Sometimes violent Islamist movements have emerged from Cape Flats communities, along with other notable figures within the Muslim community, such as Fareed Ishaq, who embody an ecumenical strain of religious progressivism. Driving along the main road from the airport to the city, through the barren and windswept Cape Flats that roll out to the east, this militaristic planning is still very much in evidence. In the 1940s, a type of dental modification known as a passion gap became fashionable and remains popular today. Yesterday, the first South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops arrived on the Cape Flats, patrolling an area that has been completely overrun by gangsters and criminals. This is the political definition of the term. The Gugulethu Sports Complex and Mzoli’s Meat Place are very well known hotspots in Gugulethu. The modification involves the removal of a person's top front teeth. ISBN 0-7984-0092-7. The plants included; Hakeas and especially Wattles (genus Acacia). Telling the Cape Flats Story. If you have ever heard of or seen the Dune Shacks of Provincetown, Cape Cod you know how strong of a pull they will have on you. Bähre, Erik. In the context of South Africa having 11 official languages, three would be applicable in Cape Town; namely, English, Afrikaans and Xhosa. The Cape Flats is one of those areas that most Capetonians give a very wide berth to, which is maybe why we’re so fascinated with being given a look inside. Almost all of the communities of the Cape Flats remain, to one degree or another, poverty stricken. email vincent(@)capeflats.org.za for permission. The term Cape Flats refers to well, a flat, sandy stretch of land which is located on the outskirts of the city of Cape Town. But in 1885, in order to maintain the labour, a 3 pound tax was implemented on formerly indentured Indians who failed to reindenture or return to India after completing their contracts. Retrieved 2014-04-03. The earliest importation of wattles was in 1827. The mountain is a huge tourist attraction & has a fantastic cable car you can ride to the top (when the weather permits). By arrangement of WDC’s organisers, we’re talking shacks and shantytowns while being served endless courses of miniscule food covered in foam, crumb and “jus”. "Townships of the Cape Flats", Welcome to the Cape Flats. She's (he's) cute (mostly refers to babies). Houses are usually tiny and overcrowded, and in most townships, there are blocks upon blocks of flats that are equally tiny and serve as a breeding ground for gang and other unsavoury activities. This meant that only Whites could reside there permanently; people of colour could work in the city but could not live there. Historically the natural vegetation type was the Cape Flats Sand fynbos. If you would like to join the author on a tour around the Cape Flats, and learn more about its unique people, language and vibe, please go to Archived 14 July 2014 at the Wayback Machine. The term Cape Flats refers to a flat, sandy stretch of land that is located on the outskirts of the city of Cape Town. Mar 26, 2017 - Flickr is almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world. Additionally, other large townships of black people; such as Khayelitsha and Gugulethu! Global Built Environment Review 1 2001. The correlation between driving in a car and "voetjies hang"? The Cape Flats consists of a vast number of townships where the majority of coloured and African people live. Army troops entered the Cape Flats on Thursday, Mandela Day, a week after minister of police Bheki Cele announced that the SANDF would be deployed to quell escalating gang violence. May 22, 2016 - Flickr is almost certainly the best online photo management and sharing application in the world. I suspect that the company's weapons were stored there. During the second half of the 19th Century, the area was completely overrun by alien vegetation, mainly of Australian origin. From the team that bought you Vintage Vacations ….. the UK’s original Airstream holidays.. The Shacks signature sound and blending of genres has gained them a worldwide fan base. Its religious communities include (to name only a few), Afrikaans-speaking congregations of the Dutch Reformed Church, Rastafarian communities, people who engage only in traditional Xhosa practices, syncretic Xhosa Christian churches, evangelical Christian churches, and southern Africa's largest Muslim community (drawing its oldest roots from the historic Cape Muslim community, which dates back to the 17th century). Ranging from the traditional sounds of Amampondo, to the more Western soul/R&B music of Vicky Sampson and the combination of opera and traditional songs of soprano Sibongile Khumalo, the Cape Flats has been blessed with a wealth of musical talent. The view from the top of the Mountain is said to be one of the most epic views in all of Africa. These consisted in the main of shacks made of "tin" (in reality corrugated iron which, confusingly, is nowadays made from mild steel), cardboard