The oldest township is called Langa, in Xhosa it means “sun” and was established in  1922. The construction of Nyanga and Gugelethu “our pride” began in the 1950s and 1960s. After the eviction of the District Six many people had to move into these townships.

Gugelethu is primarily inhabited by Xhosas whose home region is the Eastern Cape.  The most houses here are simple huts consisting of several rooms. The residents  were able to preserve their African traditions partly from their old home – Umbuntu is  such a feature. For several years now the butcher Mzoli is developing into a crowd  puller in the center of the townships.

Township

The construction of Mitchell’s Plain began in the 1970s. The district is about 20 kilometers in the south east of Cape Town and adjoins to the False Bay. The place  was established as a so-called model township by the apartheid government which should house all the coloured people who were not allowed to live in their former homes because of “Group Area Acts”. In the township another division occurred after
different race affiliations. Areas like Westridge, Rocklands or Portlands are in the western part of Mitchell’s Plain and are wealthier than Tafelsig, Beacon Valley, Eastridge or Lentegeur in the east. Over the decades living conditions got worse on and on. From an area where formerly many middle class families lived an urban  ghetto developed and alcoholism and intoxication are dominating here. The drug Tik
is widespread among the young people. The lack of prospects of local residents is the biggest problem for South Africa. No education, no access to jobs, bad hygienic  conditions – for Europeans simply unimaginable. There is no financial support from the state and for many the only way to survive is robbery and theft.

Today Mitchell’s Plain is home to more one million inhabitants, there are no exact figures available. The moving in of people from poorer regions of South Africa and  countries from such as Zimbabwe steadily continues. Then many find accommodation in informal settlements, to the corrugated sheet dwellings. On an unused piece of land a dwelling is established with wood and corrugated sheet. There’s no water, sewage or electricity. The temperatures reached about 40 degrees in the Cape Flats in the South African summer. Every year in summer is reported  about conflagrations those destroy whole blocks.

Khayelitsha is the second largest township in Cape Town and is located primarily of Xhosa. The name means “new home”. The large part of the dwellings here are  shacks, the corrugated sheet huts. Bongweni, Ikwezi Park, Khulani Park, Khanya Park, Tembani, Washington Square, Graceland and Zolani Ekuphumleni Park are those areas that were built by the apartheid government. One of the few sources of income is the resale of goods of daily use. Cigarettes, prepaid cards for mobile phones and food are traded the most. Ten thousands of people earn a little money with that. In the sheebens which are small pubs local beer is served. A few have become so popular that there are now visited by tourists as part of a township tour.

The approach with which many women secure their livelihoods is shocking. Children receive the only financial support of the state. To get the 70 € a month the women see as the only option to get just as many children as possible. Then the whole family survives with this child benefit. Many children rely on school meals, there are no  other meals. Maria has been reported on her report on this unacceptable situation.

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A new step forward for public transport in Cape Town

The tickets for the My CiTi airport shuttle you can buy at kiosks at the Civic Centre and atthe airport bus station for only R50 per adult and buy 25 Rand per child for a ride.

Schedule:
The shuttle runs every 20 minutes from 4.00 bis 21.00 clock from the Civic Center and from 5.00 bis 22.00 clock from Cape Town International Airport.

For more information:

http://www.capetown.gov.za/en/Pages/CitylaunchestwoMyCiTibusservices.aspx

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Classes of 50 pupils, demolished windows and doors, drug gangs and
teenage-pregnancies accompany most children and teenagers in daily life at schools
in underprivileged areas.

I heard stories of pupils not being allowed to take school books at home. Let alone
borrowing them to read and study at home. Children whose parents didn’t pay the
annual school fees were excluded publicly. They were not allowed to join school
trips or events. School reports were hold back or students even got dismissed from
school for outstanding amounts, all this hardship because of 30 EUR in Primary
School or 70 EUR in High School.

The so highly praised school food didn’t exist at many schools as principals thought
it was too much paper work to apply for bread and peanut butter – the two only
groceries that are provided from the government for free). Other school directors
sold food that was donated to their schools by supermarkets like Woolworths to
supplement their low income. Due to this fact some children were starving and so
exhausted at noon that they fell asleep during class.

