crossroads and lower crossroads
Introduction
In order to best understand the townships, the powers that have influenced their origins and continue to maintain them still today, we need to look back. In particular, to appreciate the areas of Old Crossroads and Lower Crossroads (Philippi East), on the outskirts of Cape Town, we have to recognise that it has a powerful yet painful history. A history that tells the story of many forces acting upon this community and its people. Looking back at our painful past helps us to move forward. Even the Lord invites us and warns us to do so that we may learn from the past (Deut 4:9 and 32:7).
It is vital to gain a perspective of the city’s historical context (Bakke 1994), or to discern the history of the city in order to identify the physical and spiritual powers that act on an area and to be able to engage and intercede meaningfully with the city (Dawson). In this article we shall attempt to share thoughts on reading the powers which have influenced and which continue to influence the townships of Old and Lower Crossroads in our city and include research of the historical roots and stories from within the township based on interviews with local residents of the area.
“God has created the political order to enable justice in society, and He
has initiated an economic system of grace and increasing the “common wealth” and the religious
system to allow people to maintain a vital relationship with God.” (Linthicum 1991: 11).
Sadly, while Apartheid was designed and initiated by Dutch-South African theologians and politicians - people who would call themselves "Christian" - as a political system, it was a most unjust and cruel system. Essentially a method of increasing the economic prospects of white South Africans it was also far from graceful or concerned about the “common wealth”, rather attempting to increase the wealth of white people in the country. Therefore, in order to understand the powers that shaped Old Crossroads, formed in the early 1970s and Lower Crossroads, formed in February 1991, we need to start with looking at how the Apartheid State approached race relations.
Apartheid Government and the Native Affairs Boards - the power of control
From 1948-1994, the Apartheid government in South Africa wielded power - oppressive power. Following on from the Native (Urban Areas) Act of 1923 and later, the Group Areas Act of 1950, the Department of Native Affairs managed the territorial separation of black and white, systematic urban segregation by the creation of black “locations,” and the
powers to remove black “squatters” from white farms as well as to segregate blacks from whites in the political sphere. (Vigne and Bundy: 2019)
The Department of Native Affairs was later renamed the Department of Bantu Administration and Development in 1960. Locally, the authorities who were responsible for forced removals in Cape Town during the 1950s and 1960s were twofold: the Cape Divisional Council (Divco) and the Cape Town City Council (CTCC). However, by 1973, the Bantu Affairs and Administration Board (BAAB) took over this function with all the Cape Province Local Authority Bantu Affairs and Administration Boards established between 1 July and 1 September 1973 (Urban African Administration: 127). These boards were was supposedly established to assist Africans in accessing work, but in reality to control and limit the areas of movement and settlement of the black population. According to the “Urban African Affairs” publication:
“The urban African is being told what to do in every serious matter concerning his daily life
and where he may live by the Boards. The Bantu Administration and Development Department
is a government within a government and its officials are accountable to a government
department rather than to a country.” (Urban African Affairs. 1975)
The Board exercised great power in controlling the lives of Black South Africans. It was the boards who removed Black Africans from the White and Coloured areas to first be placed in a field demarcated as a “temporary transit camp” at the “Crossroads” of Klipfontein and Landsdowne Road opposite the airport (Benson and Trantaal: 2014)
Forced Removals - the power to evict and remove
The Law, Administrators, Police as well as the local committees and political forces which emerged from within the township all played a role in the power struggle that made up the agonizing experience of forced removals over the last half of the 20th century. The Bantu Laws Amendment Act of 1965:
"empowered the government to expel any African from any of the towns or the white
farming areas at any time. It was the most rigid of the apartheid legislation so far ... [and]
provided the legal framework for stripping Blacks of most of their remaining rights in White
areas in return for independence in their own tribal homelands…” (Bantu Laws Amendment
Act: 1965)
In Cape Town, between 1948 and the late 1970’s, forced evictions affected thousands of people from many areas including: Goodwood, Parow, Bellville, Eureka Estate, Elsies River (Qhoboshimfene), Marabastad, Cook’s Bush, De Klip (Grassy Park), Windermere, Factreton, Kensington, Wingfield, Maitland, Hout Bay, Retreat, Vrygrond, Blouvlei, Steenberg,
Muizenberg, Athlone, Crawford, Gleemoor, Welcome Estate, Jakkalsvlei, City Centre, Newlands, Modderdam, Unibel, Werkgenot. Many of the black Africans were moved into the Nyanga Bush area close to the airport. (Legassick:Forced Removals in Greater Cape Town).
Born on 21 March 1943 in Transkei, Eastern Cape, Mama Nosabatha Xhekesha and her husband migrated to Old Crossroads via Langa and Freepoint. She describes herself as living scared in Old Crossroads due to what she experienced as vicious and sudden police raids and attacks, their houses being burned and missing her children who had to remain back home in the Transkei with their grandparents for fear of their safety in Cape Town. Nosabatha endured some of Old Crossroads’ ugliest days and remained in the community well after most people had already fled to Khayelitsha and Lower Crossroads (both of which the government built to move people out of Old Crossroads between 1983 and 1991). In that time she witnessed attacks on innocent families when their homes that they had fought to call their own were so frequently and torturously burned down overnight. By this time political tensions had taken over within the community itself and rival political groups, stoked by government sanctioned “witdoeke” and police raids caused violence to flare up at regular intervals. She herself was shot during one such raid:
In order to best understand the townships, the powers that have influenced their origins and continue to maintain them still today, we need to look back. In particular, to appreciate the areas of Old Crossroads and Lower Crossroads (Philippi East), on the outskirts of Cape Town, we have to recognise that it has a powerful yet painful history. A history that tells the story of many forces acting upon this community and its people. Looking back at our painful past helps us to move forward. Even the Lord invites us and warns us to do so that we may learn from the past (Deut 4:9 and 32:7).
