Hip hop identity in a township reality. - Poppunt

protests; many people were killed causing even more riots. The security situation in
South Africa worsened noticeably and many white people fled the country.
In 1989, F.W. De Klerk succeeded Botha who suffered a stroke and passed away.
De Klerk started a new series of changes by withdrawing the ban on the ANC, SACP
and PAC; political prisoners were freed from Robben Island and the most important
laws of apartheid were cancelled. In December 1991 Codesa (Convention for a
Democratic South Africa) began negotiations on the formation of a multiracial
transitional government and a new constitution with equal (political) rights for all
the different racial groups (Wikipedia). Clearly, it would not be easy to reach a total
consent. All of the groups wanted to secure their position and their rights.
Eventually, compromises were made and 1993 was the year that a draft
constitution was published (Vervliet: 19) and an election date was set. The new
constitution guaranteed: freedom of speech and religion, access to adequate
housing, prohibition of discrimination on almost any ground, etc (Wikipedia).
In 1994 the first free general elections were held and won by the ANC with 62,7
percent of the votes (Wikipedia). The NP became the official opposition party.
Nelson Mandela became South Africa’s first black president and the first to govern
democratically. This was the official (theoretical) end of the apartheid era.
3. Setting of the research: Cape Flats
The Cape Flats, also simply known as the Flats or die Kaapse Vlakte in Afrikaans, is
the expansive low-lying, flat and sandy area located on the outskirts of the city of
Cape Town. 7 Since the nineteen fifties this area became inhabited, becoming
apartheid’s ‘dumping ground’, as the Flats are often called (Wikipedia).
“Most of the townships on the Cape Flats were established in the 1960s to
provide accommodation for coloured people who had been forcibly evicted
from their homes in the city bowl and other choice suburbs as a result of
apartheid legislation. These suburbs were reserved exclusively for white
people (…), while the Cape Flats, on the other hand, became home to the
growing population of working-class coloured people.” (Watkins: 30)
People of colour could still work in the city, but not live there. It was the Nationalist
government’s aim to force the coloured community out of the central areas of Cape
Town. The government built large housing projects on the Cape Flats, with many
people, especially blacks, not having any choice other than to live illegally in this
7
http://www.capeflats.org.za/overview.htm and Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Flats