and wood. Later on, other people came to live there as well and actual houses were built. "Housing for the Urban Poor: A post-apartheid dream or nightmare?" Its political history is complex and sometimes baffling even to insiders: for instance, the politics of the Coloured communities of the Cape Flats have included Trotskyist activism in earlier years, and mobilisation for the United Democratic Front in the 80s; and then, widespread support for the historically white National Party (which had presided over apartheid) in the early post-apartheid elections. The authorities decided to try to stabilise the sand with plants native to the British colonies of New South Wales and Western Australia. It was an era before the advent of modern technological methods for the construction of permanent roads and in those days the Cape Flats was a massive sea of unstabilised sand dunes that moved at will before the winds. Mpahlwa’s story is extraordinary. It has been accurately (I think) described as the "dumping ground of apartheid" and it is here that people of colour (non-whites in "old South Africa" language) were relocated to in terms of the infamous Group Areas Act. Most of the sand is unconsolidated; however, in some places near the False Bay coast the oldest sand dunes have been cemented into a soft sandstone. Its speakers most often refer to it as "broken English", which probably reflects a perception that it is simply inadequately-learned English, but, according to Karen Malan, it is a distinct, legitimate dialect of English. Fran Blandy (2009-10-07). Stirton, C. H. (1978). The Western boundary of the Cape Flats consisting of Constantia Nek, the Back Table, Table Mountain, and Devil's Peak. German Officer 1940. Many of them are quite crude, but I make no apologies for this - it is typical of the way people speak on the Cape Flats and is not considered unusual at all. At the time, the plan worked well enough, but the the price paid, in ecological terms, was that the Cape Flats was carpeted by invasive species. What would it take to allow those who have never seen or heard of the Cape Flats, a glimpse into what it was and is like to grow up and live there ? Since the end of apartheid, these communities are no longer legally bound by racial restrictions; but history, language, economics and ethnic politics still contribute to homogeneity of local areas. One of the major priorities of the RDP (Reconstruction & Development Programme) is to build houses. Plant invaders. 12,860 talking about this. What we have in common though, is that we are from the Cape Flats, or as we would say - vannie Toun. Grew up on the flats as a product of both informal settlement and forced government relocations. Figure 9: Hostels Figure 1 0: Old flats and Barracks Figure 1 2 : Informal Shacks Figure 14 : Informal structures used for market spaces 2.3 Site Context analysis 2.3.1 Physical Infrastructure context The residential stock in Lango tells a story of a history of struggle and opression. And so, these web pages were conceptualised -- as the beginning of a journey; an opening of the door to the physical and psychological space that is called the Cape Flats. In 2016 the four-minute video of the struggles an 11-year-old faces was widely shared, and last year we were given a look at what a shift at a Cape Flats hospital looks like. Before 1950 the noted English naturalist, William John Burchell, remarked in 1811 that the deep sand of the Flats made travel by cart or wagon extremely difficult. Modern amenities were unknown; telephones were unknown, drinking water was collected in tanks from roofs and at night the rooms were lit by oil lamps. -Whether window grilles with a sun pattern or door grilles with a star pattern, they were always made in-house in the barracks. This made travel between Cape Town and the interior very difficult, particularly for the large ox-drawn wagons of the time. Rodney Brown, 44, recently launched his book, Shades of Cape Flats. Download your FREE Cape Cod travel guide! As of the census of 2001, there were 29,149 population. The situation was aggravated by a widespread shortage of firewood, causing fuel collectors to cut the relatively few indigenous shrubs and trees that stabilised the sand. To the West the expanse of the Cape Flats is limited by rising ground that slopes up to the steep cliffs of the Cape Peninsula Mountain chain, while in the east the land rises gradually towards the equally rugged Cliffs of Hottentots Holland Mountains and other elevated Regions of the Interior of the Boland. The term Cape Flats refers to well, a flat, sandy stretch of land that is located on the outskirts of the city of Cape Town. Travels in the Interior of Southern Africa - William J. Burchell (1822). In geological terms, the Area is essentially a vast sheet of Aeolian sand, ultimately of marine origin, which has blown up from the adjacent beaches over a period on the order of a hundred thousand years. http://www.capeflats.org.za/. Quoted from his website: "These pages are