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PART 2 Fordsburg a history E BRINK, FORDSBURG HERITAGE SURVEY, APRIL 2008 1 CITY OF JOHANNESBURG HERITAGE ASSESSMENT FORDSBURG NEWTOWN WEST MAYFAIR PART 2 AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW & HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS ELSABE BRINK HISTORY AND HERITAGE RESEARCH 70 Hampton Avenue Auckland Park Johannesburg 2092 Tel: 083 348 8080 Email: [email protected]

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  • PART 2 Fordsburg a history E BRINK, FORDSBURG HERITAGE SURVEY, APRIL 2008

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    CITY OF JOHANNESBURG

    HERITAGE ASSESSMENT FORDSBURG

    NEWTOWN WEST MAYFAIR

    PART 2 AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW & HISTORICAL PHOTOGRAPHS

    ELSABE BRINK HISTORY AND HERITAGE RESEARCH 70 Hampton Avenue Auckland Park Johannesburg 2092 Tel: 083 348 8080 Email: [email protected]

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    HISTORICAL OVERVIEW FORDSBURG AND MAYFAIR

    The very poor of Johannesburg were concentrated on the inner west of the city, around the area known as Brickfields. Although the Boer authorities had made a formalistic stab at imposing racial segregation here, designating a Coolie Location for Indians and a Kaffir locations for Africans around Brickfields, which was itself seen as an areas for poor whites, these racial boundaries were scarcely policed and very porous. In Brickfields especially, there was considerable racial mixing. For all the racism of early Johannesburg, it is important not to read the highly formalized segregation of mid-twentieth century South Africa back in time. Johannesburg was born without clear racial boundaries. It took racist politicians decades of effort to segregate it and even then their success was never complete. The effective beginning of segregation lay not in the Boer republic, but in the activities of the post-war British administration. In 1903 a commission recommended that the slums of west-central Johannesburg be demolished. Brickfields was subsequently levelled.1

    Source: Beavon K, Johannesburg: The Making and Shaping of the City, University of South Africa Press, Pretoria, 2004.

    1Hyslop J, The Notorious Syndicalist: JT Bain: A Scottish Rebel in Colonial South Africa, Jacana Media (Pty) Ltd, Johannesburg, 2004, pp.159-160

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    ESTABLISHMENT OF FORDSBURG AND MAYFAIR Fordsburg - 1888 Fordsburg and Mayfair was established on land, which from the mid-1800s formed part of the farm Langlaagte. The original farm was registered in March 1859 in the name of Matthijs Johannes Smit and subsequently divided into smaller portions and owned by numerous members of the Oosthuizen family who, in a complex series of subdivisions, owned various portions of the farm. The portion on which George Harrison discovered the Main Reef was owned by JJP Oosthuizen and after his death in September 1883 by his widow Petronella Francina Oosthuizen. 2 Fordsburg was one of the earliest townships to be laid out by private developers in Johannesburg. They were Lewis P Ford and Julius Jeppe Senior and his sons Carl Jeppe and Julius Jeppe Junior (later Sir Julius Jeppe) who formed the Ford and Jeppe Estate Co. They acquired land immediately to the east and west of the new mining camp laid out on the portion of uitvalsgrond, Randjeslaagte. Ford and Jeppe then laid out two townships and named it after themselves. Fordsburg was laid out in 1888 and Jeppestown in 1889, an act of faith on their part since at that stage there was not certainty that these goldfields would actually be sustainable. Lewis Peter Ford (1846-1925) was the Attorney-General of the Transvaal during the adminsitaration of Sir Theophilus Shepstone after the annexation of the Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR) from 1877-1881. Ford was born in London, came to the Cape and studied at the SA College in Cape Town. He worked at Richmond and Murraysburg in the Cape Colony before going to Kimberley during the diamond rush.

    As a partner in the Randjeslaagte Syndicate he was involved in mining transactions in the early days of the Witwatersrand and became involved in property development in the Ford and Jeppe Estate Co., later known as the Witwatersrand Townships and Estates Co. W H Auret Prichard, who also surveyed much of early Johannesburg, surveyed the suburb. 3 Sir Julius Jeppe (jnr) was one of Fords assistants in Pretoria during this period. He settled in Johannesburg in 1886 where he built the mansion Friendenheim in Belgravia. His father Julius Jeppe snr. built the first brick house in Johanneburg in 1886.4 There is evidence of a plantation and nursery in the early days of Fordsburg. The nursery was much in demand to supply the plantations of especially bluegum trees being established on the Witwatersrand with seedlings. One such plantation was established in what is today Saxonwold on the north side of the Parktown Ridge. In a natural environment consisting of mainly savannah and few trees, these mature blue

    2 Stals ELP, Die Afrikaners in die Goudstad, Vol.I&II, HAUM, Pretoria 1978 & 1986, Vol I, p.5 Leyds GA, A History of Johannesburg, Nasionale Boekhandel, Cape Town, 1964, p. 5 3 Leyds, GA, p.152-53. 4 Meiring H, Early Johannesburg; Its Buildings and its People, Human & Rousseau, Cape Town, 1985, p.94. Unfortunately this book, which contains detailed information on suburbs and individual structures, is not footnoted. However, the text written was by G-M Van Der Waal, an architectural historian who had done extensive research on the architectural history of Johannesburg and can be considered to be reliable. His book, From Mining Camp to Metropolis, Chris van Rensburg Publications, Johannesburg, 1987, remains a standard work on the architectural history of the city.

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    gums trees on Main Reef Road are a reminder of the vital importance of these trees for the mining industry. Stands on Main Street, Fordsburg up to Terrace Road were put out for sale at an auction in May 1893. It alleged that these stands were in the heart of the Forest and offer for private residence, complete rest and quietude. These stands face Lovers and Nursery Walks, Pine Terrace, Park Lane, Commercial and Foundain roads. The advertisement alleges that these streets had already been planted with street trees.5 As township developers, Ford and Jeppe appreciated this drawing card and were among the first to level Commissioner Street, the early east-west arterial in 1888 to connect Jeppestown and Fordsburg with the mining camp. They also built the first bridges over the Natal, Booysens and Fordsburg Spruits.6 Fordsburg also lends its name to the Fordsburg Spruit which has its source in the Kazerne Brickfields on the southern slopes of the Braamfontein watershed and flows in the direction of the Robinson Mine. During the early days of settlement the spruit had rich clay beds, which provided business opportunities for the brickmakers to establish the first brickfields, which provided the burgeoning mining camp with green and fired bricks. As the spruit flows south to meet up with tributaries of the Klip Spruit, it flows through the Fordsburg Dip, which during the 1890s was considered to be a dangerous swamp. The Fordsburg Spruit was used as the western drainage level in the first sewerage scheme considered for Johannesburg in 1895. After the British occupation of the city in 1900s it featured strongly in as the western outfall of the gravitational sewerage works established on the farm Klipspruit, where Soweto is today. 7 Brickfields/Burghersdorp - 18878 Before 1900s the area which today is known as Newtown was known alternatively as The Brickfields or Burghersdorp. Many poor people of all races, who with the discovery of gold lived in the rural ZAR, trekked to the Witwatersrand to find their fortunes. However, having no skills in mining, most became brickmakers, transport riders cab drivers or labourers, rural skills, which could be used in the developing urban environment. In a very short time it became Johannesburgs first slum. The Kazerne railway marshalling yards - 1892 The railway line, which gave access to the Kazerne railway yard as well as Park Station and Braamfontein, then called Johannesburg station was laid in 1892.9 As the ZAR possessed no manufacturing industry, all machinery, equipment and building 5 Smith A, Johannesburg Street Names, Juta, Johannesburg, 1972, Fordsburg. 6 Van der Waal GM, From Mining Camp to Metropolis: The Buildings of Johannesburg 1886-1940, Chris van Rensburg Publications, Johannesburg, 1987, p.38-39 7 Smith A, p.161. 8 Cf Van Onselen C, Main Reef Road into the Working Class: proletarianisation, unemployment and class consciousness amongst Johannesburgs Afrikaner poor, 1890-1914, in Studies in the Social and Economic History of the Witwatersrand: 1886-1914, New Babylon, New Nineveh, Vols I & II, Ravan Press, Johannesburg, Shorten J, The Johannesburg Saga, John R Shorten, (Pty) Ltd. Under the authority of the Johannesburg City Council, Johannesburg, 1970, p.171 9 Leyds GA, p.162

