APPENDIX B: MARABASTAD
This appendix provides a chronological listing of selected regulations leading to the establishment and management of the area now known as Marabastad. Interspersed among these are important events that impacted on the lives of the people living in the area. The sequential order may make it somewhat difficult to identify processes because Black people were not regarded as citizens but as distinctly different groups needing specific legislation according to race and the threats that each group posed to British and Afrikaner rulers. Listing events chronologically brings together the different regulations for Africans, Indians and Coloureds and gives some indication of very complicated processes and the effort required to perpetuate and manage segregation, keep it under control and overcome its contradictions.
1830 - 1923
1. UNDER THE SOUTH AFRICAN (TRANSVAAL BOER) REPUBLIC 1830 - 1900
1830's
Voortrekkers settle in the area that later becomes Pretoria
near Ndebele villages
Manala community - eastern Moot north of the Magaliesberg
Tswana and Northern Sotho in central area
1844
Article 29 of the ‘Drie-en-dertig Artikelen' (South African Republic)
Africans not allowed to settle permanently on white farms
1855
White farmers formally establish Pretoria
African people from rural areas move to town to look for work
Some find work on small firms along the Apies River
Others - domestic workers - accommodated in rooms/huts on white property
1858
Africans allowed to settle and work in white towns.
Sign contracts with employers
(1860 Indians-indentured labourers-arrive in Natal. After a five year period
of indenture, those who become free, are subject to a £3 tax. Many leave for the Transvaal and other places.)
1866
Berlin Mission Society (BMS) establishes mission station in Pretoria -
four stands in Visagie and Andries Streets, for church and parsonage
1867
BMS acquires Frischgewaagd (part of Daspoort Farm, west of present Zoo)
23 morgen (19,7 hectares) outside town boundary from Apies River in the North and Boom Street in the South, Steenhovenspruit in the West and Belle Ombre small holding in the East à development of Schoolplaats
Article 173 of the New Transvaal Constitution introduces measures to halt
urbanisation of African people. 3 groups of African residents identified in terms of accommodation:
i) on farms along Apies River
ii) in rooms or huts on white property
iii) in Schoolplaats, the oldest township, established by the BMS
1871
Transvaal Volksraad regulation: non-whites allowed in towns only if they have employment in the area
(1871 & 1886 Discovery of gold and diamonds à rapid urbanisation of African people)
1875
African population - 223 men, women and children in Schoolplaats
1876
Establishment of small African reserves
BMS school building erected
1878
Non-white population mostly African and Coloured
Early 1880s
Arrival of Indians in the Transvaal
1880
BMS parsonage erected
1881
BMS new mission church built
BMS 4 stands in Visagie and Andries sold
BMS Schoolplaats: 96 stands along four streets running N/S. Place for a hundred families, rows of fig trees, water from Apies River and 62 wells, township neat and orderly.
Convention of Pretoria: more rights for Indian and Coloured people
n removes limitations on movement
n grants right to own and rent land and property
1884
Schoolplaats a model township with 70 families
Convention of London: free movement and tenure of land to Indians and Coloureds. Indians initially occupy area bounded by Van der Walt, Prinsloo, Church and Vermeulen Streets.
Coloureds from the Cape begin to settle in Pretoria. They own/rent property in central Pretoria à complaints from white residents
1885
Act 3 of 1885 of the South African Republic (Transvaal) Government: Coolies, Arabs and other Asiatics denied citizenship and ownership of fixed property. Indians to be resettled in certain street, wards or townships.
Beginning of protest activities - Mahatma Gandhi involved.
1886
Beginning of development of Witwatersrand goldfields à industrial development of Pretoria
1888
Overpopulation of Schoolplaats à Establishment of Marabastad at village of Maraba - either named after local headman or Jeremia Maraba, chief constable and interpreter:
- boundaries Apies River in the north, Skinner Spruit in the west, Steenhoven Spruit in the East and De Korte Street in the south
- 3 streets E/W, 2 streets N/S
- residents not allowed to own stands
- managed by government of Boer Republic
- rent to government -- £4 a year
- empty plots for growing crops
- water from nearby river and spruits
1892-3
To clear Indians from city centre, Coolie Location proclaimed south of Marabastad:
- boundaries from Struben Street in the south to Barber Street in the north and Steenhoven Spruit in the east to Von Wielligh (now DF Malan) in the west.
- 380 stands - normal blocks subdivided into smaller blocks, stands smaller than in Marabastad
- Indians in Prinsloo Street resist move to Coolie Location
1893
To clear Coloured people from city centre, Cape Location (Cape Boys' Location) proclaimed:
- southern part of Coolie Location between Bloed and Stuben Streets proclaimed for Coloured occupation
- Coloureds not residing on property of white employers, ordered to move to Cape Location
1895
Transvaal ‘Squatters Act', Act 21 of 1895:
- maximum of 5 families to reside on farming property (to protect whites from squatters) à hundreds of families forced to leave farms, settle in urban area
1895
Government regulations:
- non-whites not allowed to walk on sidewalks and pavements
- right to property in white areas prohibited
- allowed to live in servants' quarters
- makes to carry passbooks with employment contracts
1897
Law 3 of 1897 prohibits marriage between white and coloured persons (Black people)
1898
Additional regulations for township planning, management, erection of houses, influx control, hygiene and sanitation, restaurants.
