Centre for Popular Memory

1971 to 1976 was characterised by increasing defiance of influx control and the inability of the various groups originating from different geographical areas to develop into a cohesive community. The increasing politicisation of the youth, which had started with the youth joining the PAC in the late 1950s in Nyanga, contributed to the uprising against the state in 1976 as well as the massive violence that occurred between those living in hostels and residents of family units in 1976 and 1977. Following the youth uprisings in Soweto in June 1976, the youth of Nyanga and other Cape locations such and Nyanga and Athlone took up militant resistance to Bantu education in August 1976. Schools were boycotted, students forced out of classes and some torched. The boycotts lasted into 1977. In Nyanga they spiralled into violent confrontation between male-only migrant hostels and location residents as the youth demanded they stop selling and consuming alcohol. Many hostel dwellers permanently fled into Crossroads, shifting the battle to being between men from Crossroads and those from the location, who had joined the youth. The police and army supported Crossroads residents, who identified themselves by tying white pieces of cloth around their necks(witdoeke), in an effort to crush the youth uprising. An uneasy calm returned in mid-1977 through the efforts of church leaders.

download the exhibition prints in full resolution here