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    materials used on the mines and in the mining camp had to be imported from Europe or America and transported inland from the coast. As the mining activities picked up speed, the completion of rail links between Johannesburg and the coast, especially Durban and Cape Town, became crucial. ZAR President Paul Kruger favoured the Nederlandsche Zuid-Afrikaansche Spoorweg Maatschappiu (NZASM) which undertook to link Johannesburg with Portuguese controlled Delagoa Bay. As imports increased in volume, larger marshalling yards were required. The most ideal land lay between the Braamfontein and Park Stations and after the expropriation and removal of the brickmakers, the new Kazerne marshalling yards were built. These contained huge NZASM goods sheds, compounds to house African workers, and married quarters and sportsfields for white workers. A customs building was erected on the eastern perimeter of the yards.10 Indian Location - 1887 The Indian Location was established in 1887 as the only area where people of Indian origin could legally buy and own property in Johannesburg. Indian Location comprised the area between Malherbe, Malan, Location/Carr and Christian Streets. As this area comprised only six city blocks, it very soon became highly congested as more and more Indian traders arrived in the mining camp. The then city authorities did very little in terms of providing much needed services in the area. By 1897 there were 96 stands in the area with an assessed value of almost 36 000 pounds and population of 4 000. The population dropped during the Anglo Boer South African War (1899-1902) with only 600 Indians remaining in 1902. By 1904 some 1 600 Indians had returned to the city. Most of the hawkers, pedlars who lived in Burghersdorp, Fordsburg and Vrededorp were Gujarati Hindus, whilst Muslim Jujarati and Memon traders operated stores. The 1904 census shows that in this population as with other immigrant groups, men vastly outnumbered women, by 8:1.11 Soon after the turn of the century Albert West, an associate of Mahatma Gandhi, then a lawyer in Johannesburg described conditions in the Location;

    The Indian Location in Johannesburg was in a deplorable condition, being without proper roads, lighting or sanitation, the dilapidated buildings being mostly of wood or iron. The residents acquired their plots by a lease of ninety-nine years. People were densely packed together, the area of which never increased with the increase of population. 12

    After 1894 people of Malay origin mostly coloured people from the Cape Colony - were provided with land which they could legally buy and occupy in the so-called Malay Location further to the west, established in 1894. 13 Like the Indian Location this area proved to be grossly inadequate for the number of people who migrated to 10 Taken from Brink E, Newtown - Old Town, MuseumAfrica, Occasional Publication, Johannesburg,1994. 11 Bhana S &Brain J, Setting Down Roots: Indian Migrants in South Africa, 1860-1911, Witwatersrand University Press, Johannesburg, 1990, pp.78-77 p.86-87 12 Itzkin E, Gandhis Johannesburg: Birthplace of Satyagraha, Witwatersrand University Press, 2000, p.50 13 Taken from E Brink, Old Town Newtown, 1st Occasional Publication of MuseumAfrica, 1994. Information form C van Onselen and ELP Stals, Vol I.

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    Johannesburg and were by law required to reside in this area. In time this area became known as Pageview or Fietas. Newtown after 1904 The area which was redeveloped after the destruction of the Indian Location was renamed Newtown. Geographically Newtown straddles the M1 motorway constructed above Goch Street (now Henry Nxumalo Street) which since the 1960s, has artificially divided the area. The western portion of Newtown only forms part of this review. For almost a century the bulk of the land in the area east of the motorway belonged to the Johannesburg City Council, but pockets, especially on the western side of Newtown were sold to private businessmen. After 1913 with the completion of the Fresh Produce Market, Newtown West, which was previously occupied by the Indian Location rapidly redeveloped. With the establishment of Premier Milling on the site of the former location, numerous supporting trading firms, especially in grains and feeds set up shop in the area between Carr and Bree Streets, which was well served both by road and railway sidings. According to Nigel Mandy, writer of Mandy N, A City Divided: Johannesburg and Soweto,

    Newtown became a lively and cosmopolitan place in the best tradition of city markets everywhereIndian wholesalers, retailers and hawkers played an important part in the distribution of produce while Portuguese market gardeners were also much in evidence. Nearby were the factories and showrooms of firms specialising in pumps and irrigation equipment, seeds, harness and saddlery, canvas, veterinary medicines and stock feeds, builders hardware, gates and fencing. The whole animated and sharp-witted community came to be known as the University of Newtown. The areas ageing and low-rent buildings made an excellent nursery for infant industries.14

    The most important enterprise to occupy western Newtown was Premier Milling. Joffe Marks commissioned the first mill in Newtown in 1910. Premier Milling which incorporated the Newtown, Fordsburg and Germiston Mills was formed in 1914 and was listed as a public company in 1929. In 1934 Premier milling purchased the Vereeniging Milling Company, first registered by the entrepreneur Sammy Marks in 1916. During the 1930s and 1940s Premier Milling expands its operations nationally with the acquisition of mills in the Free State, Cape Town and the then Rhodesia. The chairmanship of the company remains in family hands until the late 1980s.15 In addition, Newtown was the home to numerous Indian-owned businesses some smaller but, others such as the much larger Mia Group, can still be found in the area. The first members of the Mia family arrived in ZAR in the mid-1880s and after a sojurn in Rustenburg migrated to Johannesburg in the mid-1890s. Essop Mia and Moosa Ismail Mia started trading hawkers. In 1924 Moosa Ismail Mia opened a wholesale business in the centre of town. By 1977 the Mia Group took control of the

    14 Macmillan, Johannesburg, 1984, p.55 15 Jaffee G, Joffe Marks; A Family Memoir, United Trust (Pty) Ltd, Johannesburg, 2001,pp.182-184

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    Witwatersrand Gold Mining Company, one of the earliest gold mining companies on the Witwatersrand. In 1994 the company was honoured by the Johannesburg City Council with a Centennial Business Award, handed to companies who had been trading in the city for more than 100 years. 16 The Mia family still owns premises on the corner of Bree and Malherbe Streets in Newtown. However, during the Apartheid ere, discriminatory action under the Group Areas Act (1950) destroyed many of these valuable enterprises or forced them to operate less economically behind white front men and from less suitable premises.17 Mayfair After the ground on which Mayfair is located was de-proclaimed in 1892, the first public auction for stands in Mayfair was announced in August 1896. Like that of Fordsburg, the auction was held at the area known as Between the Chains outside the Stock Exchange in Simmons Street. JB Robinson, owner of the Robinson gold mine south of Fordsburg was the chairman of the company, which owned the suburb. It is claimed that Robinson named the suburb after the London suburb of Mayfair perhaps in the hope that it would become as fashionable as its British counterpart, which is also located to the west of the city centre.18

    16 Johannesburg City Council, Centennial Business Awards, Commemorative Book, 1994. 17 Mandy N, A City Divided: Johannesburg and Soweto, Macmillan, Johannesburg, 1984 p.56 18 Smith A, p.326

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    FORDSBURG AND MAYFAIR WORKING CLASS COMMUNITIES Within a decade of the discovery of the main reef, Johannesburg became southern Africas largest town. The western side of the city attracted mostly the poor. By 1893 poor white people moved into Vrededorp, and Indians, Coloureds and Black people lived mainly in the Indian Location or on the low-lying swampy grounds along the Fordsburg Spruit. The surburbs on the eastern side of the city centre, such as Troyeville, Jeppestown and Doornfontein attracted the more affluent section of the mining community.19 Stands in the township of Fordsburg were offered for sale from 1887 and since there were no restrictions regarding its residential or business use, stands sold well. Its proximity to the mines and to the centre of the mining town made it a popular choice for the poor irrespective of race or creed. Mine workers chose to settle here - since the suburb was in easy walking access to a number of gold mines, e.g. Robinson, Crown Mines and the Village Deep mines. Indian traders, Chinese merchants and men working in the Johannesburg transport business also set up stables for horse-drawn cabs here. As a consequence the older suburbs such as Fordsburg consisted of a mix of residential accommodation, small shops, workshops, and bars or eating houses. Accommodation During the early days of Johannesburg, accommodation was at a premium and temporary housing in the form of hotels and rooming houses proliferated. Rooming houses consisted of one or two rows of separate rooms, rented to workers. Very often these were situated behind small shops or rows of shops. After the Anglo Boer South African War as single miners brought their families to settle in Johannesburg detached and semi-detached mineworker cottages as well as British-styled row houses, which became highly sought after amongst white mineworker families in need of accommodation close to the mines. In these suburbs black workers, either as independent tenants or in the employ of the white occupants, occupied the rooms in the outbuildings on the premises of white occupied residences.20 Shopping nodes After the 1890s, as Fordsburg attracted larger numbers of more permanent residents it also became a focus for commercial development in suburban shopping nodes to serve the growing suburban population, both black and white. The principal node developed along Main Road, Fordsburg, which was also the route of the horse drawn tram ending in Commercial Road. This amenity remained a major draw card for settlement in Fordsburg during most of the twentieth century, especially for members of the working class who were dependent on public rather than private transport.21 Nature of the structures During the pre-war years (1899-1902) many houses built in Fordsburg and Burghersdorp were wood and iron structures with a single lining of green, sun-dried bricks obtained from the Brickfields. Interior walls were also constructed of green

