Race, housing and town planning in Cape Town, c.1920-1940 : with special reference to District Six

Barnett, Naomi

Race, housing and town planning in Cape Town, c.1920-1940 : with special reference to District Six

Master Thesis

1993

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Department of Historical Studies

Faculty

Faculty of Humanities

Abstract

This thesis traces the Cape Town Council's housing policy from 1920 to 1940 in relation to those citizens (in this instance members of the Coloured community) who could not afford to home themselves. The onus to provide such housing in urban areas rested upon the local authority in terms of the Housing Act No. 35 of 1920. The 'racial factor' is put into context, the thesis maintaining that the 'Cape liberal tradition' notwithstanding, for Cape Town as for all other South African municipalities, there was no question but that separate housing provision would be provided for the separate racial groups. District Six is shown to have been one of the most overcrowded, poverty-stricken and neglected areas in the city, and quite naturally occupies a leading role in the thesis. The effects of the Slums Act No. 53 of 1934 on District Six is emphasised: the Act was used not only to facilitate slum demolition, but, more importantly, to enable Council to plan an entirely new District Six on the Council-made ruins of the old. This thesis thus maintains that, contrary to previous research, the Slums Act was concerned only with slum elimination, and was not designed to ensure alternative accommodation for evicted slum dwellers. Instead, it was used to fashion a proposed new town plan for Cape Town. The plan for a new District Six which emerged in 1940 would have meant the annihilation of the District as sorely as the whites-only promulgation under the Group Areas Act in 1966 did. This is examined in the last-but-one chapter. Early in 1936 a new interpretation of the Slums Act which had not been apparent when the Act was promulgated in 1934, enabled the Council to ignore the rehousing of evicted slum dwellers. Now it was ruled that slum demolition should not be held back 'by the use of the excuse' that no alternative accommodation was available for the victims. The Slums Act, ironically, thus relieved the Council of the responsibility of rehousing evicted slum dwellers. By this stage, it was apparent that the City Engineer was not interested in the restoration and upgrading of individual buildings in District Six, but was bent on obtaining, by judicious demolition, as many areas as possible of 'suitable size and dimensions' for further development, not necessarily rehousing. Another preoccupation of this thesis is the Council's dilatory response to the housing needs of its citizens, the thesis assessing the responsible factors. Emphasising Council's ineptness or unwillingness to get to grips with the housing crisis, is a chapter on the Council's housing of the poor and the very poor. All in all this thesis demonstrates the Council's over-riding reluctance to 'burden' the ratepayers with the provision of much-needed housing, a reluctance emphasised by Council's oft-repeated protestations that contemplated housing schemes would not cost the ratepayers a penny. As shown, this was indeed true - housing was profitable and a 'good investment' for the city. This factor was, however, conveniently ignored, Council pursuing a parsimonious housing policy dreadfully slowly, never going beyond the fringes of the city's housing needs.

Keywords

History

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