1899
Before Angl-Boer War, Indians began settling in Prinshof, North-east of city centre and Trevenna, east of Apies River, in Esselen Street area
Anglo-Boer War begins. More than half the Indian population leave Pretoria for Natal, the Cape and India to escape war.
Development of mining. Influx of thousands of Africans into urban areas.
After Anglo-Boer War, African women allowed to settle in urban centres à provision of family housing, education, social and medical services à urbanisation of African people.
2. UNDER BRITISH MILITARY AUTHORITIES 1900-1902
1900
British Military Authorities declare new area between Marabastad and Coolie Location for refugees - New Marabastad:
- 392 stands
- 21 year lease
- 80 refugee families and squatters
- employees of military authorities and former residents of Old Marabastad
- no street segregation between Africans, Asians and Coloureds
1901
Schoolplaats - pipes laid, 1 tap per 100 families
1902 -1914 Beginnings of African resistance to urban conditions
3. UNDER BRITISH COLONIAL RULE - TRANSVAAL AND ORANGE FREE STATE GOVERNMENTS - 1903 - 1910
1903
Transvaal Municipal Corporations Ordinance No 58 of 1903
- local authorities given authority to proclaim, move, deproclaim and manage townships for non-whites
- residents not allowed to buy land, had to rent
- right of compensation if moved
- allowed to erect buildings under strict regulations
1903
New Marabastad - 412 stands, 2500 residents
25 hectare area surveyed à 464 minute stands -15 by 15 meters
Taps for new Marabastad
Coolie Location renamed Asiatic Bazaar
Bazaar implied a more elevated status
Indians allowed to trade, own buildings, build mosques and temples to ‘express their culture.'
1903
East Lynne township established, property couold be acquired by anyone
1904
Management of Asiatic Bazaar and Cape Location under Pretoria City Council
1904
New Marabastad (Africans) and Cape Location (Coloureds) placed under strict municipal control:
- rates and tariffs determined
- regulations: sanitary arrangements and water supply
- provision of housing and temporary residences for those unable to build their own dwellings
Africans from informal settlements around hostels, compounds and freehold townships, removed to New Marabastad:
- boundaries of Marabastad determined - north, Apies River; south, Barber Street, west, skinner Street and east, Steenhoven Spruit
- 1166 small stands : 67 stands of old Marabastad divided into 665 stands, 412 stands of New Marabastad divided into 501 stands
- population 3223
- with 632 empty stands Marabastad not deemed overcrowded
- no ownership rights to land - no well built permanent houses à shacks
- unpaved streets
- inadequate water supply
- community and sanitary facilities almost non-existent
1904
Waverley township established - property could be acquired by anyone
Coloureds in Asiatic Bazaar removed to Cape Location
1905
Cape Location resurveyed - 81 stands created
Schoolplaats - residents refuse to pay water accounts, forced to pay to avoid removal to Marabastad
South African Native Affairs Commission (SANAC) recommendations:
- regulations to separate European areas from native areas
- limit land occupied by Africans to force labour out to white industries
- allow Africans to buy property, determine stand and build own buildings
- local authorities to provide suitable and comfortable dwellings
these recommendations led to proclamation of freehold townships
1905-6 Five freehold townships - Lady Selborne, Eastwood, Newlands, riverside and Eersterust
1906
Asiatic Law amendment Ordinance
- to control influx of Indian men, women and children through enforced registration
- beginning of Passive Resistance Movement - Hamidia Islamic society organises a meeting
(1906 - 1914 Protests, civil disobedience of Indians led by Mahatma Gandhi)
1907
Sewage farm (Daspoort) to be established on 44 stands with 50 buildings in section of Old Marabastad
1907
Immigration Restriction Act - to control influx of Indians into the country
A small portion of Asiatic Bazaar between Bloed and Boom Streets added to Cape Location
City Council erects 50 houses between 1923 and 1925 - similar to municipal housing schemes in Bantule
4. UNION OF SOUTH AFRICA - GOVERNMENT UNDER SMUTS AND SOUTH AFRICAN PARTY (SAP) 1910 - 1921
1910
Mahatma Gandhi establishes Tolstoy farm at Lawley on outskirts of Johannesburg.
1911
Mines and Works Act reserved 32 types of jobs for whites only - reduced profitability of mines.
Chamber of Mines opposed colour bar in mines.
1912
Sewage Farm, north-west of town centre on southern slopes of Daspoortrant - Old Marabastad
People occupying the area moved to New Location (later renamed Bantule)
Beginning of demolition of Old Marabastad
1912 - 1920
Old Marabastad evacuated and demolished
1912
Formation of African National Congress
1913
Natives Land Act (Act 27 of 1913)
- separated whites and Africans in rural areas
- froze existing tribal areas and stopped Africans from acquiring land outside these areas
- Africans become landless nomads forced to migrate to urban areas
- threat to existence of Schoolplaats - too close to municipal area
1914
Indian Relief Act and Gandhi-Smuts Agreement
- does not alleviate difficulties in obtaining trading licences, upholds restriction on landowning rights, denies municipal franchise
1914 - 1918 (WWI)
- demand for African labour in urban areas
- population explosion in Marabastad, from the hundreds into the thousands à housing crisis
- Africans rent rooms in Cape Location and Asiatic Bazaar