburg, which forms the south of the metropolitan municipality.
history
At the beginning of the 1950s, after the implementation of the Group Areas Act , South Africans of Indian origin were expelled from parts of the city closer to the city center and settled in what is now Lenasia. This was done against the opposition of groups like the Transvaal Indian Congress . However, because of the great housing shortage, many Indians accepted the offer. The government-backed Transvaal Indian Organization promoted a move to Lenasia. The first residents were housed in the barracks, the Lenz Military Barracks ; later residents could purchase land. In 1955 the Lenasia High School was established , which accepted students of Indian descent from schools that had to leave their previous schools in Johannesburg because of the apartheid laws. Lenasia's infrastructure was initially poorly developed; so there was no tap water.
Lenasia was proclaimed in 1958 as a township settlement for South Africans of Indian origin who had been forcibly relocated from more central parts of the city such as Sophiatown , Pageview and Fordsburg . Nearby was the Lenz Military Base , named after the German-born landowner Lenz, whose name, together with the word Asia for Asia, probably resulted in the name of the district; the place name is pronounced accordingly. Especially in the 1970s and 1980s Lenasia grew strongly and gradually received 13 extensions . In the 1970s the Black Consciousness Movement was also popular in Lenasia, and in the 1980s the district was a stronghold of the United Democratic Front . In 1984 Lenasia South was also founded for people of Indian origin. In the same year, elections to the three-chamber parliament took place nationwide for the first time, which were boycotted by around 90 percent of the electorate in Lenasia. On October 1, 1987, the office of the pro-government, Indian-formed National People's Party was destroyed in an attack by Umkhonto we Sizwe .
After the end of apartheid, the informal settlement of Thembelihle, which is now part of Lenasia and is inhabited by blacks , was built on the outskirts of Lenasia . Many immigrants from India, Bangladesh and especially Pakistan settled in Lenasia.
Numerous mosques and Hindu temples, but also churches, were built in Lenasia.
Previous residents include anti-apartheid fighter Ahmed Kathrada , who lived on Willow Street after his release in 1989 after long imprisonment, and Laloo Chiba , who was convicted in the Little Rivonia Trial . Lenasia is the seat of the Kathradas Foundation , the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation.
Infrastructure
Many shops in Lenasia are frequented by Soviet residents, as are Lenasia's schools.
The Lenasia Times newspaper has been published in Lenasia since 1976. The radio stations Lenz FM 93.6 , Radio Islam and Eastwave FM , which broadcast on VHF , are also located there.
National Route 12 runs north of Lenasia in an east-west direction, while National Route 1 passes Lenasia east of the district in a north-south direction. The regional roads R553, R554 and R558 also connect Lenasia to the trunk road network. The Motorway 10 leads in a north-south direction through the area. The Gauteng Metrorail serves the Lenz and Lawley stations on the western edge of Lenasia with trains on the Johannesburg Park Station – New Canada – Vereeniging route .
Others
In 2001 the Indian influenced song A Night in Lenasia by the South African musician Deepak Ram was released .
Web links
- Private website on the history of the district (English)
- Indian Community of Lenasia. sahistory.org.za (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lenasia 2011 census , accessed August 13, 2018
- ^ 2011 Census Lenasia South , accessed August 13, 2018
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Indian Community of Lenasia. sahistory.org.za, accessed August 13, 2018
- ^ School website , accessed August 15, 2018
- ↑ entry in southafricanplacenames.co.za (English), accessed on August 14, 2018
- ^ List Of MK Operations. omalley.nelsonmandela.org (English), accessed September 12, 2019
- ↑ About Us. kathradafoundation.org, accessed August 15, 2018
- ↑ Lenasia Times website , accessed August 14, 2018
- ^ Website of the broadcasting corporation , accessed on August 15, 2018