It is vital to gain a perspective of the city’s historical context (Bakke 1994), or to discern the history of the city in order to identify the physical and spiritual powers that act on an area and to be able to engage and intercede meaningfully with the city (Dawson). In this article we shall attempt to share thoughts on reading the powers which have influenced and which continue to influence the townships of Old and Lower Crossroads in our city and include research of the historical roots and stories from within the township based on interviews with local residents of the area.
“God has created the political order to enable justice in society, and He
has initiated an economic system of grace and increasing the “common wealth” and the religious
system to allow people to maintain a vital relationship with God.” (Linthicum 1991: 11).
Sadly, while Apartheid was designed and initiated by Dutch-South African theologians and politicians - people who would call themselves "Christian" - as a political system, it was a most unjust and cruel system. Essentially a method of increasing the economic prospects of white South Africans it was also far from graceful or concerned about the “common wealth”, rather attempting to increase the wealth of white people in the country. Therefore, in order to understand the powers that shaped Old Crossroads, formed in the early 1970s and Lower Crossroads, formed in February 1991, we need to start with looking at how the Apartheid State approached race relations.
Apartheid Government and the Native Affairs Boards - the power of control
From 1948-1994, the Apartheid government in South Africa wielded power - oppressive power. Following on from the Native (Urban Areas) Act of 1923 and later, the Group Areas Act of 1950, the Department of Native Affairs managed the territorial separation of black and white, systematic urban segregation by the creation of black “locations,” and the
powers to remove black “squatters” from white farms as well as to segregate blacks from whites in the political sphere. (Vigne and Bundy: 2019)
The Department of Native Affairs was later renamed the Department of Bantu Administration and Development in 1960. Locally, the authorities who were responsible for forced removals in Cape Town during the 1950s and 1960s were twofold: the Cape Divisional Council (Divco) and the Cape Town City Council (CTCC). However, by 1973, the Bantu Affairs and Administration Board (BAAB) took over this function with all the Cape Province Local Authority Bantu Affairs and Administration Boards established between 1 July and 1 September 1973 (Urban African Administration: 127). These boards were was supposedly established to assist Africans in accessing work, but in reality to control and limit the areas of movement and settlement of the black population. According to the “Urban African Affairs” publication:
“The urban African is being told what to do in every serious matter concerning his daily life
and where he may live by the Boards. The Bantu Administration and Development Department
is a government within a government and its officials are accountable to a government
department rather than to a country.” (Urban African Affairs. 1975)
The Board exercised great power in controlling the lives of Black South Africans. It was the boards who removed Black Africans from the White and Coloured areas to first be placed in a field demarcated as a “temporary transit camp” at the “Crossroads” of Klipfontein and Landsdowne Road opposite the airport (Benson and Trantaal: 2014)
Forced Removals - the power to evict and remove
The Law, Administrators, Police as well as the local committees and political forces which emerged from within the township all played a role in the power struggle that made up the agonizing experience of forced removals over the last half of the 20th century. The Bantu Laws Amendment Act of 1965:
"empowered the government to expel any African from any of the towns or the white
farming areas at any time. It was the most rigid of the apartheid legislation so far ... [and]
provided the legal framework for stripping Blacks of most of their remaining rights in White
areas in return for independence in their own tribal homelands…” (Bantu Laws Amendment
Act: 1965)
In Cape Town, between 1948 and the late 1970’s, forced evictions affected thousands of people from many areas including: Goodwood, Parow, Bellville, Eureka Estate, Elsies River (Qhoboshimfene), Marabastad, Cook’s Bush, De Klip (Grassy Park), Windermere, Factreton, Kensington, Wingfield, Maitland, Hout Bay, Retreat, Vrygrond, Blouvlei, Steenberg,
Muizenberg, Athlone, Crawford, Gleemoor, Welcome Estate, Jakkalsvlei, City Centre, Newlands, Modderdam, Unibel, Werkgenot. Many of the black Africans were moved into the Nyanga Bush area close to the airport. (Legassick:Forced Removals in Greater Cape Town).
Born on 21 March 1943 in Transkei, Eastern Cape, Mama Nosabatha Xhekesha and her husband migrated to Old Crossroads via Langa and Freepoint. She describes herself as living scared in Old Crossroads due to what she experienced as vicious and sudden police raids and attacks, their houses being burned and missing her children who had to remain back home in the Transkei with their grandparents for fear of their safety in Cape Town. Nosabatha endured some of Old Crossroads’ ugliest days and remained in the community well after most people had already fled to Khayelitsha and Lower Crossroads (both of which the government built to move people out of Old Crossroads between 1983 and 1991). In that time she witnessed attacks on innocent families when their homes that they had fought to call their own were so frequently and torturously burned down overnight. By this time political tensions had taken over within the community itself and rival political groups, stoked by government sanctioned “witdoeke” and police raids caused violence to flare up at regular intervals. She herself was shot during one such raid:
“We didn’t know who was burning the houses. We just saw fire. They burned them at night. At that time, staying in Old Crossroads was not nice [and] we were getting scared because while we were sleeping we would hear people shooting outside and other people burning houses. At that time I got shot, just in the chin. I didn’t see where the bullet was coming from, I just got shot. I don’t know who shot me.” (From personal interview with Nosabatha Xekesha, 19 November 2014)
These removals, often carried out by policemen with dogs, accompanied by BAAB officals continued even up until 1994. It was in 1994 that Vinah Mahloka and her family were evicted from Old Crossroads. Inspectors from the Western Cape Development Board showed up to Vinah’s house, knocked on her door and instructed Vinah that she, along
with her husband and four children, needed to move out from their home that same day. This was often the case with these types of forced removals. Families would be expected to leave on command without even receiving a day’s notice. The inspectors would destroy furniture and nearly all of the belongings of the homes they demolished. Mama Vinah is
still saddened that today, she doesn't even have her ‘dompas’ card to remember that time in her life, because the inspectors destroyed it (From personal interview with Vinah Mahloka, 21 November 2014)
Separation of family - the power to destroy family life
One of the greatest sacrifices of the segregation of races in South Africa has undoubtedly been the family. The Apartheid State used it’s power to ensure a permanent shortage of accommodation able to house “families” as a way of controlling black families ability to settle in the city. The government’s view of women as a means to “produce” cheap labour supply for the predominantly male migrant labour pool meant that housing in the city, such as the hostels in Langa and Gugulethu, were gender specific for men. For the women who came to Crossroads, the only other housing options were limited to either secretly living in the male ‘bachelor’ hostels, or hoping to find favour to live on the premises of their white employers. The latter of course, at the exclusion of their children. Crossroads therefore became a better option, given that they were able to set up their lean-to's or plastic and corrugated iron shacks on the empty land East of the Nyanga Bush. (Benson. 2015: 370)
When the forced removals began, evictees bonded together out of a desperation to keep their families together, As a committee of squatters stated when faced with evictions:
“We were greatly distressed that the Bantu Affairs Administration Board has directed that wives
and families of men who are in the Peninsula legally but who do not have the necessary papers
to be here must return to the homelands...These women have come here not only to be with their
husbands but also because of poor conditions [there]...We appeal to the authorities not to
enforce the break up of our families…” (Cole. 2012: 18)
The evictions and laws governing who could stay and who could go were often described as immoral and were indeed so.
