432:
rather than proper brick houses, resistance to the new township began to grow. The development of
Sandkraal commenced towards the end of 1983. The plan had about 1 200 sites which could provide housing for about 10 000 people. The then Deputy Minister of Constitutional Development and Planning, Piet Badenhorst, announced that residents of Lawaaikamp would “voluntarily” move to a new and first black township 5 kilometres away from the town in George. According to Badenhorst 512 sites had services such as water, storm water drainage, sewage connections, electricity network and high mast lighting which served the entire area and the connection points for each site. However, community members at the time, complained that, “no Infrastructure has been provided and residents queue daily with buckets, waiting for the municipal water-truck to do its rounds. In Lawaaikamp there were only five taps to serve the entire community… in Sandkraal there are none.” The government had planned to upgrade Lawaaikamp for coloured housing therefore black residents came under increasing pressure to vacate the area. Serious tensions and conflict between black residents of and the authorities in George during the mid-1980s. In February 1986 Mr Rhontsi Mbuyiwelo Jonas Jack, Mr Skosana Meanwell Lekayi and one other resident were shot dead by the police during street protests. Some community members retaliated by the killing of Mr Afrika Nqumse, an employee of the Development Board who was regarded as collaborator in the forced removals. Workers of Lawaaikamp staged a one day stay-away in protest against the shootings. The George Municipality responded by dismissing more than 400 municipal workers who had participated in the stay-away. On 3 April 1986 the George Municipality bulldozed 150 houses in Lawaaikamp and later issued a deadline of 30 June 1986 for residents of Lawaaikamp to vacate the area. Residents continued to oppose the removals and 180 people were detained, including members of the George Civic Association which had been elected at a mass meeting earlier in the year to represent the people of Lawaaikamp. As a result of the resistance and pressure from outside, the municipality extended the deadline to 31 December 1986. A number of residents eventually moved from Lawaaikamp to Sandkraal. By the end of 1986 Sandkraal became bigger than Lawaaikamp. However, about 2000 people stayed on in Lawwaikamp. Many of the residents who moved to Sandkraal saw an opportunity of building their own homes and many of them came from other towns in the Eastern Cape.
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68:
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residents to
Sandkraal, by enforcing the Prevention of illegal Squatting Act (Act 52 of 1951) and the National Building Regulations Building Standards Act (Act 103 of 1977). Through public protests, demonstrations and court proceedings led by the George Civic Association, Lawaaikamp was eventually provided low cost infrastructure.
439:
Since 1982 Sandkraal was the local authority for the black people, a form of an independent municipal region for black people under apartheid. As the result of the Local
Government Transition Act (Act 209 of 1993), Sandkraal was then amalgamated into the Greater George Transitional Council that later
422:
fell under the Cape
Province Coloured Labour Preference Act of 1957. Any employer wishing to employ a black worker was required to obtain a Coloured Labour Clearance Certificate from the department of manpower stating that no suitable coloured person is available for the position. The authorities had
464:
and adjacent to
Pacaltsdorp. The suburb is sectioned into 9 zones which are cut through in half by the Nelson Mandela Boulevard which stretches from York Street and ends in Thembalethu. The Nelson Mandela Boulevard is also the only entry and exit route to and out of Thembalethu. On entry, the zones
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Lawaaikamp was rezoned as for
Coloured occupation on 12 July 1987 as the George Municipality attempted to force black people to move to Sandkraal. Lawaaikamp residents refused to move and was then declared an illegal squatter camp and a health hazard. This enabled authorities to forcibly remove its
409:
The Group Areas Act (Act 41 of 1950) was one of the cornerstones of
Apartheid policy that was implemented by the National Party. The Act assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas. The Group Areas Act led to a massive programme of forced removals in South
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In 1982 a portion of farmland south of
Lawaaikamp, Sandkraal (also known as Thyolora) was zoned a group area for black people. At first many black residents of Lawaaikamp welcomed the move to Sandkraal. However, when they realised that the government would only provide site and service schemes,
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During the 19th and 20th centuries various laws were introduced in South Africa to remove black communities from land they occupied in order to make way for white farmers or commercial activities by the then ruling white government. As early as 1879 the
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restricted the setting up of locations on crown land (government-owned land). Other laws discriminatory to non-Europeans were enacted laying a foundation for the implementation of
Apartheid before the National Party's ascendance to governance in 1948.
