On Tuesday, Gail (Natty’s mom) and I went on a township tour to KwaMashu. We went with a new local business that is collaboration between two young guys, one of whom grew up in the township, and they work to bring the township to life in a meaningful way. What was surprising was not necessarily the extreme poverty, but the class distinctions that exist even within the township, with small pockets of new wealth emerging out of the sea of government mandated homes and cobbled together tin shacks. We were also taken aback by how positively the man who grew up there described the developments since 1994. To us, the lack of infrastructure and resources gave the place an aura of hopelessness, but to him, the five hundred new subsidized homes, the new shopping center, the new soccer field and the improved transportation represented a world of difference and an unbounded hope for the future.
The townships were built in a way that deliberately kept black people away from the economic opportunities of the city centers. From the 1950s onward, people were required to carry passbooks with them that carried a stamp of approval from a white employer before entering a white area. Today, the distance of the townships from the cities continues to place an undue burden on people of color. Despite this, some of the burgeoning black middle class has chosen to stay in their townships because of community bonds, preferring to be a part of township life rather than relocating to a traditionally white area or one of the luxurious new developments sprouting up around the city.
A waterfall, hidden at the edge of the township.
This is where Mandela cast his first vote.
A group of kids waiting to visit the house of John Dube, one of the original ANC leaders.
The green house sometimes serves as a market and shebeen (tavern with homemade beer).
Informal shacks, often occupied by immigrants, especially from Zimbabwe.
Gandhi's home in Durban, where he lived for 21 years.
The view from Gandhi's settlement, and site of a primary school he ran.
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