Crawford is a suburb of

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, located to the east of the City Centre (CBD) on the

Cape Flats The Cape Flats () is an expansive, low-lying, flat area situated to the southeast of the central business district of Cape Town. The Cape Flats is also the name of an administrative region of the City of Cape Town, which lies within the larger geo ...

to the south of the N2 highway. The suburb is surrounded by the suburbs of Lansdowne,

Rondebosch East Rondebosch East is a residential suburb in Cape Town, South Africa, about south-east of the city centre. As the name suggests, it is located to the east of the neighboring suburb of Rondebosch. it had a population of approximately 4,600 people ...

Athlone Athlone (; ) is a town on the border of County Roscommon and County Westmeath, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located on the River Shannon near the southern shore of Lough Ree. It is the second most populous town in the Midland Region, Ir ...

, Belthorn Estate,

Rylands Rylands is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Dadie Rylands (1902–1999), real name George Rylands, British literary scholar and theatre director *Dave Rylands (born 1953), English footballer *Enriqueta Augustina Rylands ...

, and

Belgravia Belgravia () is a district in Central London, covering parts of the areas of the City of Westminster and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Belgravia was known as the 'Five Fields' during the Tudor Period, and became a dangerous pla ...

. The main roads through the area are (north to south)

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (baptismal name Jan Christiaan Smuts, 24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as P ...

Drive (M17) and (east to west) Turf Hall Road (M24) linking to the M5. Thornton Road was for many years the main thoroughfare for this suburb and a hotbed for anti-apartheid activity in 1976 and 1985. Thornton Road is the location of the Trojan Horse Memorial in honour of those killed in 1985. Crawford is served by a railway station of the same name on the

Cape Flats Line The Cape Flats Line is a commuter rail line in Cape Town, South Africa, operated by Metrorail Western Cape. It connects central Cape Town with the suburbs of Pinelands, Athlone, Lansdowne, Ottery, Southfield, Healthfield and Retreat. Route ...

. Crawford is the home of

City Park Stadium City Park Stadium is a soccer specific-stadium located in New Rochelle, NY, New Rochelle, New York (state), New York. The official name of the stadium is "Skidelsky Field at City Park Stadium". Its main tenant is the Westchester Flames, Westches ...

, home of the historic City and Suburban Rugby Football Union where a number of well-known Cape Flats rugby union teams played, including Universal Rugby Football Club, Progress, Perseverance and others. City Park also hosted the annual City Fair and for some time was the location for the annual Christmas Band competition. Baseball and softball were also played there during the summer months. More than thirty thousand people attended the funeral of Imam Abdullah Haron in Crawford. He had been arrested by the apartheid security police just after he had led the al-Jaami'a Masjid Milad al-Nabi celebrations on 12 Rabi al-Auwal 1389AH (28 May 1969); and was held under Section 6(1) of the Terrorism Act of 1967 until his death on Saturday, 27 September 1969. In November 1998

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

was a guest speaker at Crawford's

College of Cape Town College of Cape Town (CCT), is a public TVET College located in Cape Town, South Africa, in the province of Western Cape, and it mainly serves students from the Southern Suburbs, Northern Suburbs region, along with Klipfontein District. The col ...

, formerly Hewat Teachers' Training College, a landmark on the apartheid struggle map. He spoke to the residents of Athlone, custodians of the famous

Klipfontein Road MS ''Klipfontein'' was a Dutch ocean liner launched in March 1939 and delivered 29 July intended for South African service. Declaration of war in Europe, including Britain and South Africa declaring war on Germany, resulted in the ship being tra ...

, that had survived many of the suburb's

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

altercations.

References

{{Cape Town suburbs Suburbs of Cape Town