The Local State and Residential Segregation: Durban and the Prelude to the Group Areas Act

Origin date: 1 Feb 2012
Updated: 28 Mar 2023

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Summary

Conventionally, residential segregation in South Africa is associated with the ascent to power of the National Party, and the Group Areas Act (1950). This paper argues that the local state in Durban played an important role in influencing the segregation policies of the central state, and laid the foundation for the Group Areas Act of 1950. The focus is on Durban in the 1930s and 1940s, and attempts by the local state to segregate Indians by reducing their access to land and housing. Indians in Durban presented a threat to white economic dominance. In spite of opposition from the disenfranchised Indians, and reluctant central state support, the Durban City Council ultimately triumphed when the Ghetto Act was legislated in 1946. The Ghetto Act laid the foundations for the Group Areas Act which followed in 1950.

How we know this

01BRIJ MAHARAJ (1995) THE LOCAL STATE AND RESIDENTIAL SEGREGATION, South African Geographical Journal, 77:1, 33-41, DOI: 10.1080/03736245.1995.9713586 . Accessed 28 March 2023

Last updated · 28 Mar 2023

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2023, March 28). The Local State and Residential Segregation: Durban and the Prelude to the Group Areas Act . South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0151971

South African History Online (2023) 'The Local State and Residential Segregation: Durban and the Prelude to the Group Areas Act ', South African History Online, 28 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0151971 (Accessed: 27 July 2026).

South African History Online, The Local State and Residential Segregation: Durban and the Prelude to the Group Areas Act [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0151971, (accessed 27 July 2026).

"The Local State and Residential Segregation: Durban and the Prelude to the Group Areas Act ." South African History Online, 28 Mar. 2023, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0151971. Accessed 27 July 2026.

South African History Online. "The Local State and Residential Segregation: Durban and the Prelude to the Group Areas Act ." South African History Online. March 28, 2023. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0151971.