A local resident of Lower Crossroads who experienced the painful effects the forced removals had on the family is Mrs Iris Langisi. Born in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, Iris was forcibly moved numerous times with her husband and three children from Salt River to Gugulethu, then to Modderdam in 1965. They were later evicted from Modderdam and
ended up in Old Crossroads in 1973. She describes much of her life in Old Crossroads as tumultuous and fearful:
These removals, often carried out by policemen with dogs, accompanied by BAAB officals continued even up until 1994. It was in 1994 that Vinah Mahloka and her family were evicted from Old Crossroads. Inspectors from the Western Cape Development Board showed up to Vinah’s house, knocked on her door and instructed Vinah that she, along
with her husband and four children, needed to move out from their home that same day. This was often the case with these types of forced removals. Families would be expected to leave on command without even receiving a day’s notice. The inspectors would destroy furniture and nearly all of the belongings of the homes they demolished. Mama Vinah is
still saddened that today, she doesn't even have her ‘dompas’ card to remember that time in her life, because the inspectors destroyed it (From personal interview with Vinah Mahloka, 21 November 2014)
Separation of family - the power to destroy family life
One of the greatest sacrifices of the segregation of races in South Africa has undoubtedly been the family. The Apartheid State used it’s power to ensure a permanent shortage of accommodation able to house “families” as a way of controlling black families ability to settle in the city. The government’s view of women as a means to “produce” cheap labour supply for the predominantly male migrant labour pool meant that housing in the city, such as the hostels in Langa and Gugulethu, were gender specific for men. For the women who came to Crossroads, the only other housing options were limited to either secretly living in the male ‘bachelor’ hostels, or hoping to find favour to live on the premises of their white employers. The latter of course, at the exclusion of their children. Crossroads therefore became a better option, given that they were able to set up their lean-to's or plastic and corrugated iron shacks on the empty land East of the Nyanga Bush. (Benson. 2015: 370)
When the forced removals began, evictees bonded together out of a desperation to keep their families together, As a committee of squatters stated when faced with evictions:
“We were greatly distressed that the Bantu Affairs Administration Board has directed that wives
and families of men who are in the Peninsula legally but who do not have the necessary papers
to be here must return to the homelands...These women have come here not only to be with their
husbands but also because of poor conditions [there]...We appeal to the authorities not to
enforce the break up of our families…” (Cole. 2012: 18)
The evictions and laws governing who could stay and who could go were often described as immoral and were indeed so.
A local resident of Lower Crossroads who experienced the painful effects the forced removals had on the family is Mrs Iris Langisi. Born in Queenstown in the Eastern Cape, Iris was forcibly moved numerous times with her husband and three children from Salt River to Gugulethu, then to Modderdam in 1965. They were later evicted from Modderdam and
ended up in Old Crossroads in 1973. She describes much of her life in Old Crossroads as tumultuous and fearful:
“They didn’t want us to stay with our husbands. So then we fought for that… Because they were separating us. They said that we were supposed to go back to Eastern Cape and we were not allowed to live with them...We were hiding ourselves. I had to hide me and my child...It was very difficult because as soon as you hear the noise of the police or a car, you just [motions dropping
to the floor]. They were chasing us saying we must go back to Eastern Cape. They were always chasing us.”
[One day] while I was going to my husband’s work, [the police] they took me. On the way. And then they took me to Gugulethu police station and locked me up there. It was very early in the morning. I was locked there for a day and then on the following day, I went to Langa court. When I was there in Langa court, the judge said to me, ‘We find you guilty because you are not allowed to be here. If you haven’t got a pass, you are going to stay in jail for 3 months.’ Luckily my husband came and paid the fine. But that doesn’t mean I’m free.” (From personal interview with Iris Langisi, 20 November 2014)
The struggle to fight against the powers of the Apartheid State to keep their families together was a painful one. Unable to obtain a work permit as easily as the men or unable to pay the fines when they were arrested, women and children were rounded up and bussed or put on a train back to the Eastern Cape. However in the end, the women were
also the ones to rise up and resist.