    19 Mandy N, p.13 20 Van der Waal GM, From Mining Camp to Metropolis: The Buildings of Johannesburg 1886-1940, Chris van Rensburg Publications, Johannesburg, 1987 p.38-39 21 Van der Waal, p.79

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    bricks. Due to the initial shortage of wood on the Witwatersrand, ceilings were canvas or cotton sheeting which were nailed to the rafters.22 Only after the turn of the century did redevelopment take place when British influenced Edwardian semi-detached row houses and freestanding houses were built from predominantly fired bricks. Many of these are still in existence, albeit much changed, especially as a result of security measures taken by owners or tenants. Van der Waal presents the following picture of the residential stock;

    There was a marked difference between the older working class suburbs and those for residents in the higher income groups. In the first category the stands were smaller, for instance in Fordsburg Vrededorp, Jeppestown, Braamfontein and Betrams and the houses were grouped in semi-detached pairs on each stand set back about 2m from the street line. While the road surface was meant for vehicular traffic, the verges would be developed into sidewalks which carried the slow-moving pedestrian traffic emanating from the relatively densely populated suburbs. Because the stands were demarcated by low garden walls and verandahs virtually fronted on to the streets, these sidewalks were probably regarded as extension of the semi-private front gardens.23

    Public open space The area of Mayfair and Fordsburg does not have much public open space. Along the lines of the original Johannesburg Market Square, Fordsburg has its own Market Square, albeit smaller. It featured prominently during the 1922 Rand Revolt when its Market Building was occupied by strikers and subsequently partially demolished during bombing attacks launched on the strikers by government forces. After the Revolt the building was completely demolished. Fordsburg Park was laid out south of Main Road, but was later renamed John Ware Park.24 It is currently used by the South African Police Services and consists of a disused swimming pool, a number of disused bowling greens. The tennis courts and club house are still in use. A group of very old palm trees indicate the age of the park. Mayfair has a greater number of parks than Fordsburg. Most prominent is the Phineas McIntosh Park at the northern end of Church Street, Mayfair. Before the forced removal of Pageview in the late 1960s, Pageview residents intensively used this park for sporting activities. Transport The Jeppestown, Doornfontein and Fordsburg commercial centres developed close to the stations, as well as along the tram routes. Both Fordsburg and Mayfair are also served by the railway line, which at first ran above ground, but during the 1930s was submerged below ground level and the subway under the railway line, linking Fordsburg and Vrededorp was constructed in 1911.25

    22 Leyds GA,152-153 23 Van der Waal GM, p.84 24 Smith A, p.161 25 Van der Waal GM, p. p.82

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    THE FORDSBURG COMMUNITY For most of the twentieth century Fordsburg was a multi-cultural melting pot of mainly impoverished workers who found some means of making a living in service industries related to mining. Since the Malay Location, later known as Pageview, was immediately adjacent to both Fordsburg and Burgersdorp, Indians and Afrikaans speakers lived and worked here in close proximity. In her novel, Another Year in Africa, the novelist Rose Zwi, paints a very vivid picture of the cultural melting pot which was Fordsburg and Mayfair during the early years of the 20th century;

    Main Street [Fordsburg] was shining after the rain. A tram car clambered heavily up the hill, packed with people returning from work. Their faces looked soft and warm in the golden light. Berka loved them all. Even that thief Steinberg who gave short weight in his butchery; and Chidrawi, the swathy Syrian who was arranging a pyramid of yellow peaches in his window; and Levin the outfitter who stood in his doorway, a tape measure around his neck. And all those children outside the fish and chips shop watching wistfully as Ronnie Davis sprinkled vinegar over someone elses chips. He even felt a fleeing affection for the miser Pinn who owned a second-hand shop. The adults were having their Sunday nap and the street [in Mayfair] was deserted except for Ruth and a few black servants who were sitting on the pavement in their Sunday clothes. From across the veld, beyond the plantation, came the sound of singing and drumming. The mine workers were having their Sunday dance. Ruth had seen them once, dressed in beads and feathers with rattles tied to their ankles. They stamped their feet wildly as they raised their assegais above their heads in a mock battle dance.26

    Despite the fact the Fordsburg was officially a suburb designated for white occupation; it also housed a sizeable Indian community. The latter, of necessity, occupied the area as an overflow from Pageview, especially Fordsburg north of Avenue Road. If considered that total area of Pageview, as the only suburb which Indians could legally occupy, remained virtually unchanged for most of the twentieth century, it is not surprising that it was grossly overcrowded for most of its existence during this period and that finding shelter in the northern portion of Fordsburg remained the only alternative for many Indians. By the outbreak of World War II in 1939 there were 14 000 Indians living in Johannesburg, almost half 7 000 lived in Pageview, consisting of 469 stands occupied by single storeyed houses.27 The following table gives some indication as to the growth of the Indian community in Johannesburg in the second half of the twentieth century. A large segment of the community lived in Pageview and Fordsburg.

    26 Zwi R, Another Year in Africa, Bateleur Press, Johannesburg, 1980, pp. 16 & 75. 27 Beavon K, Johannesburg: The Making and Shaping of the City, University of South Africa Press, Pretoria, 2004, p.191

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    Indian population of Johannesburg 1950-198028 1951 1960 1970 1980 Number 22295 28993 40021 54940 % 6,1 6,1 6,3 6,7 In contrast the following table portrays the size of the Afrikaans- and English speaking community of Fordsburg and Mayfair portrays the way in which this community gradually succumbed to the pressure of the Indian community in dire need of accommodation. The statistics provided by ELP Stals in Afrikaners in die Goudstad, Vol II, provides some idea of the migration of the white community from Fordsburg to Mayfair and elsewhere between 1934 and 1961. Number of municipal voters divided according to language group per suburb29 Fordsburg Mayfair 1934 Afrikaans speaking 1023 1250 English speaking 924 3912 1949 Afrikaans speaking 501 5949 English speaking 390 4605 1961 Afrikaans speaking 204 5510 English speaking 218 3945 THE INDIAN COMMUNITY From 1860 onwards, at the height of the British Empire, British authorities in the Colony of Natal began importing indentured Indian labourers to work on the newly established sugar plantations. These labourers were mainly from Madras India and mostly Hindu. They were followed by many Gudjerati traders of the Muslim faith who emigrated to southern Africa of their own accord from the 1870s onwards. In competition with white storekeepers, these Indian traders established themselves not only in Natal, but also in virtually all the small towns in the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek (ZAR). Scores of Indians also made a living as hawkers. From 1885 onwards, the ZAR restricted the rights of Indians to own and occupy property except in areas set aside for them in these towns. The local authorities could refuse to grant them trading licences without any risk of court action. Prior to the outbreak of the Anglo Boer South African War, there were approximately 15 000 Indians lived in the ZAR. Johannesburg had the largest Indian population, who made a living from trading, hawking, peddling or as cooks, waiters, or laundrymen. Indian shopkeepers catered mostly for black and coloured clients, especially in areas such as Diagonal and West Street in downtown Johannesburg.

    28 Arkin AJ, The Indian South Africans: A Contemporary Profile, Owen Burgess Publishers, Pinetown, 1989. p.57 Comparatively Cape Town averaged around 2% of the population, Pretoria between 1,6 and 1,8% and Durban increased from 45% in 151 to 60,8% in 1980. 29 Stals ELP, Vol II, p.190-191

