Mdantsane

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Mdantsane
Mdantsane (South Africa)
Mdantsane
Mdantsane
Coordinates 32 ° 56 '12 "  S , 27 ° 44' 23"  E Coordinates: 32 ° 56 '12 "  S , 27 ° 44' 23"  E
Basic data
Country South Africa

province

Eastern Cape
District Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality
ISO 3166-2 ZA-EC
surface 45.6 km²
Residents 156,835 (2011)
density 3,443.1  Ew. / km²
Website mdantsane.co.za ( Memento from January 2, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (archive version) (English)
Special features:
townshipTemplate: Infobox location / maintenance / comment
Panorama of Mdantsane
Panorama of Mdantsane

Mdantsane is a South African settlement in the Eastern Cape Province and a suburb of East London about 20 kilometers northwest .

Origin and urban structure

In the 1940s it was very difficult for black workers to find adequate accommodation in the expanding industrial city of East London because the designated quarters, such as Duncan Village , were overcrowded. In 1953 the first preliminary plans for a dormitory township were made in order to flank the growing need for cheap labor with the necessary accommodation. In 1954 the municipality commissioned the person responsible for urban development to look for suitable areas in the vicinity of Duncan Village , which they also found there. However, authorities at the national government level rejected these zoning concepts because the areas affected were made subject to use by white residents. As a result, other possible locations were investigated and a decision was made in favor of areas along the main traffic routes leading into the interior of the country on the area of ​​the Umdanzani farm owned by white owners. These were declared a residential development area in 1958. Early planning envisaged a settlement structure on the ideal basis of a “neighborhood concept” as a garden city with numerous small urban centers, for each of which an infrastructure with shops, educational institutions and churches was planned.

On the basis of the policy of the border industry area, which was promoted after 1960, with a focus on the outer peripheral zones of the homelands, Mdantsane has gradually developed into a large replacement residential area since 1966, in which the non-white population from the East Bank district of East London can be found Forcibly relocated under separate development policy . The governmental Permanent Committee for the Location of Industry and the Development of Border Areas (German for example: Standing Committee for Industrial Sites and the Development of Border Zones) coordinated the spatial planning policy to create suitable settlements for the industrial workers required. Mdantsane as it is today arose in connection with the investments made by the British textile company of Cyril Lord, supported by the Industrial Development Corporation . For this purpose, 10 million rand were made available from the South African state budget in the 1960s for the construction of the township of Mdantsane and the expansion of the already existing and similar settlement of Zwelitsha further west .

Primarily aiming at the manpower needs of Cyril Lord , Mdantsane should take in more black families from the urban area of ​​East London. Eventually, the authorities decided to gradually relocate the entire population of the communal township of Duncan Village . Some of the small houses built were also intended to accommodate families from the Western Cape region, which was also the case. In 1970, according to statistics published in 1972, 66,380 people lived in Mdantsane.

Mdantsane is the second largest township in South Africa. The settlement was laid out in sectors, which were labeled Unit and Zone with the addition of letters and numbers.

In the apartheid period of South Africa, the place belonged to the former Homeland Ciskei . Its residents were and many of them are still today (2009) low-wage workers in the industrial plants of the port city of East London and the industrial area of Fort Jackson .

In 2005, a European Union program made available funds of 15 million euros to improve urban structures . The GTZ took over the planned work with the support of KfW .

Demographic structure

In Mdantsane in 2011 officially 156,835 people (52.74% female) lived in 43,694 households. Many people have to live on it in informal accommodation . Based on studies, however, it is estimated that 350,000 people will live here.

In Mdantsane are located between 25 to 30 percent of the inhabitants of the Metropolitan Municipality Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality , of which 27 percent are under 15 years old. The need for orphanages, old people's homes and facilities for people with disabilities of all kinds has so far not come close to being satisfied.

There are seven clinics and one hospital (around 2005) for health care. These are not sufficient for the considerable medical problem. It is estimated that at least three more clinics will be needed. The infection rate with HIV and the number of other diseases caused by it is very high. There is a high crime rate in the settlement. The underdeveloped social structure and lack of street lighting favor this situation.

Egerton massacre

Memorial for the Egerton massacre

Bus routes were set up between the township and the industrial areas with the workplaces for the workers. When the bus tariff was supposed to be increased by five cents in 1983 , there were protests against it. This culminated in a boycott of the bus routes on August 4, 1983, and people wanted to use the railway line that passed Mdantsane to commute to work alternatively and demonstratively. Military units tried to stop the demonstrators from taking the train at all Mdantsane stations. When the troops failed, they shot the masses. There were eleven dead as well as injured and missing people. This event went down in apartheid history as the Egerton massacre . The name of the event is based on the name of one of these railway stations ( Egerton Station ).

To preserve the memory of this, the Mdantsane Heritage Foundation organizes annual events, in which official representatives and school classes take part. There is a memorial here with a memorial stone.

traffic

The N2 national road , which has been converted into a motorway , runs along the northern edge of the settlement . The regional road R102 runs parallel to the motorway, from which the main access road M3 (Mdantsane Access Road) branches off into the settlement.

The railway line that connects East London with King William's Town is also parallel . Mdantsane has three railway stops along this route. These are Mtsotso Station , Mdantsane Station, and Mount Ruth Station . Not far from there is Fort Jackson Station on the northwestern edge of the settlement .

Personalities

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Historical East London and Mdantsane . on www.buffalocity.gov.za ( Memento from December 26, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 87 kB)
  2. ↑ Carol Dauda: Background of Mdantsane . East London Local Government Development Project, University of Toronto Urban International (UTUI). 1996. on www.utoronto.ca ( memento of the original from January 24, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 33 kB) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ee.famousio.com
  3. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1966 . Johannesburg 1967, p. 157
  4. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1968 . Johannesburg 1969, pp. 100-101
  5. ↑ Muriel Horrell: The African Homelands of South Africa . Johannesburg 1973, pp. 147, 159
  6. ↑ 2011 census , accessed April 30, 2013

Web links