Women, the Church and the power to resist
A major power to emerge on the side of the oppressed, were the women. According to Cole, “In the early 1970s a new generation of women, most in their twenties and early thirties...drew a line in the sand and said ‘we are not going’.” (2012: page 5). Women organised themselves into community groups and committees and formed the oversight function of health care, education and welfare within the informal settlements. The main group was known as the “Crossroads Women’s Committee”. It was made up of women from various backgrounds, some married, some single, some social workers, some teachers, some illiterate. A strong figure to emerge from within the local women was Mrs Ntongana who became the chairperson of the committee. According to her, working alongside the men’s committee was no easy task.
“They had this custom, they didn’t accept that a woman should be so active. They sometimes take it, but they did not like it, because it is the custom of our people that the women stays in the kitchen.” (Benson and Trantaal: 2014).
Iris Langisi also got involved in community affairs and later became a leader in the Crossroads Women’s League. But as was the case for many families, when the political violence and turmoil that was Old Crossroads became too much, she eventually left Old Crossroads and migrated with her family to Lower Crossroads in 1992. (From personal
interview with Iris Langisi, 20 November 2014
A few white women too, were involved in the struggle for Crossroads and protection of it’s people. The Black Sash (a women’s rights organisation) in particular, was a vocal opponent of the pass laws and regularly inspected the squatter camps to make reports of injustices and concerns that could be brought to the public attention, through their newsletters and even organising public strikes.
to the floor]. They were chasing us saying we must go back to Eastern Cape. They were always chasing us.”
[One day] while I was going to my husband’s work, [the police] they took me. On the way. And then they took me to Gugulethu police station and locked me up there. It was very early in the morning. I was locked there for a day and then on the following day, I went to Langa court. When I was there in Langa court, the judge said to me, ‘We find you guilty because you are not allowed to be here. If you haven’t got a pass, you are going to stay in jail for 3 months.’ Luckily my husband came and paid the fine. But that doesn’t mean I’m free.” (From personal interview with Iris Langisi, 20 November 2014)
The struggle to fight against the powers of the Apartheid State to keep their families together was a painful one. Unable to obtain a work permit as easily as the men or unable to pay the fines when they were arrested, women and children were rounded up and bussed or put on a train back to the Eastern Cape. However in the end, the women were
also the ones to rise up and resist.
Women, the Church and the power to resist
A major power to emerge on the side of the oppressed, were the women. According to Cole, “In the early 1970s a new generation of women, most in their twenties and early thirties...drew a line in the sand and said ‘we are not going’.” (2012: page 5). Women organised themselves into community groups and committees and formed the oversight function of health care, education and welfare within the informal settlements. The main group was known as the “Crossroads Women’s Committee”. It was made up of women from various backgrounds, some married, some single, some social workers, some teachers, some illiterate. A strong figure to emerge from within the local women was Mrs Ntongana who became the chairperson of the committee. According to her, working alongside the men’s committee was no easy task.
“They had this custom, they didn’t accept that a woman should be so active. They sometimes take it, but they did not like it, because it is the custom of our people that the women stays in the kitchen.” (Benson and Trantaal: 2014).
Iris Langisi also got involved in community affairs and later became a leader in the Crossroads Women’s League. But as was the case for many families, when the political violence and turmoil that was Old Crossroads became too much, she eventually left Old Crossroads and migrated with her family to Lower Crossroads in 1992. (From personal
interview with Iris Langisi, 20 November 2014
A few white women too, were involved in the struggle for Crossroads and protection of it’s people. The Black Sash (a women’s rights organisation) in particular, was a vocal opponent of the pass laws and regularly inspected the squatter camps to make reports of injustices and concerns that could be brought to the public attention, through their newsletters and even organising public strikes.
The church too played a significant role in protecting the rights of Black Africans in the City. From early on the Council of Churches, Quakers and other church bodies worked alongside the Black Sash to defend the rights of Crossroads residents and formed part of the “Save Crossroads Campaign” (Benson and Trantaal, 2014).
In a remarkably illustrative story, on March 1982, a group of 57 squatters from Nyanga and Old Crossroads, tired of being forcibly removed and evicted from the city, decided to place their fate in the hands of God and His church. In particular, St George’s Cathedral, the Anglican Cathedral, located in the heart of Cape Town close to Parliament, politicians and the media. The Cathedral was known to be openly critical of the forced removals, migrant labour and other apartheid policies and it’s Dean, Ted King was outspoken and so it was here that the group decided to come to be harboured by the church and “to fast” for their situation.
In the end the “Fasters” stayed in the Cathedral for 23 days, fasting, praying and attracting media and political attention. Eventually the pressure on PW Botha and the government saw Dr Piet Koornhof meet with the fasters and agree to examine the cases of 900 people squatting illegally in the Cape Peninsula bush. Upon leaving the Cathedral, they returned to be given space to stay at Holy Cross Church in Nyanga by Father Mfenyana while they waited on their work permits.
During the government’s drive to move people from Old Crossroads, strategically located so close to the airport, they built Khayelitsha - meaning "New Home". But people refused to move. At one point in June 1984, 12000 squatters from Old Crossroads signed the “UDF’s “million signatures” campaign saying they will not move to Khayelitsha. (Cole.2012:145)
A New Community at Lower Crossroads - the power of Development
Hundreds of people from Old Crossroads eventually moved down to a portion of land in Philippi East that the government had set aside in 1991 for the development of housing. The government’s reasons were two-fold. First; in order to move residents away from Old Crossroads which was considered too close to the airport and in the middle of the airport industrial zone, and second; because of the resistance of residents to move to Khayelitsha following the “Asiyi eKhayelitsha” (“We won’t go to Khayelitsha”) Campaign.