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    About 1 000 licensed hawkers and peddlers also operated in Johannesburg and mostly lived in Burghersdorp, Fordsburg and Vrededorp. Law 3 of 1885 governed the life and movements of Indians in the ZAR. During the reconstruction period after Anglo Boer South African War, the new British government maintained these discriminatory laws. In 1906 a new ordinance, the Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance and the Asiatic Registration Act inflicted even more stringent restrictions on Indians. It prohibited further Indian immigration into the Transvaal, provided for the deportation of illegal residents and required every Indian legally in the Transvaal to carry a registration certificate at all times. The circumstances under which Indians were obliged to live provided the background against which Mahatma Gandhi, then a young lawyer, developed his ideas of passive resistance to racial discrimination and unjust laws, Satyragraha (soul force), involving non-violent non-compliance with offending laws.30 (See the section on significant events in the history of Fordsburg and Mayfair for a brief discussion of the impact of passive resistance movement on this area.) Social amenities of the Indian community Since a systematic history of the Indian community of Fordsburg is yet to conducted, information for this report was collated from numerous sources. The book by Nazir Carrim, Fietas: A Social History of Pageview: 1948-1988, Save Pageview Association, Johannesburg, 1990, which focuses primarily on Pageview, provides an oblique view into the history of the Fordsburg Indian community. Education In 1913 at the request of a group of Muslim traders, the first school exclusively for Indian people, was opened in Fordsburg with an enrolment of 136 pupils.31 In time education for the Indian children of Pageview and Fordsburg were provided in Forsburg at the Johannesburg Indian Secondary School (JSS) and Bree Street Indian Government Primary School (BIGS). These still exist and feature prominently in the community, as a large segment of future community leaders were educated here.32 BIGS and JSS were jointly administered during the period 1948 1988. During this period many children did not go beyond Std 7 (Grade 9) for then their parents required their presence in their shops.33 In 1955 a teachers training college was also opened exclusively for the training of Indian teachers in Fordsburg, The Transvaal College of Education.34 The other school in Fietas was the Indian Girls Primary School on Krause Street.35 30 Bhana & Brain pp.77-78 31 Arkin AJ, p.107 32 Interview, Dr Y Eshak, 26 March 2008 33 Carrim N, Fietas: A Social History of Pageview: 1948-1988, Save Pageview Association, Johannesburg, 1990 p.42 34 Arkin AJ, p.107 p.121 Kuppusami C & Pillay MG, Pioneer Footprints: Growth of Indian Education in South Afria: 1860-1970, Nasou Ltd, Cape Town, 1978, , p.44-45 35 Carrim N, p.40

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    Religious institutions Today a large number of mosques can be found in Fordsburg and Mayfair. The most important and oldest of these is the Hamidia Mosque at 2 Jennings Street, Newtown. This is where in 1908 Mahatma Gandhi addressed numerous meetings and on 10 January 1908 presided over a gathering at which passive resisters burnt their passes in protest against new discriminatory legislations. The Star reported:

    The meeting was held in the Mosque grounds, Newtown, at 11 oclock, and despite the short notice of the meeting there was a large gathering. For the purpose of such [a] meeting a platform had been erected I the grounds and setaing accommodation was provided by means of the serviceable paraffin tins which were strewn about in thousands. On the platform were Essop Ismail Mia, Chairman of the British Indian Association, an Indian priest in artistic Oriental garb, and Mr Gandhi.36

    This meeting signalled the resumption of the passive resistance campaign. On 16 and 23 August 1908, at public ceremonies at the mosque, more passes were burnt. Recreational facilities During the period 1948-1988 three cinemas functioned in Pageview, but many people also attended movies at the Lyric and the Avalon in Fordsburg. The people of Fietas considered the Fordsburg cinemas as elite cinemas, as these were more expensive but also safer than those in Fietas itself, The Taj, The Royal and The Star.

    Going to the bios was a major social event on Saturday nights. You needed to book your tickets well in advance. Everybody used to dress up for the occasion. It was a time and place where everybody could check everybody else out. (Mr Y Patel)37

    Cinemas provided much-needed social recreational outlets in the Indian community and many people used it for entertainment over weekends. In addition, it played an important part in providing cinemagoers with heroes and role models, especially gangsters who styled themselves on the American movies they saw.38 Sporting amenities During the early part of the twentieth century, the Rangers Football Grounds, today the Arthur Bloch Park in Mayfair South provided much needed sporting facilities for not only white working-class men, but equally for Indian working class men. The Rangers Football Club was founded by a group of British miners in 1889 and regularly used these fields. It also attracted Indian teams from Fordsburg and Mayfair. Between 1910 and 1913 soccer games between a team passive resisters from Pretoria and a team from Johannesburg were held on these fields. Gandhi attended matches there in June and September 1911.39 In Mayfair on Queens Road, the Phineas McIntosh Park at the top end of Church street was an important recreational area for the residents of Fietas. Soccer games were regularly played here.40 During the early 1980s in an effort to prevent these 36 Itzkin E, Gandhis Johannesburg: Birthplace of Satyagraha, Witwatersrand, p.55 37 Carrim N, p.75 38 Carrim N, p.74-75 39 Itzkin E, p.58 40 Carrim N, p.56

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    games from continuing the Johannesburg City Council imported truckloads of soil and re-landscaped the park by creating artificial hillocks on the former sportsfields.41 AFRIKAANS-SPEAKING POPULATION During the 1890s and early 1900s Afrikaans-speaking rural migrants who faced destitution as a result of the war, droughts, crop failures, and plagues of locusts or dispossession as a result of the Anglo Boer South African War flocked to Johannesburg in search of a better life. Many found refuge in the poor and grimy Fordsburg. From the outset it was a multi-cultural melting pot of people who were all struggling to make ends meet. Since the Malay Location later Pageview - was in such close proximity to Fordsburg and Mayfair, Indians and local Afrikaans speakers lived and worked together. Given that they found themselves in similar straightened economic circumstances, they inevitably developed strong links of mutual support. From the outset Afrikaans speakers resident in Fordsburg demanded ethnic separation with regard to living areas in terms of hygiene factors. In 1889 a Dutch petition maintained that they did not wish separation from Indians (Arabs) shop owners but from Colies (sic). Nevertheless they never demanded that the Indian and Chinese be accommodated in separate locations. Indian traders allowed local Afrikaans speakers to buy food and other items on credit, based on a system in which clients who were literate, wrote up what they bought since the traders could often not read or write. A mutual system of trust and honesty existed.42 Stals also outlines how many Afrikaans-speaking women in Fordsburg took in washing, not only for fellow Afrikaners, but also for Indians who lived in the area. In addition, he mentions that some of these women took the step to marry Indians whom they met in Fordsburg, because he was the only person who had always been good to her.43 Whereas Stals cites these examples as so-called moral decay among poor white Afrikaners, from another perspective these examples point to a community whose ties went beyond merely the financial and economic level, but also extended into a social dimension. Men and women, it would seem, overcame not only the barriers of race, but also of language and religion. During the twenties especially migrants arriving in the city rural migrants used the working class areas of Fordsburg and Vrededorp as initial refuge and then stepping-stones from where they then moved regularly, almost on a monthly basis. Stals mentioned that Afrikaans speakers tended to be a transient community, but does not address the issue that these migrants may have been so down and out that they possibly skipped their accommodation without paying rent. Nevertheless during the early 1920s, after the Rand Revolt, the Nationalist Party captured the Vrededorp and Fordsburg seats, as well the constituency of the North East Rand.44 It remained an Afrikaner Nationalist stronghold, for during the 1940s, prior to the election victory of 1948, Minister BJ Schoeman represented Fordsburg and was the only Witwatersrand member of the Purified Nationalist Party in parliament.45 41 Personal observation 42 Stals ELP, Vol,I p. 175 43 Stals ELP, Vol II, p.30. 44 Stals ELP, Vol,I vol II p.90 45 Stals ELP, Vol,I p.99

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    When their fortunes allowed it, and given the fact that they were not legally restricted to live in only one area, if many of these Afrikaans families moved to better accommodation in Mayfair and suburbs such as Turffontein in the south or Jeppestown in the east.46 As a result by 1945 research done showed that in an area such as Fordsburg, only about 9% of Afrikaners living there were homeowners.47 Education Surprisingly, children were not totally absent from the early male-dominated mining camp days of Johannesburg. During the earliest years of the city, residents Uitlanders as well as local ZAR burghers could choose between Dutch medium government school education or English medium private education, since the then ZAR did not sponsor non-protestant, non-Dutch medium education. This included English-medium Catholic and Jewish sponsored education. As a result most English speaking denominations, such as the Anglicans, founded their own schools. 48 In August 1889 is the Spes Bona Skool in die Brickfields was founded with as principal one CF Naude. It started with 67 pupils and in 1895 it has 165 pupils and 6 teachers. It was the biggist Afrikaans school in Johannesburg, but closed at the outbreak of the Anglo Boer South African War in 1899.49 The Fordsburg Church School became another prominent Afrikaans school. It opened its doors in January 1891 and by 1892 had 91 pupils and 3 teachers in a building, which was used both as a school and as a church hall. However, it did not escape the trauma of major events, which shook the city. It badly damaged during the dynamite explosion of 19 February 1896. In the same year and in 1898 when small pox broke out in the city the school had to close. It also faced local competition when in 1891 the Fordsburg Public School was founded in opposition to the church school. The latter had 97 pupils, but was totally destroyed during the explosion. However it reopened and by early 1899 it had 340 pupils and 300 parents whom were Afrikaans speaking. The school also closed at the outbreak of the war, only to reopen as a private school after the British occupation of the city in June 1900. After the war and as a result of Lord Alfred Milners Anglicisation policies, CNO (Christian Nationalist education) schools came into existence to provide mother tongue education to Afrikaans-speaking children. By the end of 1903 the Fordsburg school building was completed at the cost of about 2 000 pounds and became known as the Goede Hoop School catering for 315 pupils.50 Religious Institutions

