Township dwellers exist as obituaries in motion and a stark reminder of the genocide that was apartheid, if the periodic crime stats are anything to go by. There were 7,555 murders committed between October and December 2022. The picture that emerges reveals that out of the 30 top police stations for murder, a total of nine were from KwaZulu-Natal, eight in the Western Cape, while seven were from the Eastern Cape. All are in townships or informal settlements.
By design, townships were meant to exclude black people and disintegrate them from urban areas and the conducive social fabric of society. One thing about the apartheid leaders, they were clear on policy: keep the swarthy as far away from not only the economy but the white man as possible. The Group Areas Act was the spatial planning tool used to segregate black from “civilised” areas and reduce them to matchbox house occupants.
That was the plan, it was achieved. But to borrow a sentiment from Qhamani Neza Tshazi, an urban and regional planning PhD candidate at the University of Stellenbosch, has the post-apartheid town planning sector found its mission? Its course and orbit? Is the plan to keep MaDlamini as a kitchen girl, whose biggest ambition is to send her child to a school outside the township? Have they asked themselves why they are planning? Is there a plan at all? In fact, who are they planning for?
“A township is a crime scene, a nature reserve. Townships are a breeding place for violence, whether physical, structural or cultural. It creates a perception for people to be confined and they compete for survival,” said Tshazi.
Three provinces account for 24 out of 30 police stations with the highest number of murders, Gauteng being the other province. The legacy of the genocide that is apartheid is alive and thriving in these townships that Bheki Cele and company — the faces of malfeasance and condescension — find pleasure in reducing to statistics and updating the nation about numbers, instead of doing anything about it. Arguments, road rage and provocation were the top causes.
These were followed by vigilantism, revenge, robbery and gang-related crimes, most of which were recorded in the Western Cape. Meanwhile, every quarter the statistics show us where, how, who and why crimes are committed. But this dossier becomes a parade by the department of police, instead of a guide as to which areas they should be prioritising in terms of policing. Meaning we know what is wrong and where things are going wrong, but nothing is done about it.
When people know each other there is a sense of respect and trust, which then minimises violence. But what is expected of people who find themselves in zoning that allows for a Bra Somebody to erect a tavern in the middle of a settlement?
Last week the people of Nomzamo in Soweto gathered at the court with knobkerries and shields at the appearance of six men linked to the murder of 16 patrons at the Soweto tavern in July last year. The tension is always brewing and the psych of the violence described in the stats is always peeping in real life.
On Wednesday finance minister Enoch Godongwana presented the budget speech in which he announced that the Treasury allocated R14bn over the medium term to fight crime and corruption, with the following specific allocations, a chunk of it, R7.8bn to the police force to appoint 5,000 police trainees per year.
The police station in Inanda, KwaZulu-Natal, almost always comes up as the station where most rapes are reported, but part of the statistics does not answer whether there is a strategy to counter the scourge. There is money being plonked into this machine that most people don’t dare press for help because it has been out of order for so many years, the resort is mob justice. Vigilantism is the second cause of murder almost every quarter because of the obvious, the public confidence in the justice system has eroded to a level of self-preservation.
Tshazi says due to the erosion of community spirit, as a result of forced removals and migrant labourer culture, crime easily exhibits itself. “They are commuters, you don’t know who your neighbour is. The sense of community is a regulator for crime, it’s important in how the public behaves.”
When people know each other there is a sense of respect and trust, which then minimises violence. But what is expected of people who find themselves in zoning that allows for a Bra Somebody to erect a tavern in the middle of a settlement? The police were shocked, just as we were, as to why 21 youngsters died from suffocation due to overcrowding at an East London tavern. How misguided is the strategy of the police system that they have figures showing the same pattern in every quarter but no plan to combat the crime?
Why there is no clear action around policing in these areas and community outreaches at the least? The country’s murder and violent crime profile echoes the continuous manifestation of the apartheid architect, which is now propagated by the leaders of the alleged rainbow nation. Manslaughter can still be found in the townships.
After 1994 the Urban Development Framework of 1997 sold a 2020 urban vision that sought to pursue a spatially and socio-economically integrated dwelling free from racial and gender discrimination and segregation. It’s 2023, and the people of Inanda are still ducking bullets. Their township is still not a centre of economic, environmental and social opportunity where people can live and work in safety and peace.
Life in the townships is a constant battle for survival, you can manoeuvre in it. Try to manipulate it, but it will somehow find a way to own you.
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