This new area came to be called “Lower Crossroads” as residents sought to maintain their connection with
their roots in Old Crossroads. (Cole. 2012: Page 145)
When Mama Agnes Dyosi and her three children arrived to Lower Crossroads in 1992 with the first group of squatters forced out of Old Crossroads, the area was literally an undeveloped forest. She laughs as she recounts the day when, “a lot of people,” moved with her and had to spend the night unprotected under the Cape Town stars:
In a remarkably illustrative story, on March 1982, a group of 57 squatters from Nyanga and Old Crossroads, tired of being forcibly removed and evicted from the city, decided to place their fate in the hands of God and His church. In particular, St George’s Cathedral, the Anglican Cathedral, located in the heart of Cape Town close to Parliament, politicians and the media. The Cathedral was known to be openly critical of the forced removals, migrant labour and other apartheid policies and it’s Dean, Ted King was outspoken and so it was here that the group decided to come to be harboured by the church and “to fast” for their situation.
In the end the “Fasters” stayed in the Cathedral for 23 days, fasting, praying and attracting media and political attention. Eventually the pressure on PW Botha and the government saw Dr Piet Koornhof meet with the fasters and agree to examine the cases of 900 people squatting illegally in the Cape Peninsula bush. Upon leaving the Cathedral, they returned to be given space to stay at Holy Cross Church in Nyanga by Father Mfenyana while they waited on their work permits.
During the government’s drive to move people from Old Crossroads, strategically located so close to the airport, they built Khayelitsha - meaning "New Home". But people refused to move. At one point in June 1984, 12000 squatters from Old Crossroads signed the “UDF’s “million signatures” campaign saying they will not move to Khayelitsha. (Cole.2012:145)
A New Community at Lower Crossroads - the power of Development
Hundreds of people from Old Crossroads eventually moved down to a portion of land in Philippi East that the government had set aside in 1991 for the development of housing. The government’s reasons were two-fold. First; in order to move residents away from Old Crossroads which was considered too close to the airport and in the middle of the airport industrial zone, and second; because of the resistance of residents to move to Khayelitsha following the “Asiyi eKhayelitsha” (“We won’t go to Khayelitsha”) Campaign.
This new area came to be called “Lower Crossroads” as residents sought to maintain their connection with
their roots in Old Crossroads. (Cole. 2012: Page 145)
When Mama Agnes Dyosi and her three children arrived to Lower Crossroads in 1992 with the first group of squatters forced out of Old Crossroads, the area was literally an undeveloped forest. She laughs as she recounts the day when, “a lot of people,” moved with her and had to spend the night unprotected under the Cape Town stars:
“On the first day we slept outside because we didn’t have a chance to build the houses.”
Agnes could be considered a frontier woman of Lower Crossroads as she was one of the very first people working to transform the space into a livable community.
“When we first moved here to Lower Crossroads, we slept outside and covered ourselves with plastic. Every night we would build small houses again… When we moved here there were no houses… There was no water, toilets, or electricity.” (From personal interview with Agnes Dyosi, 19 November 2014)
Fortunately, the City did have plans to develop the area. It was called “The Integrated Serviced Land Project” and lasted from 1991 until 2005. Initiated to address the housing needs in Crossroads and the environs, a Policy Committee was established in April 1991 comprising representatives of local and national government, political parties and civic
groups that represented the communities. This was an example of a far more inclusive planning process than the townships had ever seen before. Coordination and communication with all stakeholders was a key value and allowed for a redress of the power imbalances experienced in the past.
The project committed to ensure that “No significant party must be excluded from committees... [and to] include representatives of all significant groups in any meeting or committee, and accommodate and respect each
culture represented.”
Agnes could be considered a frontier woman of Lower Crossroads as she was one of the very first people working to transform the space into a livable community.
“When we first moved here to Lower Crossroads, we slept outside and covered ourselves with plastic. Every night we would build small houses again… When we moved here there were no houses… There was no water, toilets, or electricity.” (From personal interview with Agnes Dyosi, 19 November 2014)
Fortunately, the City did have plans to develop the area. It was called “The Integrated Serviced Land Project” and lasted from 1991 until 2005. Initiated to address the housing needs in Crossroads and the environs, a Policy Committee was established in April 1991 comprising representatives of local and national government, political parties and civic
groups that represented the communities. This was an example of a far more inclusive planning process than the townships had ever seen before. Coordination and communication with all stakeholders was a key value and allowed for a redress of the power imbalances experienced in the past.
The project committed to ensure that “No significant party must be excluded from committees... [and to] include representatives of all significant groups in any meeting or committee, and accommodate and respect each
culture represented.”
The project also started a newspaper called “iIndaba Zasekhaya” meaning “News about Home”. This was in order to “communicate widely and effectively" with the community and ensure all communication about the project reached the community members without getting stuck in the meeting rooms with the elected officials and representatives. This was an important strategy in redressing new potential power imbalances and allowing for an inclusion of the whole community. Having isiXhosa, Afrikaans and English articles, the newspaper was so popular, the schools asked for it to continue so as to use it in teaching English. (Department of Housing, 2006:6)
Today Lower Crossroads is a developed township with mixed housing. While the majority of homes are still the homes built by the ISLP and funded by the RDP, many residents live in shacks as “backyard dwellers”. Some areas such as the one at the end of Lower Crossroads, known as Thabo Mbeki is still informal with no roads or piped sanitation. Established in 1991 it was left out of the ISLP due to its close proximity to the airport. Officially the statistics state that there are approximately 40 068 residents in Ward 35 (Wazimap Ward 35 Profile Data), but this does not take into account that in 2012 a group of people from outside Lower Crossroads staged a mass invasion of open, privately-owned industrial land adjacent to Lower Crossroads.
This area came to be known as Marikana and currently houses an additional 23 000 and 44 000 residents in informal shelters with no roads, piped sanitation or water other than community toilets and taps along the roadside of the Southern border (Ground Up: 1 September 2017).
Despite the fact that the ISLP did well in developing the area initially, it did not take into account the tremendous need and pressure for housing close to the city and it’s transport routes. With a population that has practically doubled in the past 7 years, Lower Crossroads can no longer cope with the needs of such a dense population. There is a visible lack of areas available for the development and establishment of local small and medium businesses and other government services. Most of the land is zoned for residential development with some for schools and a minimum amount of land for
community based organisations, churches, community projects and small businesses.