    46 In time they and their rural brethren were referred to as Poor Whites and during the early 1930s became the subject of intense study during the research conducted by the Carnegie Commission.Chipkin p. 25 47Stals ELP, Vol,I vol II p.27 48 Kaplan M & Robertson M, Founders and Followers: Johannesburg Jewry 1887-1915,Vlaeberg Publishers, Cape Town, 1991, p.232 49 Stals ELP, Vol,I vol I, p.127 50 Stals ELP, Vol II, p.132

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    The Dutch Reformed Church (DRC) in Johannesburg divided its parishes into geographical regions. As a result Fordsburg and Langlaagte fell into the Witwatersrand-West regions. In Fordsburg the church obtained two stands on which a school building was erected to be used as a school and church building. A church building was reconstructed after the explosion and as a result of the rapid growth of this suburb and settlement of Afrikaans speaking workers, the parish of more than 1000 souls later formally divided into the Langlaagte and Fordsburg parishes. The first minister of the DRC in Johannesburg was rev. JN Martins and a rev. D Theron was the first minister to serve in the Fordsburg congregation.51 Social problems Like impoverished urban communities worldwide, the Afrikaans-speaking community experienced most of the social ills found in such communities. During the early twentieth century, prostitution, alcoholism and economic destitution remained huge problems in the area.52 Young girls of South African origin, mostly driven into prostitution by poverty, operated from the white working class suburbs of Fordsburg and Vrededorp in Johannesburgs redlight area, what was called the Game Reserve. The size of this redlight area can be deduced from the fact during the 1930s a probation officer, one VP Steyn reported that between 1932 and 1938 more than 500 prostitutes were arrested, and it was thought that between 300 and 400 street prostitutes were operating. In 1949, Louis Freed published his thesis on European prostitution in Johannesburg.53 According to him most of the young prostitutes lived in Fordsburg, Vrededorp, Bez Valley, Kensington and Turffontein, all white working class suburbs of Johannesburg. However, the majority of prostitutes still operated in Vrededorp, central Johannesburg and Braamfonein. Teen prostitution seemed to have been less of a problem, as most of the young prostitutes were girls were older than 21. For the most part, they started their economically active lives working in clothing, textile and chemical factories. Otherwise these young girls found work in so-called dancing establishments or as waitresses in tea-rooms. THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF FORDSBURG The majority of the early Jewish residents of Johannesburg were traders, craftsmen and small businessmen. Many of them arrived on the Rand as refugees fleeing persecution in Western Russia, Lithuania and Latvia and settled in the white working class areas of Johnnesburg, such as Fordsburg and Mayfair. Without any resources many started off as peddlers or participated both legally and illegally in the liquor trade. During the early years of the Rand a section of the population, both male and female also dealt in the prostitution to make a living, a problem, which the Jewish welfare organisation, the Chevra Kadisha, tried to deal with. Many workers also arrived profoundly influenced by socialist ideals and played a crucial role in the establishment of trade unions and subsequent strike action on the Witwatersrand.54 51 Stals ELP p.121 52 Stals ELP p.35 53 Freed L, The Problem of European Prostitution in Johannesburg, Juta, Johannesburg, 1949. 54 Musiker N & R, Historical Dictionary of Greater Johannesburg, Scarecrow Press Inc., USA, 1999

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    Evidence that Fordsburg and Mayfair had a sizeable Jewish community can be found in the establishment of synagogues in the area, since orthodox Jewish customs required that Jewish congregants to live within walking distance of the shul. During a schism in the Johannesburg Jewish religious community during the 1890s, a number of East European Jews seceded and formed their own congregation in Fox Street Ferreiratown, whilst another breakaway group gathered in Fordsburg.55 In 1906 these rifts healed to the extent that Max Langerman, who was very active in Jewish affairs in Johannesburg, laid the foundation stone not only of the new Fordsburg Synagogue but also the Jeppestown, Germiston and Krugersdorp synagogues.56 As was the case with other religious denominations, the shul premises also served as an educational facility. A picture dated 1906 shows a group of some 25 boys who attended the Talmud Torah of the Fordsburg Synagogue, an indication that Fordsburg not only houses a large number of Jewish families, but that they resided long enough to send their children for religious instruction. If the clothing of the boys in the picture can be taken as a gauge, this was a largely impoverished community.57 The B Gundelfinger warehouse in Pine Road, Fordsburg is representative of the Jewish presence in this area. B Gundelfinger whose name is still to be found on the building was a well-known name in the early history of Johannesburg. He was Benno, who with his brothers Isaac, Abraham and Karl played an important role in the commercial life of early Johannesburg. The first brother to arrive in Johannesburg was Isaac. He was born in 1862 in Babaria, Germany and arrived in Cape Town in 1883 from where he settled in Beaufort West in 1885.58 With news of the discovery of gold spread, he closed shop in the Karoo and trekked to Johannesburg in March 1887. 59 He prepared a mule train of three wagons laden with merchandise and building material, which arrived on the Rand in May 1887, accompanied by his younger brother, Abraham, then aged 16. By the end of 1887 Isaac moved his general store, which was first located in a marquee tent to a more permanent structure in President Street close to Market Square. At the same time Gundelfinger also dug the first well in Johannesburg in Marshallstown and sold the water at a sixpence a bucket. It would seem that water was such a scarce commodity that the well was stolen dry during the night. In 1889, his brothers Benno and Karl followed him to the goldfields. Isaac sold his business to Benno in January 1890, with assets amounting to more than 8 000 pounds and profits of more than 3000 pounds per month. From 1892 the firm B Gundelfinger listed in the directory as Grocer, bottle store, importer of fancy goods and general hardware, tobacco and cigar merchants and proceeded to become a famous Johannesburg grocery store. After 1900 Benno, who suffered from asthma sold the business to the Kaumheimer family and retired to Switzerland. They continued to trade under the Gundelfinger name. Isaac Gundelfinger/Gundle continued to be an importer of goods into South Africa, especially Johannesburg. He was noteworthy for his efforts to improve the poultry industry in the country. He died in 1936, but his 55 Kaplan M, p.77 56 Kaplan M, p.208 57 Kaplan M, p.231 58 Kaplan M, pp.116-117 59 Kaplan M, p.22-23

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    sons continued the business.60 During World War I, during anti-German rioting in Johannesburg, the Gundelfinger store in the city centre was burnt down.61 The warehouse in Pine Road, Fordsburg is a reminder of this trading family. The English-speaking community The English-speaking community of Fordsburg consisted of immigrant miners from Great Britain, who settled in the suburb and used mostly English as medium of communication. As with the Afrikaans speaking and Jewish communities of Johannesburg, a systematic history of the citys English-speaking working class community is yet to be written. Within this larger picture the story of the English speaking section of Fordsburg and Mayfair remains to be investigated. However, the religious institutions found in these suburbs serve as reminders of the predominant presence of an English speaking community during the early years of the 20th century. Of particular importance is the Anglican church on Park Road, which borders on mining land and Main Reef Road. Hyslops discussion of early white trade unionism in Johannesburg gives some clues as to the nature and composition of this segment of the Fordsburg community.

    An important factor in the new strength of trade unionism on the Rand was the influx of skilled artisans who had experience of the British and Australian labour movements. Some of the men and been attracted to the Transvaal by the revival of the mines after the interruptions caused by the war. Other had come as soldiers in the British Army or the 16 000-strong Australian military contingent, and decided to settle in southern Africa after the end of hostilities. The Australians played a particularly strong role in stiffening the backbone of the Rand unions, as did a small but significant number of Clydesiders and a scattering of English and Irish activists.62

    A more systematic study of this sector of the community would provide more information on this segment of the community.