These reports shocked me so much and I couldn’t let go of this topic any longer.
Since then I am working on my project NO MORE EXCUSES which means no more excuses
why children can’t go to school or why they have to suffer because their parents
don’t have enough money. When we started the program in 2009 we managed to provide
the school fees for 22 children.

We also started study groups and provided a room for our kids so that they have a
quiet place to learn and meet during the holidays to study together. This had such
a big impact on their school performance that some of the kids improved tremendously
and everyone was motivated to achieve better marks automatically.
Furthermore, I organized a trip to the Youth in Construction Expo in April 2009
where many professions and education programs were introduced. Many kids were
surprised about all the different job opportunities as they only knew two
professions for women up to this point – cleaning lady or nurse. In April 2010 we
received free tickets to the Cape Town Aquarium which was the first outing for most
of the children.

To be able to achieve further little changes in little Capetonians we ask for your
help.

Kindly support us to give those kids a better life that they deserve.

Thanks for reading,
Maria

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Tik is the fashion drug of South Africa. Such as AIDS it destroys the livelihoods of millions of natives. Since 2000 this drug is particularly in the Townships of Coloureds of Cape Town on the rise, especially among the young people. Currently the number of addicts is estimated at 300,000. The great advantage of this drug is  that it is cheap to produce. At this it concerns around methamphetamine. The ingredients are available at any pharmacy or drugstore and are then mixed together in a secret laboratory. In Europe this drug is known by the name of Crystal Meth.

And this cheap drug costs money anyway. The addicts first sell all their belongings, beg in the town and steal the possessions of their family to move them also. The addicts go on forays into the affluent residential areas of Cape Town and steal or rob there anything they can dispose again. There are daily reports in the newspapers that people were stabbed or shot because of little things like a mobile phone or some cash. The bad reputation of South Africa concerning crime comes in part from hence. The drug causes changes in personality and makes aggressive. While intoxicated they lead to increased self-confidence and sexual desire. For a short time it prevents the need to sleep. For the young people without any prospects who spend their lives in the bleak townships of South African towns it is an escape from the daily grind for some hours.

Addicts to Tik are often violent towards every person including family members. Many parents and grandparents turn in their helplessness to the local authorities. But the authorities are completely overextended by the size of the drug problem. The dramatic high point was the homicide of an addict to Tik by the own mother. By this action the effects were nationally discussed the first time. Initially known as a murderer she was later regarded as a heroine in her township. In 2008 she was convicted in a court to probation and community service. Another consequence of this drug intoxication is even more dramatic. Welfare organizations report that in the context of Tik it will come to increased rapes in the townships. An article said that since the increased appearance of Tik in the townships victims and rapists are getting younger; there are even ten years old culprits. Considering then the HIV-rate of the inhabitants in particular in the townships, the disaster is recognizable.

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In the middle of the 1980’s Cape Town’s city council wanted to built a new express highway close to the city. As a result a complete block with historical but run-down houses from the 18. century would have been demolished. These were especially citizen or craft houses but as well warehouses. Massive civil protests resulted and in the end this road building project got cancelled.

Heritage Square

To finance the costs for the renovation of the historic buildings the Cape Town Heritage trust was founded. After long-lasting negotiations the property rights of the complete block were alienated to the trust and the reconstructions began. The reconstruction was completed long ago. Today you can find some very good restaurants and a hotel in a true original reconstructed ambience. The Cape Heritage Hotel is an important part of the whole square. The forerunner of the Luxus Boutique Hotel was built in 1780. Typically for that time the house was built with a courtyard. Today this courtyard in particular invites for a refreshment and a good meal in on of the restaurants.

Heritage Square

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Township

Within the apartheid policy from the 1950’s to the 1970’s demographic groups in South Africa were allocated to different homelands. These were half-autonomic states which were only accepted by South Africa. But to assure the securing of cheap workers not all the black people could be deported to the homelands. Therefore townships were planned by the administrations of individual cities and regions. As a rule each population group was relocated there. Practically every city in South Africa has at least one township. In many places these townships border on residential areas of the whites. Only separated by a highway, railway line or another natural border.

Township

Most of the time basic houses were built by the cities which consist of a bedroom, a living room including a kitchen and a little bathroom. 10 people had to live in those 3 to 4 rooms. The settlements were built out of town. The residents had to commute several hours each day to get to work. The infrastructure was totally disregarded. There were hardly any hospitals and only few schools.

