Guguletu and Nyanga were established in the early 1960s. This was largely due to the extreme over crowding in Langa, which, at that time, was the only other formal housing area for black workers in Cape Town.
Guguletu came to the political forefront during the 1970s when students from Fezeka High School joined in the student protests against the use of Afrikaans in schools. Following the June 1976 Soweto uprisings, Cape Town schools organised student protests in August of that year which continued until the end of the year. In the 1980s, Guguletu and Langa were once again in the spotlight with student boycotts, marches and anti-apartheid protests.
Residents of Guguletu originate from a number of places both inside and outside of the Cape Town area. Many moved from Transkei to find work in the urban centres, while others came to join their families.
The Group Areas Act of 1950 ensured that all the spaces of Cape Town were racially zoned and as a result many black residents were forcibly removed from inner city suburbs such as District Six, Mowbray and Harfield Village. 
By the 1960’s the only legalized residential spaces for black South Africans living in Cape Town were townships such as Langa and Guguletu/Nyanga. This kind of urban setting created by apartheid legislation, together with restrictive pass laws had a very disruptive impact on people’s lives - such as the space and means available for everyday family life and practicing traditional customs.
1980's
Students and youth were at the forefront of direct clashes with the police and army. These repeated clashes were due to the apartheid government’s repression of the community campaigns, boycotts, stayaways and protest marches around issues such as schooling, housing conditions and release of political prisoners.
Organisations aligned to the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the ANC were central to these campaigns, but other more radical organisations such as the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and AZAPO were also involved. Although the youth were a dominant force in these clashes, the impact of this violence was felt by everyone. This created complex tensions within the community such as between ‘comrades’ and the state-aligned ’witdoeke’.
