Chatsworth
Europeans of Durban had long been agitating against Indian "penetration" and as a result, the Trading and Occupation of Land (Transvaal and Natal ) Restriction Act also known as the Pegging Act was passed. In Natal as was the case in the Transvaal, although Indians were not completely prohibited from land ownership, mounting restrictions were being applied. This Act was to operate in the next three years where property transactions between whites and Indians were placed under official control.
When the three-year pegging period lapsed the Asiatic Land Tenure Act was passed, this meant that no Asiatic could purchase or take over occupation of fixed property from a European anywhere in the Transvaal and Natal, without a permit from the Minister of the Interior. Due to an increase of largely African and Indian working class settlements in Natal, thick population densities were forming and slums were coming into being.
The Slums Act was devised in 1934 in order to facilitate "slum clearance" in the city. The idea behind it was to ensure industrial expansion, to guarantee removal of any menace to public health and to enforce the government's long held view of residential segregation. The 1930's saw an increase in discourse over the slums and slum removal.
In the 1940's measures to contain the aforementioned Indian "penetration" became a major focus of Indian community activism that cut across racial lines. The Pegging Acts of 1942 - 43 and the Ghetto Act of 1946 were passed.
This act gave the government the right to remove and destroy shacks in some areas under the pretext of improving the unsanitary living conditions. By so doing, this action paved the way for the Group Areas Act of June 1950, which proclaimed certain areas white. This meant that the non-white communities who found themselves in these areas would have to be move to another area designated for Indians, Coloureds and Africans.
The main Indian areas were beyond the Umgeni River, in Riverside and Prospect Hall and further inland at Duikerfontein and Sea Cow Lake.Springfield and Sydenham were also predominantly Indian occupied.Indians were then removed from areas such as Mayvile Cato Manor, Clairwood and Magazine Barracks, and the Bluff.
By 1950 there were adverts in the newspapers for an exclusively Indian suburb "Umhlatuzana". Later Red Hill and Silverglen in what later became Chatsworth. Reservoir Hills was available for the more well to do Indians who could afford it. In the North of Durban La Mercy and Isipingo Beach were also proclaimed for the use of Indians. In Merebank, (first known as Marine Settlement) for instance purpose built houses replaced the poor settlements and by the late 50's a reconstructed Merebank offered cheap houses for which purchaser had ten years to pay.
Planned in 1960 Chatsworth opened in 1964 consisting of eleven neighbourhood units containing 7000 sub- economic and 14 000 economic houses. It was deliberately built to act as buffer between white residential areas and the large African township of Umlazi.
References
- Freund, B (1995) Insider and Outsiders: The Indian Working Class of Durban, 1910 -1990. Heinemann: Portsmouth
- Horrel, M (1956) Group Areas Act: Its Effect on Human Beings. South African Institute of Race Relations: Johannesburg