dedicated to the people of the Cape Flats - all of them. Below the sand, the bedrock is in general the Malmesbury Shale, except on part of the Western margin between Zeekoevlei to the South and Claremont and Wetton to the North, where an intrusive mass of Cape Granite is to be found. These men were housed in crude barracks, many of which are still there today. Here you will find The Mission – an amazing converted tin tabernacle, The Shack – our humble but beautiful beach shack holiday cabin and The Scout Hall – a converted Scout meeting hall. The era of sand and antelopes vanished completely in little more than a generation. Show off your favorite photos and videos to the world, securely and privately show content to your friends and family, or blog the photos and videos you take with a cameraphone. Show off your favorite photos and videos to the world, securely and privately show content to your friends and family, or blog the photos and videos you take with a cameraphone. However, most people on the Cape Flats, while regarded as Afrikaans speakers, in fact speak what is commonly called "Kapie-taal". I am a product of the Cape Flats. It is on Wednesday of Hell Week that you paddle down to the mud flats and spend the next 15 hours trying to survive the freezing-cold mud, the howling wind and the incessant pressure to quit from the instructors. Native antelope roamed at will between the dense thickets of wattles. The group has toured internationally with artists such as Khruangbin, Lee Fields & The Expressions and Chicano Batman. Its music spans from the serious-minded jazz of Abdullah Ibrahim and Basil Coetzee and their anthem "Mannenberg" (named after a Cape Flats township), to the bubbly pop hits of Brenda Fassie; and continues in a new hip-hop movement. Language of the Cape Flats. The problem is that the way in which these languages are corrupted and combined to make up Kapie-taal means that in the end, what is spoken bears very little resemblance to the original languages. Literally translated, the child just "wants to let his feet hang". Below are some peculiar expressions that people use on the Cape Flats. In 1993, Cape Town had a housing backlog of approximately 40 000 houses and with the numbers of people migrating from the rural areas increasing each year, so the backlog increases. In the context of South Africa having 11 official languages, three would be applicable in Cape Town; namely, English, Afrikaans and Xhosa. The beauty of miles of isolation. The effectiveness of deploying the army has been widely discussed, and it’s important to remember that there is a historical precedent. Cape Town, and especially the Cape Flats, were the scene of the most violent gang-related crimes during the run-up to South Africa's first democratic elections. This township was established in 1958 and was originally named Nyanga West. This is a compilation of extracted text. It is also known for its shacks. Dune Shacks of Cape Cod . But who are the people of the Cape Flats? Below the sand, the bedrock is in general the Malmesbury Shale, except on part of the western margin between Zeekoevlei to the south and Claremont and Wetton to the north, where an intrusive mass of Cape Granite is to be found. Institute of Security Studies. For the most parts, the townships are dreary places, bordering on qualifying for the description of "urban ghettoes". It has been accurately (I think) described as the "dumping ground of apartheid" and it is here that people of colour were relocated to, in terms of the infamous Group Areas Act. Having said the above, you would probably expect me to be all negative and condemnatory of the townships... yes, I am, because I believe that everyone has the right to decent shelter. An example of this is saying that a small child, who does not want to walk but will gladly drive anywhere, "wil net voetjies hang". These consisted in the main of shacks made of "tin" (in reality corrugated iron which, confusingly, is nowadays made from mild steel), cardboard and wood. The Shacks, New York, New York. Serious efforts have in recent years been made to roll back this alien scourge. In 1950 the area was practically uninhabited. Of course, this is part of a defence mechanism - what the American activist and poet, Maya Angelou, calls "the mask". It is predominantly Afrikaans, but includes English and a few Xhosa words as well - amongst older people it is also not uncommon to find a few Dutch words. The exciting thing about the language of the Cape Flats is that it is dynamic and is forever in a process of change, as new experiences and situations are incorporated into it. During the late 1990s and early 2000s, there was significant armed conflict between various gangs and PAGAD (People Against Gangsterism and Drugs), a vigilante organisation. If not, be prepared for the History and the Mystery of the Dune Shacks and start planning your own trek to experience their magic. A small child's feet will not reach the floor when sitting in a car, but will hang in the air….