BEERHALLS
IN SOWETO

Beerhalls
have always been at the centre of the waves of political turmoil
in Johannesburg's African townships. The Johannesburg City
Council JCC) opened a beerhall in Western Native Township (WNT)
in 1939.
Sensing that their illicit beer trade would be undermined, Basotho
women in the Western Areas staged demonstrations and called upon
residents to boycott beerhalls. In the beginning residents supported
the boycott. But as the women were harassed and prosecuted for
illicit beer brewing, along with their clients, the boycott petered
out.

It was not only the illicit dealers who were opposed to the
JCCs monopoly on the sale of Kaffir beer. Within the JCC there
was considerable opposition to municipal monopoly on the sale of
beer.
A JCC fact-finding mission to Pietermaritzburg to observe how the
practice was carried out reported that it would be fatal to introduce
the system in Johannesburg. Lastly, "the local Native Advisory
Boards have been urging the JCC to introduce the home-brewing system
into the urban locations of Johannesburg". The board was opposed
to municipal monopoly on the sale of beer, demanding instead that
residents be allowed to brew for domestic consumption and not for
commercial purposes.

After much prevarication, the JCC did adopt the system for
African locations in Johannesburg. Several beerhalls were established
in Johannesburg's African townships in the 1940s and 1950s.
Profits from the sale of Kaffir beer during this period increased
considerably. It was the widespread illicit liquor trade that persuaded
the JCC to adopt the system of the municipal brewing of beer. During
1950 and 1951, profits from the sale of beer had reaches 175, 131
pounds all of which was used for recreation and welfare, rising
to 201, 576 in the following year.

The Non-European Affairs Department (NEAD) of the JCC reported
in 1957 that twenty years after they were established, beerhalls
have generated a profit of 1, 009,905 pounds. The beerhall at "Dube
hostel has been completed and is very popular. Profits of 525,000
pounds enabled the department to undertake considerable welfare and
recreation projects and subsidise losses on sub-economic housing".
At the beginning the brewery was run by 2 white and 24 black staff
members working 12-hour shifts. In 1957 the demand increased to such
an extent that the brewery operated on a 24-hour system where "4
white brewers, 1 recorder and 80 black staff members brew more than
one million gallons of beer per month".

Beerhalls in African locations as well as those situated
in the city were flourishing. Then in 1959, following the murder
of a white man near the Mai-Mai beerhall, the Minister of Bantu Administration
gave a directive that by the 16th of June 1959, all beerhalls in
the centre of the city must be shut down. In a rush to offset the
losses expected from the closure of beerhalls in the city centre,
the JCC built eight additional beerhalls in the townships between
the 6th and the 30th June 1959.

The proliferation of beerhalls early in the 1960s, followed
by the lifting of prohibitions relating to selling certain classes
of liquor to Africans in August 1962 further boosted sales and profits
generated by the beerhalls. According to police reports, crime also
decreased as policemen no longer had to prosecute people for being
in possession of beer. The destruction of Sophiatown in 1955 and
parts of Alexandra township in 1961-2, and the resettlement of residents
in municipal locations gave the JCC the opportunity to bring illicit
beer brewing under control though not to eradicate it completely.
In this regard the JCC targeted Basotho women. A wide range of location
regulations intended to make Basotho women persona non-grata in Johannesburg
were passed. These restricted their movements as well as their right
to housing in locations under the jurisdiction of the Native Resettlement
Board (NRB).

For the remainder of the 1960s, beerhalls experienced mixed
fortunes. First the price war started by private shebeens undermined
the JCCs beerhalls. In 1964 the JCC joined the price war and in
so doing captured its market from private shebeen operators. To
meet
the increased demand, the JCC opened the Langlaagte brewery, considered "one
of the largest in the world with a capacity of producing 200,00 gallons
per day". In the process of under cutting the private shebeen
operators, the JCC simultaneously wrenched the market from bottle
stores in town. The volume of their deliveries decreased considerably.

The profit margin of the JCC fro the beer monopoly continued
to decline in 1970 and 1971. In 1972 all townships, including beerhalls
fell under the West Rand Administration Board (WRAB). The new administration
was a continuation of the NRB for Meadowlands, Dube, Diepkloof and
parts of Rockville. For the rest of Soweto, previously administered
by the JCC, WRAB introduced more stringent location regulations,
which were strictly applied. These included regular police raids
for illicitly brewed beer. The clampdown forced patrons to look to
the beerhalls administered by WRAB for recreation. This may explain
the slight increase in sales and profits following the WRAB takeover
of location administration in 1972.

WRAB figures are not available to ascertain whether the sales
and profits of the JCC from the monopoly of the sale of liquor had
increased between 1973 and 1976. Judging from the ferocity with which
location regulations were implemented under WRAB, it is possible
that areas traditionally associated with illicit beer brewing were
under constant surveillance. These included Meadowlands, Zone 2,
Diepkloof, Naledi, Molapo, Pimville and Phiri. Concentrations of
Basotho families were found in these parts of Soweto.

When the Soweto riots broke out in 1976, beerhalls were targeted
for arson. Mobs of students attacked beerhalls on the morning of
the 16th June 1976. In Diepkloof the beerhall was looted, and was
only saved by police intervention from total ruin. As protesters
scurried out of the beerhall, police opened fire, killing several
people. Beerhalls were attacked and looted elsewhere in Soweto with
similar consequences. By the end of the third day, Friday June 18th,
most beerhalls had been looted but not burnt down.

The march of the 4t of August was a turning point in the
Soweto revolt. Tsietsi Mashinini fled the country and Khotso Seathlolo
took over the leadership of the Soweto Students Representative Council
(SSRC). Apart from organising a successful march into town on the
22nd September 1976, security police believed that with Paul Langa,
Khotso Seatholo was involved in various acts of arson in and around
Soweto, including a series of attacks on beerhalls. These acts of
arson were particularly evident between ctober 1976 and early in
1977. By March 1977, only the Jabulane Beerhall had survived the
attacks. It may have to do with the fact that it is situated in IFP
territory, just behind the Jabulane Amphitheater.

Beerhalls that were destroyed in 1976 were never rebuilt.
All structures either gutted by fire in arson attacks or bombed as
part of sabotage were rebuilt and restored. Only beerhalls still
stand as ruins that are testimony to the level of anger unleashed
in 1976. The beerhall in Diepkloof has been turned into an industrial
area as well as ne of the biggest informal settlements in Soweto.
Orlando beerhall is all ruins that have been neglected by successive
councils that administered the township since 1976.

Source: Soweto Heritage Survey Final Report compiled by Steven
Lebelo and Elsabe Brink for the National Monuments Council, Northern
Region