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Many of the Black residential areas closest to White suburbia have undergone radical change since the 1950’s. The original residents of Western Native Township have long been relocated to Soweto, after the suburb was rezoned in 1963 under the Group Areas Act, and given over to Coloured occupation.
In 1955 the South African Government began to demolish a black freehold suburb in Johannesburg, and to relocate its inhabitants in a state-controlled township. Resistance to these moves by the leading black political organisation of the time, the African National Congress (A.N.C.), was short-lived and unsuccessful.
- Tom Lodge
- 1981
Jul 1, 1991 · Thousands of blacks chose to live illegally in the city, shunning the rigidly- controlled public housing of Western Native Township and Klipspruit. Like the slums to the east of town, the dilapidated Malay Location continued to attract Johannesburg's black population.
- Susan Parnell
- 1991
In spite of its name, the 'Sophiatown Heart and Soul' project covered all the 'Western Areas' deemed black spots by the National Party, including Western Native Township (WNT), Martindale and Newclare, and parts of Albert's Farm.
A section to the south of Sophiatown became a municipal shelter location known as Western Native Township to restrict African settlement in Johannesburg after 1924 when the Native (Urban Areas) Act of 1923 was applied (Parnell and Pirie 1991).
Although Sophiatown receives top billing, this study embraces the entire Western Areas of Johannesburg, including Newclare and Western Native Township (WNT). Sophiatown' s almost mythological status as a cosmopolitan, multiracial Mecca of township culture, and the fact that it was bulldozed to make way for an
P.Q. Vundla arrived in Western Native Township in the 1930s with a set of values that derived from his childhood, his politically liberal-minded parents and his politicisation as a young black man.