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are placed in a clock wise direction with zones 1 to 4 on the left, zone 5 straight ahead and zones 6 to 9 on the right in an ascending order. Thembalethu has a lot of informal settlements growing west of the township joining zones 5 to 9.
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largely occupied by black people in 1976) for the purpose of housing black municipal workers. Harvey's Bay came to be known as
Lawaaikamp and the municipality provided it with basic services such as toilets and refuse removals.
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in 1995 . In 1999 Sandkraal was renamed to Thembalethu and in 2013 Sandkraal Road and the continuing extending road Albert Street were renamed to Nelson Mandela Boulevard.
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Group Areas. Additional townships were established to accommodate people who were classified as coloured and had been forcibly removed from other areas.
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Africa and subsequently in George as well. Under the guidance of Apartheid legislation, George implemented the
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not made any plans to attempt to provide land or housing for black people before acquiring Harvey's Bay (an
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A diagram showing the sections of Thembalethu and the connecting informal settlements.
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384:. The township is on the Garden Route and falls part of the
756:"Group Areas Act of 1950 | South African History Online"
731:"Control: 1910 - 1948 | South African History Online"
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which led to Rosemoor and Pacaltsdorp being declared
706:"1879. Native Locations Act - The O'Malley Archives"
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460:Thembalethu is situated south of George, over the
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388:. The name of the township "Thembalethu" is
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637:List of Primary Schools in Thembalethu
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403:Native Location Act (Act 37 of 1879)
656:List of High Schools in Thembalethu
188:6.49 km (2.51 sq mi)
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18:Place in Western Cape, South Africa
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661:Imizamo Yethu Secondary School
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787:Townships in the Western Cape
209:6,600/km (17,000/sq mi)
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645:Thembalethu Primary School
382:Western Cape, South Africa
710:omalley.nelsonmandela.org
642:MM Matheza Primary School
442:George Local Municipality
116:34.0049511°S 22.4690654°E
96:
30:
87:Show map of South Africa
57:Show map of Western Cape
664:Thembalethu High School
651:Thyolora Primary School
412:Group Areas Act of 1950
121:-34.0049511; 22.4690654
667:Jonga Secondary School
648:Tabatha Primary School
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760:www.sahistory.org.za
735:www.sahistory.org.za
392:meaning "Our Hope".
214:Racial makeup (2011)
206: • Density
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425:informal settlement
386:George Municipality
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474:Population Groups
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316: • Other
267: • Other
198: • Total
185: • Total
695:from Census 2011.
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276:First languages
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574:Sign Language
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503:Indian Asian
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97:Coordinates:
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763:. Retrieved
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738:. Retrieved
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713:. Retrieved
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469:Demographics
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162:Municipality
156:Garden Route
146:Western Cape
136:South Africa
15:
693:Thembalethu
691:Main Place
582:IsiNdebele
537:Percentage
482:Percentage
440:became the
378:Thembalethu
342:Postal code
172:Established
119: /
81:Thembalethu
51:Thembalethu
25:Thembalethu
672:References
614:Tshivenda
550:Afrikaans
534:Languages
529:Languages
193:Population
107:22°28′09″E
104:34°00′18″S
632:Education
598:Xitsonga
590:Sitswana
542:IsiXhosa
495:Coloured
448:Geography
367:Area code
325:Time zone
296:Afrikaans
781:Category
606:SiSwati
566:Sesotho
558:English
416:Coloured
344:(street)
232:Coloured
152:District
142:Province
622:Others
396:History
307:English
132:Country
765:29 May
740:29 May
715:29 May
545:83.2%
519:Other
511:White
490:93.4%
479:Group
420:George
355:PO box
278:(2011)
243:Indian
201:43,103
166:George
625:1.3%
617:0.1%
609:0.1%
601:0.3%
593:0.3%
585:0.3%
577:0.8%
569:1.1%
561:3.2%
553:8.5%
522:0.8%
514:0.1%
506:0.1%
498:5.5%
390:Xhosa
330:UTC+2
289:83.2%
285:Xhosa
258:White
247:Asian
225:93.4%
767:2020
742:2020
717:2020
360:6545
348:6529
334:SAST
319:5.1%
311:3.2%
300:8.5%
270:0.8%
262:0.1%
251:0.1%
236:5.5%
180:Area
175:1982
371:044
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680:^
462:N2
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336:)
332:(
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