Services are also far away. Currently, even the office of the Philippi Department of Social Development is still located in Athlone, some 16 kilometers away. Social Workers from the Department are expected to find their own space where possible in schools, libraries and community projects. There seems to be an underlying assumption that people have been “housed” here, but are still just “labour fodder” for the industrial area close by and will still need to migrate for small business, religious activities and access to services.
The lack of planning and developing for a complete and self sustaining community again keeps the balance of power in the hands of those who have all they need to thrive and ensures that the poor spend more of their time and resources on getting to the spaces they need to survive.
According to a study of the resilience of Cape Town’s residents, the lower income segment of Cape Town’s population spends an average of 43 % of their household income on commuting costs, more than four times the acceptable international average (City of Cape Town. 2018:18).
Gangs and Violence - the new control and power
While Mama Iris Langisi, Agnes Dyosi and Vinah Mahloti all agree that life is much more peaceful in Lower Crossroads than what it used to be back in Old Crossroads, they would also argue that Lower Crossroads is not quite flourishing just yet, even though there have been significant improvements made to the community following the democratic elections
and the establishment of formal housing and basic infrastructure. She explains that she sees both the potential and need for change in her neighborhood regarding the poor quality of some housing, the incredibly high unemployment rate especially among the youth, the pervasiveness of violence, and the inadequate quality of education. Despite her
pride in the home that she was able to provide for her children and the community that she helped to found, she openly and explicitly admits that Lower Crossroads, “still needs improvement so that it can be a better place.” (From personal interviews 19-21 November 2014).
Sadly, they would be right. Sitting in one corner of a triangle made up of the SA Police Services Precincts of Philippi East, Nyanga and Delft, the area of Lower Crossroads falls into the area known as the “murder capital” of South Africa (SA News. 11 September 2018). In conversation with local one Lower Crossroads Community Leader, whose father still resides in Old Crossroads, he tells me that there are currently about four main gangs in Lower Crossroads, mostly controlled by drug lords and tavern owners. One local resident, Mrs Zukiswa Ndawule who has lived in Lower Crossroads for 18 years shared that in her experience, gangsterism was the biggest challenge of their community and it’s getting worse.
“It was not like this before. I’m not really sure why it’s happening. Some
say it’s because of children [only] have single parents or it’s because the children’s parents do not
care for them. But in my experience the main reason is pressure of adults in the drug industry.
Also people who are buying and selling stolen goods and use the children to supply [these
goods].” (In personal interview with Zukiswa Ndawule, 15 May 2019)
Mrs Nomakhaya Mxabo, who has lived in a shack in Marikana since 2014 with her husband, two children and two grandchildren, says that her main concern is safety:
“Little boys are coming into our houses wanting to steal money and phones and TVs”.
She believes that some of these boys are not at school and that they are being used by the older men to steal for them. (From personal interview with Ms Mxabo, 22 May 2019). Two mothers, both local residents living in Lower Crossroads recounted how their sons have been caught up in these gangs. Lured by the seduction of drugs, guns and power. The
mother’s sense of hopelessness and despair is palpable and depressing. They are stuck in a narrative where their children are victims and perpetrators, children who need their love and care, yet pawns of a violent tribe who steal and hurt and cause shame and pain for their family. The children, too, are trapped. One such youngster, only 15 years old,
disclosed to his counsellor when asked if he would like to leave the gang:
“You never leave the gang. I will die in the gang. Because if I leave I will die anyway.” (personal interview with a
social worker, 15 March 2019).
And so the power of control and manipulation has shifted from violent political forces to violent criminal gangs. With gang leaders now holding the community’s children hostage and parents faced with increasing violence within their own home and the community they once fought for to be free.
Conclusion
When Mama Iris Langisi finally moved to Lower Crossroads, she said of that moment:
“And we got free at last. We got free at last, after a difficult time of life.”
After years of being chased and abused, Mama Iris found her home in Lower Crossroads, the community that she helped raise from the ground up. She radiates grace and joy when she talks about her home now and the better life that she has witnessed her children live because after fighting and marching for years in the women’s league, she knows she played
a part in creating that better life. She still stays with her husband in a sea-green house that they’ve lived in for over twenty years now.
And indeed, for those who moved from Old Crossroads to Lower Crossroads during the early 1990s, it did bring a sense of freedom. The burden of living under political oppression and violence, of never knowing when you might be caught or evicted, your house burned and your possessions lost, was a constant source of fear and insecurity and something
everyone was happy to be free of.
However, now in 2019, new powers have emerged. In particular the power of gangs and drugs and criminal violence. Brought about in part by large and sudden increases in the communities population with no formal housing, access to services and limited chances of finding employment, the growing drug and extortion trade is taking its toll on the
communities residents and families.
Linthicum states that we have to look beyond the physical powers at the spiritual forces at work in and over a community or city. “To be able to name your city’s angel and to understand how he is at work both exposes him and enables you to understand the dimension’s the church’s ministry must undertake if it is truly to confront the principalities and powers (1991: 117). In this article I have sought to name some of the powers that have exerted themselves on the people of Crossroads.
I pray that one day we shall be able to say of Ward 35 and all the communities like it, as Mama Iris did, that "we are truly free at last."
Vaughan Stannard, January 2020
References:
Dawson, J 1989. Looking at History with Discernment. Taking our Cities for God. Lake Mary, Florid: Creation House (discerning the history of a city)
Bakke, R 1994. Urban Exegesis. In Urban Strategy Institute, Nov 1994. (importance of gaining a perspective of the historical context)
Linthicum, RC. 1991. Empowering the Poor. Monrovia, California: MARC. Page 10-20
Cole, J., 2012. Behind and Beyond the Eiselen Line. Cape Town. St George’s Cathedral Crypt Memory and Witness Centre.