    60 Kaplan M p.129-130 61 Shorten J, The Johannesburg Saga, John R Shorten, (Pty) Ltd. Under the authority of the Johannesburg City Council, Johannesburg, 1970, p.273. 62 Hyslop J, p.162

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    SIGNIFICANT EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF FORDSBURG AND MAYFAIR 1893 THE BRICKFIELDS MEMORANDUM FACTORY63 On finding rich clay banks on along the upper reaches of the Fordsburg Spruit, within walking distance from the new mining camp, ZAR burghers who came to Johannesburg in search of their own pot of gold, more prosaically set up clay mixers and drying kilns and with the help of local African labourers set out to produce and sell bricks. An active brickmaker who owned a clay mixer and employed three African workers could make up to 2 500 brick per day and sell these at 10 shillings per 1000. This represented a good living, made easier by the fact that brickmakers needed only to buy a brick-making licence at 5 shillings per month. This provided him with clay to work, a place to build crude shelters for himself, his family and his workers on the same site. Soon local burghers who could not afford to live in expensive boarding houses bought licences and erected their own shacks in the Brickfields. Brickmaking became the third largest industry in the ZAR after mining and farming. However, the area soon became Johannsburgs first slum. By 1896 more land was required for the extension of the railway marshalling yards between Park Station and Braamfontein station. At the time some 7 000 people of all races had congregated onto the Brickfields, only 1 500 of which were bona-fide brickmakers. This population was augmented by some 1 200 horses and mules and 450 wagons also stationed in the Brickfields. These licence holders were given notice to vacate the Brickfields to make place for the proposed railway yards, but as the Brickmakers Association successfully petitioned the ZAR government for alternative brickmaking sites on the farm Waterval and accommodation further to the west. The manner in which they petitioned the government earned them the dubious accolade of being a memorandum factory. In return for the loss of their stands, brickmakers could buy land in a newly established Burghersdorp, laid out between Randjeslaagte, Fordsburg and the existing Indian Location. This was Johannesburgs first affordable housing scheme, since the government restricted new owners from selling their stands on the open market. However, Burghersdorp residents again successfully petitioned the government and was eventually given permission to sell their land to the highest bidder. A portion of the study area is today still called Burghersdorp. 1896 THE DYNAMITE EXPLOSION February 1896 the slum area of Fordsburg, Burghersdorp, Vrededorp and part of Indian Location was hit by a massive dynamite explosion, when 55 tons of explosives blew up and created a crater of 76m x18m x 9m, the size of a four-storey parking garage. It damaged or destroyed 1 500 houses and killed 72 people, mostly in 63 Taken from Van Onselen C, Johannesburgs Jehus, 1890-1914, in Studies in the Social and Economic History of the Witwatersrand: 1886-1914, New Babylon, New Nineveh, Vols I & II, Ravan Press, Johannesburg, 1982.

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    Fordsburg, Vrededorp, the Indian Location. A disaster fund was instituted and many people received aid to rebuild their homes, often better than those they had lost. The explosion focused attention on the squalor and appalling conditions in the area. Something had to be done, but before action could be taken the Anglo Boer South African War broke out in October 1899. A mass exodus of foreign-born miners, traders and workers of all races took place, whilst ZAR burghers who lived in Johannesburg left to join the ZAR commandos. Only those who were too poor remained behind. Amongst them were Boer women who were left destitute in Fordsburg and Burghersdorp and were forced to resort to looting deserted shops and unoccupied homes. 1904 JOHANNESBURGS FIRST FORCED REMOVAL, DESTRUCTION OF THE INDIAN LOCATION Soon after the British occupation of Johannesburg in June 1900 the redevelopment of the Burghersdorp and Indian Location area received attention. It was decided to declare the area as an Insanitary Area, which should be expropriated, demolished and redeveloped. In 1902 a Commission of Enquiry was appointed to report on the Johannesburg Insanitary Area Improvement Scheme. However, as experience petitioners, the Burghersdorp residents as well as their Indian Location neighbours lodged 234 objections. A total of 33 stand holders in the Indian Location appointed a representative to object on their behalf. Evidence presented showed that about 55% of the houses in the area were in a passable condition, not worse than elsewhere in the city.64 This list of petitioners provides a interesting insight in the way in which the multi-racial and multi-cultural community of Burghersdorp was constituted. Ostensibly, the new British authorities advocated the declaration of the area as an insanitary area and its redevelopment to regularise the grid iron pattern of the city and with the extension of Bree and Jeppe Streets would link the western areas to the centre of town. The land so close to the centre of the city was too valuable to be allowed to remain a slum. By September 1903 the Johannesburg City Council (JCC) had expropriated all the property in the area, but did not know where to accommodate the 1600 Indian and 1 400 African residents of the Indian Location. The matter was resolved in March 1904 when an outbreak of alleged bubonic plague was detected in the Location and all inhabitants of six city blocks were summarily removed to an emergency camp in Klipspruit, 16km west of the city on the farm Klipspruit, newly acquired by the JCC to accommodate the citys much-needed gravitational sewage farm. The Indian Location was burnt to the ground in a fire, which lasted for three days, the largest inferno ever seen in the city. The African residents of the location remained in Klipspruit, later renamed Pimville, the oldest surburb of the future Soweto. Indians evicted in this manner eventually returned to the area and took up residence in Pageview, laid out in 1894 as well as the northern part of Fordsburg.65

    64 Taken from E Brink, pp.12-16 65 Beavon K, p.75-78

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    1890s and 1900s THE JOHANNESBURG CAB DRIVING INDUSTRY In his essay, Johannesburgs Jehus on the development of the cab-driving industry, Charles Van Onselen typifies Fordsburg as the heart of cabby-country and adds that this constituency also merged and extended into the adjacent areas of the Malay Location [as Pageview was known at the time], the Brickfields and Vrededorp.66 This observation provides a clue that from at least the 1890s residents of these areas were bound by close social and economic ties, which crossed over racial lines. Van Onselen shows how the many men who had no mining expertise or skills still managed to survive by engaging in the local Johannesburg transport service which grew exponentially with the development of the city itself. During the early period until 1902 the city was served by scores of cab drivers as well as horse drawn tramways, which at its height ran along Main Street Fordsburg and ended at the southern end of Central Road. By 1896 the cabdriver corps consisted of some 700 cab drivers and 80 cab owners who resided within a three-mile radius of the city centre. A large majority of these men resided in Fordsburg and Newtown/Burgersdorp. As many as 300 cabbies were Muslim men who came from the Cape. White cabbies were mostly English speaking men originally from either Great Britain or the Cape, and Afrikaans speaking men who had migrated to the city from the rural area. A small number of Polish or Russion Jews also acted as cabbies between 1897 and 1899.67 These men operated mainly from small, two-wheeled Cape carts drawn by a single horse. From the early 1890s, at a cost of between 35 and 50 pounds, rural migrants who had some knowledge of horses could therefore easily set themselves up in this business which a man on his own could easily handle and operate. The outcome of their working and living in the same area, was reflected in the name of their association founded in 1896, the Forsburg Vigilance and Cab Owners Association The outcome of their working and living in the same area, was reflected in the name of their association founded in 1896, the Forsburg Vigilance and Cab Owners Association Most of these men working lived close to their businesses, which by choice they kept mostly in Fordsburg, a location, which provided them with easy access to their clientele in the centre of the city as well as the Market Square where forage supplies could easily be procured.. They frequently held meetings at fellow cab-owners, one J Zeemans beerhall in Avenue Road, Fordsburg. During the recession of 1896 between 200 and 300 cab owners also met at the Mynpacht Hotel in Main Road Fordsburg to discuss their economic plight. These men had no qualms to bypass the local authority structures to address themselves directly to the Kruger government in Pretoria, which in time promised the petitioners to give careful consideration to their requests regarding tariffs.68 At the end of the Anglo Boer South African War (1899-1902) and with the installation of the new Milner administration in Johannesburg, the car drivers also felt

    66 Van Onselen C, Vol I p.175 67 Van Onselen C, Vol I p.163-p.172 68 Van Onselen C, Vol I p.177

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    the impact of the new administrations efforts to reorganise the city and its services along more efficient British public service lines. Opposition among cab drivers to new laws regarding fares was such that on 15 January 1903 some 1 500 people involved in the transport industry gathered on Market Square Fordsburg to discuss the issue. As a result of this large gathering a list of cab drivers grievances was sent to the Town Council, which re-looked and amended the proposed new regulations. The Fordsburg protesters claimed this concession as a victory for the working classes. Yet cab drivers were still harassed when plying their trade especially when on duty at race meetings at the Auckland Park Race Course and when compelled to take out new and more expensive London-styled licences. Dissatisfaction was again voiced at meetings in Forsburg in 1905 when cabdrivers urged their Cab Drivers Union to call an official strike. Despite the unions refusal to comply with this request some 300 cab drivers called their own strike. Several hundred gathered in Fordsburg at the Fordsburg Dip and from there marched into the centre of the city, bringing public transport in the city to a standstill. In true revolutionary tradition they hoisted the Red Flag and sang the French national anthem, the Marseillaise. Later that day they again regrouped in Avenue Road, Fordsburg.69 However, despite successfully confronting the local authority, the Fordsburg cab drivers could not hold their own against the electric trams introduced in the city from 1906 onwards. As the tramlines extended further and further into the suburbs, more and more cab drivers lost their livelihood. By 1908 a further blow came with requests to the town council for the introduction of a taxi-service for the city, no less than from a former cab-owner, one B Golub from Terrace Road in Fordsburg. As more Fordsburg cab-drivers were put out of work, poverty and destitution became more and more prevalent in the area. In an effort to make ends meet any former cabbies resorted to illegal means of making a living such as prostitution and illicit liquor sales. Indeed the Transvaal Indigency Commission of 1906-908 maintained that it was in Fordsburg and Vrededorp where the collapse of the cab-driving industry caused the most hardship. By 1913 the remaining active cab-drivers in Fordsburg came under more pressure from fellow residents who objected to them keeping stables and providing accommodation for their black workers on their premises. 70 1908 PASSIVE RESISTANCE CAMPAIGNS Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, later known as Mahatma or Great Soul, lived in South Africa between 1893 and 1914. During this period Gandhi developed the philosophy of passive resistance or Satyagraha which he introduced to great effect in colonial India in the 1940s. After the war, Lord Alfred Milner, Governor of the Transvaal maintained the discriminatory laws of the old republic and in 1906 a new ordinance, the Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance and the Asiatic Registration Act inflicted even more stringent restrictions on Indians. It prohibited further Indian immigration into the Transvaal, provided for the deportation of illegal residents and

