Cato_Manor

Cato Manor

Cato Manor

Place in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Cato Manor is a settlement located 7 kilometres (4.3 mi) from the city centre of Durban, South Africa.

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It was formed when Indian market gardeners came to settle in the area some time after it was given to George Christopher Cato in 1865, who was the first mayor of Durban in 1854. The area attracted attention during the Apartheid era.[citation needed]

History

Cato Manor became recognised when Black Africans came to settle in during the 1920s, and rented land from Indian landlords who were there since the early 20th century. To earn a living, people started brewing beer and selling it in the streets of Durban to the workers. The local authorities welcomed people in town for labour but had fears of being overwhelmed by their population.

The Durban System

Local authorities then started the so-called Durban system which required permits from people who were in town to restrict the influx of population. The authorities then instituted the Native Beer Act of 1908, which allowed the municipality to brew and sell beer for self-finance. That became a success and the municipality reaped huge profits which meant that anyone brewing illegally was arrested. That started a dispute between the authorities and the people, culminating in riots.

Riots and Forced Removals

Towards the end of World War II, about 30,000 squatters had built their shacks in the place, which started even bigger riots between 1949 and 1950 when the Group Areas Act was passed by the government.[2] The apartheid government decided to forcibly remove residents from the area. People were forced to move to townships like KwaMashu and the Indians moved to places like Chatsworth and Phoenix.[3] The forced removals from Cato Manor are considered the Durban equivalent of what took place at District Six in Cape Town and Sofiatown in Johannesburg.[4]

On 23 January 1960, a mob attacked 4 white and 5 black policemen at the Cato Manor Police station; they killed the men and mutilated their bodies.[5][6] An excerpt from An Ordinary Atrocity by Philip Frankel: "The small police force had been obliged to barricade itself in two adjacent huts which were eventually stormed by more than a thousand rioters. The more fortunate of the nine police who had died had simply been stoned to death, but there were cases of disembowelment flowing from the 'naked aggression and bloodlust of the rioters'."

Cato Manor today

The area began to come to life again in the early 1980s when the Cato Manor Development Association (CMDA) was formed and delivered much-needed infrastructure. The area then was funded by private donors and the Cato Manor Area Based Management was instituted by the eThekwini Municipality to overseeing the development of the area. Cato Manor today has primary schools, a clinic, a market, and a multi-purpose center, and talks for new development are underway.

Housing corruption and violence

Cato Manor has been a site of intense contestation over housing and service delivery. This has led to a number of struggles for housing and against corruption in the area. The struggles have led to a high number of assassinations of activists and political figures in the area. In 2013, three members of the shack dweller's movement Abahlali baseMjondolo were killed including Cato Crest branch chairperson Nkululeko Gwala by unnamed gunmen and Nqobile Nzuza by a Cato Manor police officer.[7][8] On 1 November 2021, Ward 101 candidate Siyabonga Mkhize was killed along with his bodyguard. His predecessor and successor, Mkhipheni Mzimuni Ngiba was later arrested for his murder.[9] In 2022, three more prominent leaders of Abahlali baseMjondolo were killed in the eKhenana Commune. These were Ayanda Ngila, Nokuthula Mabaso and branch chairperson Lindokuhle Mnguni. A local pastor and prominent ANC members, as well as other members of his family, were arrested for these assassinations. The killings were widely condemned,[10][11][12][13] including in a widely publicised letter from over 130 local and international human rights organisations.[14]

References

  1. [1]
    "Sub Place Cato Manor". Census 2001.
  2. [2]
    An Ordinary Atrocity by Philip Frankel, Yale University Press.
  3. [3]
    A place of hope in a time of spiralling crisis, Nigel C Gibson, New Frame, 10 January 2022
  4. [4]
    Cato Manor: cruel past, pivotal future, Iain Edwards, Review of South African Political Economy, 24 February 2007
  5. [5]
    Kynoch, Gary (2024). "Raids, Resistance, and Retribution: South Africa's Cato Manor Killings, 1960–1". The Journal of African History. doi:10.1017/S0021853723000671. ISSN 0021-8537.
  6. [6]
    The Cape Times, (1960), 'Nine police massacred at Durban', 25 January, (Available at the South African National Library, Cape Town Campus) p. 1. – See more at: http://www.sahistory.org.za/dated-event/nine-policemen-are-killed-angry-mob-cato-manor-durban#sthash.SMjD5mgo.dpuf
  7. [7]
    The Struggle for a Second Transition in South Africa: Uprising, Development and Precarity in the Post-Apartheid City, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Department of Geography, 19 March 2019
  8. [8]
    Poverty, inequality and violence : a case study of Cato Manor, Rachel Gray and Brij Maharaj, ISRC, 2017
  9. [9]
    KZN’s political ganglands: ANC councillor arrested for predecessor’s murder, Chris Makhaye, Daily Maverick, 30 May 2022
  10. [10]
    Prominent land activist Ayanda Ngila gunned down in KZN – Abahlali points finger at ANC, Chris Makhaye Daily Maverick, 8 March 2022
  11. [11]
    Pastor and brother denied bail for murder of Abahlali baseMjondolo leader, LWAZI HLANGU TimesLive, 6 September 2022
  12. [12]
    Media Statement: The South African Human Rights Commission condemns the brutal killing of Lindokuhle Mnguni, a leader within the Abahlali baseMjondolo Movement , South African Human Rights Commission, 22 August 2022
  13. [13]
    Abahlali baseMjondolo killings – 130 civil society organisations demand measures to stop the terror, Daniel Berti Daily Maverick, 14 September 2022
  14. [14]
    Civil Society organisations condemn the South African government for allowing the targeting of Abahlali baseMjondolo human rights defenders.[permanent dead link], SERI, 9 September 2022
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