Linthicum, RC. 1991. City of God, City of Satan. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House. Page 117
Crime Stats SA. Contact Crimes (Crimes against the person) Murder: Worst ten precincts in 2018. http://www.crimestatssa.com/topten.php (accessed 29 March 2019)
Morris, M. 2012. Apartheid: An Illustrated History. Johannesburg. Jonathan Ball Publishers.
The NIV Study Bible. 1985. Grand Rapids. Zondervan Corporation.
Vigne , R. Bundy , CJ. and Others. 2019. Reconstruction, Union and Segregation.
https://www.britannica.com/place/South-Africa/Reconstruction-union-and-segregation-190
2-29#ref480668 Accessed online 14 June 2019
Urban African Administration.
https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/Chapter_12.pdf page 127. Accessed online14 June 2019
Urban African Affairs. Published 1975 Black Community Programmes. https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/chapter-five-urban-african-affairs--bantu-affairs-administration-boards-%28baab%29 Accessed Online 13 June 2019
1965. Bantu Laws Amendment Act. https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv01538/04lv01828/05lv01
829/06lv01917.htm Accessed Online 13 June 2019
Forced Removals in Greater Cape Town, 1948-1970 by Martin Legassick. http://abahlali.org/files/ch7Removalscapetown%20(1).pdf Accessed Online 10 June 2019
Benson, K. 2015. A Political War of Words and Bullets. Defining and Defying Sides of Struggle for Housing in Crossroads, South Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies. 41:2,367-387 DOI 10.1080/ 03057070.2015.1013358, Page 370
The Modderdam Committee statement, Cape Times 7 July 1977 as quoted in: Cole, J., 2012. Behind and Beyond the Eiselen Line . Cape Town. St George’s Cathedral Crypt Memory and Witness Centre.
Black Sash Newsletter, Cape Western Region, No 61 of June 1975
The Integrated Serviced Land Project 1991-2005. Department of Housing, Western Cape Provincial Government. 2006
Wazimap Ward 35 Profile Data. https://wazimap.co.za/profiles/ward-19100035-city-of-cape-town-ward-35-19100035/
Accessed Online 30 May 2019
Today Lower Crossroads is a developed township with mixed housing. While the majority of homes are still the homes built by the ISLP and funded by the RDP, many residents live in shacks as “backyard dwellers”. Some areas such as the one at the end of Lower Crossroads, known as Thabo Mbeki is still informal with no roads or piped sanitation. Established in 1991 it was left out of the ISLP due to its close proximity to the airport. Officially the statistics state that there are approximately 40 068 residents in Ward 35 (Wazimap Ward 35 Profile Data), but this does not take into account that in 2012 a group of people from outside Lower Crossroads staged a mass invasion of open, privately-owned industrial land adjacent to Lower Crossroads.
This area came to be known as Marikana and currently houses an additional 23 000 and 44 000 residents in informal shelters with no roads, piped sanitation or water other than community toilets and taps along the roadside of the Southern border (Ground Up: 1 September 2017).
Despite the fact that the ISLP did well in developing the area initially, it did not take into account the tremendous need and pressure for housing close to the city and it’s transport routes. With a population that has practically doubled in the past 7 years, Lower Crossroads can no longer cope with the needs of such a dense population. There is a visible lack of areas available for the development and establishment of local small and medium businesses and other government services. Most of the land is zoned for residential development with some for schools and a minimum amount of land for
community based organisations, churches, community projects and small businesses.
Services are also far away. Currently, even the office of the Philippi Department of Social Development is still located in Athlone, some 16 kilometers away. Social Workers from the Department are expected to find their own space where possible in schools, libraries and community projects. There seems to be an underlying assumption that people have been “housed” here, but are still just “labour fodder” for the industrial area close by and will still need to migrate for small business, religious activities and access to services.
The lack of planning and developing for a complete and self sustaining community again keeps the balance of power in the hands of those who have all they need to thrive and ensures that the poor spend more of their time and resources on getting to the spaces they need to survive.
According to a study of the resilience of Cape Town’s residents, the lower income segment of Cape Town’s population spends an average of 43 % of their household income on commuting costs, more than four times the acceptable international average (City of Cape Town. 2018:18).
Gangs and Violence - the new control and power
While Mama Iris Langisi, Agnes Dyosi and Vinah Mahloti all agree that life is much more peaceful in Lower Crossroads than what it used to be back in Old Crossroads, they would also argue that Lower Crossroads is not quite flourishing just yet, even though there have been significant improvements made to the community following the democratic elections
and the establishment of formal housing and basic infrastructure. She explains that she sees both the potential and need for change in her neighborhood regarding the poor quality of some housing, the incredibly high unemployment rate especially among the youth, the pervasiveness of violence, and the inadequate quality of education. Despite her
pride in the home that she was able to provide for her children and the community that she helped to found, she openly and explicitly admits that Lower Crossroads, “still needs improvement so that it can be a better place.” (From personal interviews 19-21 November 2014).
Sadly, they would be right. Sitting in one corner of a triangle made up of the SA Police Services Precincts of Philippi East, Nyanga and Delft, the area of Lower Crossroads falls into the area known as the “murder capital” of South Africa (SA News. 11 September 2018). In conversation with local one Lower Crossroads Community Leader, whose father still resides in Old Crossroads, he tells me that there are currently about four main gangs in Lower Crossroads, mostly controlled by drug lords and tavern owners. One local resident, Mrs Zukiswa Ndawule who has lived in Lower Crossroads for 18 years shared that in her experience, gangsterism was the biggest challenge of their community and it’s getting worse.