    69 Van Onselen C, Vol I p.186-190 For a detailed discussion of the strike action of the cab drivers see Van Onselens article. 70 Van Onselen C, Vol I pp.193-95

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    required every Indian legally in the Transvaal to carry a registration certificate at all times. Gandhi organised numerous passive resistance campaigns in the Transvaal and in Natal, which revolved around the burning of passes and often resulted in prison sentences for passive resisters. Among other campaigns in August 1908 Indians in Johannesburg burnt more than 2 000 registration certificates and 500 trade licenses at meetings held at the Hamida Mosque in Jennings Street, Newtown. The resistance reached a climax when the government could not ignore the open defiance and jailed 1 500 protestors. By 1909 with most of the passive resistance leaders in prison, the resistance subsided.71 1913/1914 STRIKES On 27 May 1913, white workers of the New Kleinfontein Mine in Benoni downed tools after the new manager retrenched a number of artisans and ordered five underground engineers to work a full day on Saturdays. The strikers demanded a 48-hour work-week and a half-holiday on Saturday. The Kleinfontein miners held a number of meetings in Benoni and before long workers from other mines on the Witwatersrand and also in Johannesburg, began to strike in sympathy of the Kleinfontein miners. The Chamber of Mines, intent on breaking the trade unions that organised white workers, refused to give in to the workers demands, and called on the government to deal with the strikers. General Jan Smuts, then the Minister of Defence, deployed a large number of imperial troops to the Witwatersrand as a result. This did not deter the miners and on 4th July trade union leaders called for a general strike. Within days more than 19 000 white miners responded favourably to the call and almost all the mines on the Witwatersrand were affected by the strike. The strike turned violent very quickly. On the first day of the strike armed imperial troops clashed with workers who had gathered in Market Square in Johannesburg for a protest meeting. Angry strikers reacted by burning down a section of Park Station and attacking the offices of The Star newspaper. Imperial troops patrolled the streets of Johannesburg and dealt harshly with the strikers, killing 100 strikers and innocent bystanders during the first two days of the strike. The strike spilled over into neighbouring Newtown and almost certainly affected Fordsburg as well. More research is required to determine the extent and nature of strike activity within Fordsburg itself. 1922 THE 1922 RAND REVOLT72 On 2 January 1922 coal miners in Witbank downed tools over proposed wage cuts. Eight days later the members of the South African Industrial Federation voted in 71 Itzkin E, p.53-55 72 Shorten J, pp.207-338. Other standard works which relate the course of this strike in detail include Walker IL & Weinbren B, 2000 Casualties: A History of the Trade Unions and the Labour Movement in the Union of South Africa, South African Trade Union Council, Johannesburg, 1961.

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    favour of a strike and as many as 25 000 workers including miners, power station employees, and workers in the engineering plants, joined the coal workers. One of the key factors that contributed to this strike by white workers was the intention of mine owners to replace skilled white workers with lower paid semi-skilled black workers. On 28 January the strikers were further angered when the Chamber of Mines announced that 2 000 or more white miners would lose their jobs and that paid public holidays would be abolished. Although communists tried to gain sway over the strikers and urge them to strike for higher wages, as opposed to the protection of the colour bar, Afrikaner nationalists increasingly won influence over the strikers and the strikers began to organize themselves along commando lines. By 10 March, workers had seized virtually all of Johannesburg and called for armed insurrection and the overthrow of the state. On the same day General Jan Smuts declared martial law and called in the military to bring the strikers under control. Aeroplanes dropped bombs on Benoni and Germiston and there was shooting and fighting in the streets of Johannesburg.73 The commandos retaliated by raiding police stations, but after five days of fighting, during which Fordsburg was rocked by artillery fire, the strike was broken and called off. More than 200 people had lost their lives during the strike and as many as 4 748 strikers were arrested. Out of those arrested, 46 were charged with murder and 18 sentenced to death, but in the end only four of the strikers were hanged. The suburb of Fordsburg played a significant role in the Rand Revolt. Soon after the declaration of the strike, striker leaders used the Market Square and other venues near Benoni, to train their strikers commandos. Police also sheltered on the dump at Robinson Mine to take aim at strikers in Fordsburg.74 Furthermore according to Shorten;

    At Fordsburg casualties were lighter though fighting was more spectacular. There the strikers were strongly entrenched around the Market Square where Percy Fisher had his headquarters in the Market Buildings. Trenches, surmounted by sandbags, had been dug around the northern, eastern and western boundaries of the Square which was protected on its south side by Market Buildings and Sacks Hotel; barricades had been thrown across Main and Commercial Roads and within the Square another trench that ran along the northern and eastern side of Market Buildings formed a second line of defence.75

    Strikers were driven off Brixton ridge where their positions were bombarded by artillery and by attacks from the air. The strikers were also attacked from the western Mayfair side, so as to entrap the strikers in Forsburg itself. 73 Clarke J, Like It Was, The Star, Johannesburg, 1987, pp.73-76 74 Shorten J, p.316 75 Shorten J, p.328.

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    1930s THE STRUGGLE FOR WORKING CLASS HOUSING Octavia Hill Housing Scheme, Fordsburg During the 1930s there was a huge housing shortage amongst whites in Johannesburg, to the extent that Dr A J Milne, the municipal officer of health of Johannesburg considered whites to be living in slum conditions in certain of the poorer districts such as Fordsburg, portions of Jeppe and Doornfontein and Newlands. Only in Mayfair was housing considered to be somewhat more reasonable. Here rental for two bed-roomed houses was between 7 and 8 pound per month. In 1934 the Johannesburg Housing Utility Co. was formed in order to redevelop slum areas. Under its auspices the first housing scheme to be built was the Octavia Hill apartments built in Fordsburg. The cornerstone was laid in September 1936 by the then Governor-General Lord Clarendon and the mayor of Johannesburg. Johannesburg residents also contributed financially to the scheme, to augment a low interest loan from the state. At the time it was also the declaration of Vrededorp as a slum was also recommended. 76 According to Mrs Bertha Solomon, member of Parliament for Jeppestown between 1939 and 1958, The Octavia Hill Housing Scheme was named after a British woman, Mrs Octavia Hill,

    a famous English housing and slum clearing expert on the necessity, not only of doing away with slums, but also of re-educating slum dwellers into decent ways of living.77

    The housing scheme still exists and still provides housing to impoverished families. 1950s and 1980s POLITICAL STUGGLES The Launch of the 1952 Defiance Campaign In January 1952 leaders of the African National Congress (ANC) sent an ultimatum to the government. The government was given one month to scrap all unjust laws on the statute books. The apartheid rulers failed to comply, a massive Defiance Campaign would be launched. Dr D F Malan, the Prime Minister, did not repeal any laws and warned that the government would use the full machinery at its disposal to quell any disturbances. In spite of these threats, it was decided that the Campaign should go ahead. Thousands of people gather at Freedom Square in Fordsburg on 6 April 1952 exactly 300 years after Jan van Riebeeck and the first Europeans arrived to settle at the Cape, to witness James Moroka, president of the African National Congress (ANC), and Yusuf Dadoo, head of the South African Indian Congress, launch the Defiance Campaign in Johannesburg. Especially Dr YM Dadoo and Dr GM Naicker of the Transvaal Indian Congress (TIC) were virulent in their opposition of the institution of the governments apartheid measures. They played leading roles in the 1952 Defiance Campaign and the formulation of the 1955 Freedom Charter.78 76 Stals, ELP, Vol II, pp.23-25 77 Solomon B, Time Remembered, The Story of a Fight, Howard Timmins, Cape Town, 1968, p.95 78 Arkin AJ, p.177