With the end of the apartheid the problems intensified. Hundreds of thousands residents of former homelands as well as refugees from neighbouring countries came to the cities to find work, also to Cape Town. The townships including the “informal settlements” were growing extremely. It is difficult to estimate all the residents but numbers differ from 2.5 to 3.5 million in Cape Town. South Africa spends billions of dollars every year to ameliorate the living conditions in the townships. It is the combination of lacking capabilities, incompetence, corruption and the frequent moving in of even more people that does not make the progress noticeable for all residents. The resident’s patience is proved because the ANC-government promised that they will improve the living situation of the poor when they came into power. A big progress is noticeable in the medical and academic field but the living situation increased only little. There are still areas without running water and electricity.

Township

The impatience of the residents appears consistently in violent conflicts. The negative climaxes were the excesses against strangers in 2008 where their huts got burnt down and several dozen refugees from sub-Saharan Africa were killed. It is estimated that more than half of the residents in the townships are jobless. That means no income at all because there is no aid money from the country. To escape the drab monotony of their everyday life they drink alcohol and take drugs. In sheebens, small pubs, the cheap alcohol is sold. Tik is the most common drug in Cape Town. With this combination most of the crimes are committed for which South Africa is known in the whole world. But in most cases this crimes are limited to these areas.

However townships differ widely among one another. There are relatively wealthy areas which are middle-class settlements with a normal infrastructure. In the least years shopping malls have been built there. On the other hand there are districts with very bad poverty that should not be entered even during the day.

Under the apartheid government the South African population was subdivided into Whites, Blacks, Coloureds and Indians. Among these four races were different gradations. Different townships were assigned to each group. The townships in Cape Town are preferential for Blacks and Coloureds. The oldest township in Cape Town is the Langa which was built in 1922 followed by Nyanga, built in the 1950’s and Gugulethu, built in the 1960’s. During the last days of the apartheid the foundation stone for Khayelitsha and Mitchell’s Plan was laid. They are the second and third biggest townships. For many tourists a visit of one of these townships belongs to their touristic program. But there are controversial opinions whether this is to judge as positive or negative.

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Companies Garden

Especially during the summer heat the park invites you to take a walk. There are a lot of exotic trees and flowers to admire, you will find many

Companies Garden - House of Parliament

memorials of former presidents or governors and you can discover plenty of historic buildings. Right at the entrance of the site St. George’s Cathedral is situated, built in 1901 in neo-Gothic style. It is the domicile of the Anglican archbishop of Cape Town; amongst others the Nobel Peace Prize holder Desmond Tutu was active here.

On the left side stretch some government buildings. During the South African summer the government and the parliament move into the “House of Parliament”, whereas in winter the official capital, called Pretoria, becomes the civic centre. It is possible to visit the “House of Parliament”. On the back of the green area the “South African National Gallery” is located. The neoclassical museum building shows more than 6000 paintings, including many Dutch and Flemish painters. You will find the planetarium of Cape Town on the opposite site of the Gallery.

Companies Garden

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During the festival visitors can enjoy different live acts and performances. More than 20 music bands and musicians do their performance, e.g. „30 from Ace”, „aKing” and „Tidal Waves“.

Festival goers can expect to see the city’s top musicians in action, the best of Obz nightlife, art installations and exciting playgrounds for the kids, an extensive craft market, as well as the Lazy Sunday concert aimed at jazz lovers.

The festival takes place between 9th. – 11th. December 2011. Entrance fee will be 90 Rand for all three days.

Homepage

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Among these brands are Camelthorn, Darling, Bavaria, Corona, Carling Black Label, Napier, Jack Black, Paulaner, Mitchells, Castle, Fosters, Erdinger, Liefmans, Oettinger, Cobra, Tiger, Singha, Duvel, Maredsous und Valentines.

The venue of this event is Hamiltons Rugby Club opposite to the new soccer stadium. The entrance fee for one day is 60 Rand, all 3 days are for 120 Rand.

Additional to the beer testing a variety of music acts will be presented. In the evenning musicians do their performance.

More info you get here.

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More than 80 locals bands, live acts and electro musican perform on 4 different stages.

The ticket price is 440 Rand for all three days and 100 Rand for one day.

More details, especially which bands perform at wich time you get here.

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