Picture source: Essence
magazine, October 1997. Caption reads: A
disturbing look at a township in Durban. Under the Reconstruction
and Development Program, the new government plans to dismantle
this type of housing and provide better living conditions for
its people.
Here
are some exerpts from Cry, The Beloved Country which tell how
the Shanty Towns came to be:
All roads lead to Johannesbug.
If you are [W]hite or if you are [B]lack they lead to Johannesburg.
If the crops fail, there is work in Johannesburg. If there
are taxes to be paid, there is work in Johannesburg …
Yes, this house
is full, and that house is full. For everyone is coming to
Johannesburg. From the Transkei and the Free State, from
Zululand and Sekukuniland. Zulus and Swazis, Shangaans and Bavenda,
Bapedi and Basuto, Xosas and Tembus, Pondos and Fingos, they are
all coming to Johannesburg.
Oh my husband, why
did we leave the land of our people? There is not much there,
but it is better than here. There is not much food there, but
it is shared by all together. If all are poor, it is not so bad
to be poor. And it is pleasant by the river, and while you
wash your clothes the water runs over the stones, and the wind
cools you
Two weeks from today,
that is the day of the moving. Come my husband, let us
get the planks and the tins and the sacks and the poles. I do
not like the place where we are.
I shall carry
the iron, and you my wife the child, and you my son
two poles, and you small one, bring as many sacks as you are able
…
Many people are moving
there, you can hear the sound of digging and hammering already.
Shanty Town is up
overnight. … Shanty Town is up overnight.
Squatters they call
us. This great village of sack and plank and iron, with no rent
to pay, only a shilling to the Committee.
Shanty Town is up
overnight.
The child coughs badly,
and her brow is hot as fire. I was afraid to move her, but it
was the night for the moving. The cold wind comes through
the sacks. What shall we do in the rain, in the winter?
Quietly my child, your
mother is by you. Quietly my child, do not cough any more, your
mother is by you.
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