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    During the 1980s the Transvaal and Natal Indian Congresses (NIC) affiliated with the United Democratic Front (UDF), and played a leading role in the struggle against apartheid from within the country. At the time the TIC and NIC stood for an unqualified one-man one-vote outcome to the struggle. In October 1988 a South African delegation of Indian members met with the ANCE in Lusaka, Zambia.79 1970s COMMUNITY STRUGGLES AND CONSTRUCTION OF THE ORIENTAL PLAZA Indian residential rights severely prescribed by the Gold Law of 1908. As a result the areas where Indians were allowed to live became severely overcrowded from an early stage. This was especially the case in Pageview. By the outbreak of World War II in 1939 there were 14 000 Indians living in Johannesburg, almost half 7 000 lived in Pageview, consisting of 469 stands occupied by single-storey houses.80 By 1979 there were some 30 000 Indian and 60 000 coloured people who were inadequately housed in the Johannesburg area. Legally Indians only had access to a small number of overcrowded flats in Fordsburg. The only other alternative was accommodation in the distant area of Lenasia.81 As a result Pageview or Fietas, remained the home of some 5 000 Indians, both Muslim and Hindu wedged between the officially white suburbs of Vrededorp, Fordsburg and Mayfair, was forcibly removed in the early 1970s to Lenasia, a racially segregated area some 30km to the south of Johannesburg. Its 14th Street was its main commercial node which attracted shoppers of all walks of life from the entire Johannesburg was also destroyed. In compensation for the loss of both their homes and businesses in Pageview, the City of Johannesburg and the National Department of Community Development (COMDEV) conceptualised the development of the Oriental Plaza a shopping area where the evicted Indian traders could be resettled. Earliest tenants took occupation in 1974, but the complex was only completed in 1975, then at a cost of R16.5 million. Many traders who were forced to relocate their businesses there found that rents were much took high. Since it was not easily accessible for black and coloured consumers travelling by bus or train, the Plaza initially only catered for white suburban consumers. 82 Ultimately some 400 traders set up shop in the Plaza. Urban geographer, Keith Beavon is of the opinion;

    The fact that the Oriental Plaza, in the heart of Fordsburg, has in time succeeded splendidly in commercial terms, in no way diminishes the injustices described here.83

    Yet, it is nevertheless remarkable that neither Mandy nor Beavon, authoritative voices on the urban geography and development of Johannesburg remain silent as to the type of urban fabric, which was demolished in Fordsburg to make way for the Plaza. It is 79 Arkin AJ, p.185 80 Beavon K, p.191 81 Beavon K, p.213 82 Mandy N, p.119 Chapter 7, pp.122-124. 83 Beavon K, p.194

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    suggested that since the Indian residents of Fordsburg lived mostly along the northern edge of the suburb, from Avenue Road northwards towards the border of Pageview, the demolition of this portion of historic Fordsburg when unnoticed because it was most probably mostly occupied by Indian tenants. 1980s THE STRUGGLE FOR LEGAL HOUSING A general critical housing shortage existed in the Indian community, which had not been alleviated with the forced removal to Lenasia and elsewhere. Many Indians and Coloureds found refuge in living illegally in officially white areas, such as the high-rise area of Hillbrow and the suburb of Mayfair which adjoins Fordsburg and the former Pageview from where they had been evicted. This area was a lower-income white area. However, the situation changed when a Mayfair resident, Gladys Govender obtained a Supreme Court ruling that she could not be evicted from her house, which she was illegally occupying because she had nowhere else to go. Gladys Govender had lived in Fordsburg for 39 years, and raised five children in a one roomed flat and had been on the waiting list of a state house for 11 years. In 1979, desperate for bigger accommodation she illegally rented accommodation in Mayfair in a white-owned house, which because of its appalling condition no one else would rent. When she was charged and convicted under the Group Areas Act and issued with an eviction order the local community organisation, Actstop, appealed the conviction, which was overturned in 1982. The judge ruled that a person convicted under the act could not be evicted unless adequate alternative accommodation was available, which given the appalling shortage of housing for Indian people, was not the case.84 Until such time as the housing shortage had been alleviated or has been eradicated, especially Indians were secured in their residences and could not be evicted.85 This ruling paved the way for Indian families to move into Mayfair, either as tenants or as buyers of properties. Between 1983 and 1987, 5 400 people or 1 200 families moved into the area. These were mostly middle-class families whose incomes were about 25% higher than the working class white families which they replaced. Beavon comments on this migration:

    The new arrivals in Mayfair quickly set about upgrading their accommodation. In some instances whole houses that had been purchased were demolished and completely new units were erected. The effect was that the real value of land on adjacent properties rose. By 1987 property values for the suburbs as a whole had increased by 161% compared with an average of only 20% across the city. The greying process was also largely peaceful and successful in other nearby inner suburbs on the western side of central Johannesburg, notably Brixton and Crosby.86

    This process contributed to pressure on government to repeal the Group Areas Act.87

    84 Beavon K, p.218-219 85 Mandy N, p.140-143 86 Beavon K p.219 87 Beavon K, p.220

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    1980s THE BATTLE FOR MAYFAIR Mayfair was an old, established area, dating back to the 1890s, characterised by detached and semi-detached working-class brick houses. Its position adjacent to the old Indian heartland of Pageview and Fordsburg made it a logical outlet for Indians in desperate need of accommodation. In the 1950s and 1960s working-class Afrikaans residents and homeowners had slowly replaced the original working-class Jewish residents. In the 1970s landlords were not unwilling to let available accommodation increasingly middle-class Indian tenants who in desperate need of housing who wanted to be close to the local mosques and were willing to pay higher rentals. Using white nominees, they also proved to be willing buyers of properties. By early 1980s almost 60 Indian Families had moved into the available housing stock, comprising 2 100 houses and 600 apartments. 88 In 1983 the announcement of a referendum to test the 1983 Constitution among white voters, which would give Indians and coloured people a say in the so-called tricameral parliament, focused sharp attention on the suburb of Mayfair. The then Minister of Community Development, Ben Kotze went on an inspection tour of Mayfair, during which he ordered Indian and Coloured residents immediately to vacate the area, a move which was aimed at seeking support from local white voters. His pronouncement that these people did not live in the sky before they came to MayfairThey can go back where they came from caused a furore. The press retaliated by claiming that it was Community Developments wanton destruction of Indian areas such as Pageview that drove thousands to take up vacant houses and flats in Mayfair and other fringe areas of white Johannesburg.89 In 1983 the Department of Community Development announced that besides providing more building stands in Lenasia that the eastern part of Mayfair would be added to the so-called Fordsburg Indian Group Areas, comprising portions of Fordsburg, Burghersdorp and Mayfair East. At the time the Group Areas Board found that there were 540 housing units in Fordsburg, 130 in Burghersdorp and 400 in Mayfair. It was noted that some 70 Indian families were already residing in the area and that an Indian school and a Roman Catholic convent school also serviced the area and contained many Indian owned businesses. The remaining white people in the area were mainly tenants. 90

    88 Beavon K, p.218 89 Mandy N, p.142 90 Beavon K, p.277-278

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    Leyds GA, A History of Johannesburg, Nasionale Boekhandel, Cape Town, 1964. Mandy N, A City Divided: Johannesburg and Soweto, Macmillan, Johannesburg, 1984. Meiring H, Early Johannesburg; Its Buildings and its People, Human & Rousseau, Cape Town, 1985. Musiker N & R, Historical Dictionary of Greater Johannesburg, Scarecrow Press Inc., USA, 1999. Shorten J, The Johannesburg Saga, John R Shorten, (Pty) Ltd. Under the authority of the Johannesburg City Council, Johannesburg, 1970. Solomon B, Time Remembered: The Story of a Fight, Howard Timmins, Cape Town, 1968 Smith A, Johannesburg Street Names, Juta, Johannesburg, 1972. Stals ELP, Die Afrikaners in die Goudstad, Vol.I&II, HAUM, Pretoria 1978 & 1986. Van der Waal GM, From Mining Camp to Metropolis: The Buildings of Johannesburg 1886-1940, Chris van Rensburg Publications, Johannesburg, 1987. Van Onselen C, Johannesburgs Jehus, 1890-1914 and Main Reef Road into the Working Class: proletarianisation, unemployment and class consciousness amongst Johannesburgs Afrikaner poor, 1890-1914, in Studies in the Social and Economic History of the Witwatersrand: 1886-1914, New Babylon, New Nineveh, Vols I & II, Ravan Press, Johannesburg, 1982. Walker IL & Weinbren B, 2000 Casualties: A History of the Trade Unions and the Labour Movement in the Union of South Africa, South African Trade Union Council, Johannesburg, 1961. Zwi R, Another Year in Africa, Bateleur Press, Johannesburg, 1980.