“It was not like this before. I’m not really sure why it’s happening. Some
say it’s because of children [only] have single parents or it’s because the children’s parents do not
care for them. But in my experience the main reason is pressure of adults in the drug industry.
Also people who are buying and selling stolen goods and use the children to supply [these
goods].” (In personal interview with Zukiswa Ndawule, 15 May 2019)
Mrs Nomakhaya Mxabo, who has lived in a shack in Marikana since 2014 with her husband, two children and two grandchildren, says that her main concern is safety:
“Little boys are coming into our houses wanting to steal money and phones and TVs”.
She believes that some of these boys are not at school and that they are being used by the older men to steal for them. (From personal interview with Ms Mxabo, 22 May 2019). Two mothers, both local residents living in Lower Crossroads recounted how their sons have been caught up in these gangs. Lured by the seduction of drugs, guns and power. The
mother’s sense of hopelessness and despair is palpable and depressing. They are stuck in a narrative where their children are victims and perpetrators, children who need their love and care, yet pawns of a violent tribe who steal and hurt and cause shame and pain for their family. The children, too, are trapped. One such youngster, only 15 years old,
disclosed to his counsellor when asked if he would like to leave the gang:
“You never leave the gang. I will die in the gang. Because if I leave I will die anyway.” (personal interview with a
social worker, 15 March 2019).
And so the power of control and manipulation has shifted from violent political forces to violent criminal gangs. With gang leaders now holding the community’s children hostage and parents faced with increasing violence within their own home and the community they once fought for to be free.
Conclusion
When Mama Iris Langisi finally moved to Lower Crossroads, she said of that moment:
“And we got free at last. We got free at last, after a difficult time of life.”
After years of being chased and abused, Mama Iris found her home in Lower Crossroads, the community that she helped raise from the ground up. She radiates grace and joy when she talks about her home now and the better life that she has witnessed her children live because after fighting and marching for years in the women’s league, she knows she played
a part in creating that better life. She still stays with her husband in a sea-green house that they’ve lived in for over twenty years now.
And indeed, for those who moved from Old Crossroads to Lower Crossroads during the early 1990s, it did bring a sense of freedom. The burden of living under political oppression and violence, of never knowing when you might be caught or evicted, your house burned and your possessions lost, was a constant source of fear and insecurity and something
everyone was happy to be free of.
However, now in 2019, new powers have emerged. In particular the power of gangs and drugs and criminal violence. Brought about in part by large and sudden increases in the communities population with no formal housing, access to services and limited chances of finding employment, the growing drug and extortion trade is taking its toll on the
communities residents and families.
Linthicum states that we have to look beyond the physical powers at the spiritual forces at work in and over a community or city. “To be able to name your city’s angel and to understand how he is at work both exposes him and enables you to understand the dimension’s the church’s ministry must undertake if it is truly to confront the principalities and powers (1991: 117). In this article I have sought to name some of the powers that have exerted themselves on the people of Crossroads.
I pray that one day we shall be able to say of Ward 35 and all the communities like it, as Mama Iris did, that "we are truly free at last."
Vaughan Stannard, January 2020
References:
Dawson, J 1989. Looking at History with Discernment. Taking our Cities for God. Lake Mary, Florid: Creation House (discerning the history of a city)
Bakke, R 1994. Urban Exegesis. In Urban Strategy Institute, Nov 1994. (importance of gaining a perspective of the historical context)
Linthicum, RC. 1991. Empowering the Poor. Monrovia, California: MARC. Page 10-20
Cole, J., 2012. Behind and Beyond the Eiselen Line. Cape Town. St George’s Cathedral Crypt Memory and Witness Centre.
Linthicum, RC. 1991. City of God, City of Satan. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House. Page 117
Crime Stats SA. Contact Crimes (Crimes against the person) Murder: Worst ten precincts in 2018. http://www.crimestatssa.com/topten.php (accessed 29 March 2019)
Morris, M. 2012. Apartheid: An Illustrated History. Johannesburg. Jonathan Ball Publishers.
The NIV Study Bible. 1985. Grand Rapids. Zondervan Corporation.
Vigne , R. Bundy , CJ. and Others. 2019. Reconstruction, Union and Segregation.
https://www.britannica.com/place/South-Africa/Reconstruction-union-and-segregation-190
2-29#ref480668 Accessed online 14 June 2019
Urban African Administration.
https://www.sahistory.org.za/sites/default/files/Chapter_12.pdf page 127. Accessed online14 June 2019
Urban African Affairs. Published 1975 Black Community Programmes. https://www.sahistory.org.za/archive/chapter-five-urban-african-affairs--bantu-affairs-administration-boards-%28baab%29 Accessed Online 13 June 2019
1965. Bantu Laws Amendment Act. https://omalley.nelsonmandela.org/omalley/index.php/site/q/03lv01538/04lv01828/05lv01
829/06lv01917.htm Accessed Online 13 June 2019
Forced Removals in Greater Cape Town, 1948-1970 by Martin Legassick. http://abahlali.org/files/ch7Removalscapetown%20(1).pdf Accessed Online 10 June 2019
Benson, K. 2015. A Political War of Words and Bullets. Defining and Defying Sides of Struggle for Housing in Crossroads, South Africa. Journal of Southern African Studies. 41:2,367-387 DOI 10.1080/ 03057070.2015.1013358, Page 370
The Modderdam Committee statement, Cape Times 7 July 1977 as quoted in: Cole, J., 2012. Behind and Beyond the Eiselen Line . Cape Town. St George’s Cathedral Crypt Memory and Witness Centre.
Black Sash Newsletter, Cape Western Region, No 61 of June 1975
The Integrated Serviced Land Project 1991-2005. Department of Housing, Western Cape Provincial Government. 2006
Wazimap Ward 35 Profile Data. https://wazimap.co.za/profiles/ward-19100035-city-of-cape-town-ward-35-19100035/
Accessed Online 30 May 2019