Nyanga is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

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 ...

. Its name in Xhosa means "

moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

" and it is one of the oldest

black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

townships in Cape Town. In 1948,

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 ...

was declared a coloured-area, resulting in the forced removal of black residents, who were forced to settle in Nyanga near Langa. Nyanga is situated from Cape Town along the N2 highway, close to the

Cape Town International Airport Cape Town International Airport is the primary international airport serving the city of Cape Town, and is the List of South African airports by passenger movements, second-busiest airport in South Africa and List of busiest airports in Afric ...

and next to the townships of

Gugulethu Gugulethu is a township in Western Cape, South Africa and is around 20km from Cape Town. Its name is a contraction of ''igugu lethu'', which is Xhosa for ''our pride / our hope.'' The area was the third township to be established in Cape Town, a ...

and Crossroads.

History

The neighbourhood was established in 1946 and was built for the black residents of

Elsie's River Elsie's River (Elsiesrivier in Afrikaans) is a suburb of Cape Town, South Africa. History Elsies River was probably named after Elsje van Suurwaarde who farmed in the area in 1698. Baptized on 8 October 1662 in the Cape of Good Hope, Elsje was a ...

and

Simon's Town Simon's Town (), sometimes spelled Simonstown, is a town in the Western Cape, South Africa and is home to Naval Base Simon's Town, the South African Navy's largest base. It is located on the shores of Simon's Bay in False Bay, on the eastern s ...

who were forcibly removed as a result of the 1948 Group Areas Act. Between 1956 and 1959, an estimate of about 21 000 residents from Goodwood, Parow, and Bellville were forcibly relocated to Nyanga. Later on, the government built hostels and for contract workers working in the docks in Cape Town.

Politics

Residents of Nyanga were active in joining a national call to protest against the

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 ...

laws passed in 1960. Later they were active in the 1976 student uprisings, which had begun on the other side of the country on 16 June 1976 in

Soweto Soweto () is a Township (South Africa), township of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in Gauteng, South Africa, bordering the city's mining belt in the south. Its name is an English syllabic abbreviation for ''South Western T ...

against the use of

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

as the primary

medium of instruction A medium of instruction (plural: media of instruction, or mediums of instruction) is a language used in teaching. It may or may not be the official language of the country or territory. If the first language of students is different from the offic ...

in schools. Nyanga and Crossroads became notorious for black-on-black faction fighting that was allegedly perpetrated by police in the early eighties. The local authorities (izibonda) were either allied with UDF or the apartheid police force. These political differences were allegedly used by the

police The police are Law enforcement organization, a constituted body of Law enforcement officer, people empowered by a State (polity), state with the aim of Law enforcement, enforcing the law and protecting the Public order policing, public order ...

to stir up violence, and elements of the community were infiltrated by the apartheid regime. This led to emergence of the notoriously violent group called "the witdoeke" (the white scarfs). As a result of these fights Tambo square was formed. Nyanga comprises nine township subdivisions: Lusaka, KTC, Old Location, Maumau, Zwelitsha, Maholweni "Hostels", White City, Barcelona, Kanana, and Europe.

Crime

The high rate of violent crime in Nyanga had earned the area the moniker "murder capital of South Africa" with 289 recorded homicides in 2018/19, until it was overtaken by another precinct area in 2022. In the five year period before 2018 a total of 1,473 homicides were recorded in the precinct area. The

South African Police Service The South African Police Service (SAPS) is the national police force of the Republic of South Africa. Its 1,154 police stations in South Africa are divided according to the Provinces of South Africa, provincial borders, and a Provincial Commis ...

(SAPS) Nyanga precinct area includes half of the Nyanga neighborhood as well as the adjoining communities of New Crossroads and Brown's Farm. Prior to December 2018 the precinct area also included

Samora Machel Samora Moisés Machel (29 September 1933 – 19 October 1986) was a Mozambique, Mozambican politician and revolutionary. A Socialism, socialist in the tradition of Marxism–Leninism, he served as the first President of Mozambique from the coun ...

. By 2021/22 the number of recorded homicides had declined to 203. In November 2023

Google Maps Google Maps is a web mapping platform and consumer application offered by Google. It offers satellite imagery, aerial photography, street maps, 360° interactive panorama, interactive panoramic views of streets (Google Street View, Street View ...

announced that it would no longer recommend routes through the area following a number of violent incidents targeting motorists that included the death of motorists during the 2023 taxi strike.

Government institutions and public services

Several government institutions maintain a presence in Nyanga in order to provide various vital services to the community: *Nyanga Home Affairs Office *The South African Department of Labour has a satellite office in Nyanga. *The Nyanga Community Health Clinic *Masincedane Clinic *Nyanga Police Station *Nyanga Public Library loans books to the community and provides several useful informational services.

Churches

Some of the churches that are located in Nyanga are: * Apostolic Church * Assembly of God Nyanga * FH Gow AME Church * Fresh Fire Church * Holy Cross Anglican Church * New Crossroads Baptist Church * Reformed Gospel Church * St Mary's Catholic Church * Trinity society Church

References