Hip hop identity in a township reality. - Poppunt

area. A lot of black people lived illegally on the Cape Flats, because the government
had designated them as residents of the Bantustans, which meant they actually
had to go and live there, even though many of them were born in Cape Town. As a
result of the forced government relocations, they constructed informal settlements,
which is a rather vague word for a gathering of shacks made of wood, cardboard
and sheets of corrugated iron (Wikipedia).
All of the Cape Flats communities are until today characterised by different degrees
of poverty. The Cape Flats have almost become a synonym for serious social ills,
such as a high rate of unemployment, little schooling, criminality, drug abuse and a
lack of decent housing. In short, the Cape Flats have all the hallmarks to be
considered as urban ghettos.
The majority of the black and coloured people of Cape Town still live in townships
on the Cape Flats. Most of these townships are home to coloured people, and only
four (Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Langa and Nyanga) are the home of black people. 8
Gugulethu, meaning ‘our pride’, is one of the oldest black townships in the whole of
South Africa, and is the result of the migrant labour system. 9 In 1958 Gugulethu
was established, because Langa had become too small. 10 Most of the migrant
workers living in Gugulethu, originally came from the Transkei and Ciskei
homelands, where they left their family on their search for work. These migrant
workers were accommodated with dormitory-style hostels, where living conditions
and facilities were extremely poor. As a result of these poor living conditions, the
migrants started to build their own shacks. Later, formal houses were built to
accommodate a part of the migrant workforce. 11 Initially, women were not permitted
to visit their husbands, but after a period of time, this ruling was lifted.
Gugulethu currently has a population of approximately 325 000 people, and thus is
one of the fastest developing black townships in South Africa. The average monthly
income is no more than R 1.126 (135 €) (PubMed Central 12 ).
The Bonteheuwel township was the result of the previously mentioned Group Areas
Act. Most of the people who live in Bonteheuwel were inhabitants from District Six
and Diep River and were forcibly removed from these places. Bonteheuwel is a
mainly coloured working-class community in which the majority of the people still
rent their houses from the state. 40% of the Bonteheuwel population is younger
than nineteen years old, hence the youth is a key demographic and social factor.
8
http://www.cape-town.info/cape-town-attractions/cape-flats/
9
http://www.uwc.ac.za/ems/is/somditti/Rep_Gugulethu.pdf
10
http://www.popularmemory.org/archive3.htm and http://www.uwc.ac.za/ems/is/somditti/Rep_Gugulethu.pdf
11
http://www.uwc.ac.za/ems/is/somditti/Rep_Gugulethu.pdf
12
http://www.pubmedcentral.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=471560