Langa is a

township A township is a kind of human settlement or administrative subdivision, with its meaning varying in different countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, that tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

. Its name in

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

means " sun". The township was initially built in phases before being formally opened in 1927. It was developed as a result of South Africa's 1923 Urban Areas Act (more commonly known as the "pass laws"), which was designed to force Africans to move from their homes into segregated locations. Similar to Nyanga, Langa is one of the many areas in

that were designated for Black Africans before the

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

era. It is the oldest of such suburbs in Cape Town and was the location of much resistance to apartheid. Langa is also where several people were killed on 21 March 1960, the same day as the

Sharpeville massacre The Sharpeville massacre occurred on 21 March 1960 at the police station in the township of Sharpeville in the then Transvaal Province of the then Union of South Africa (today part of Gauteng). After demonstrating against pass laws, a crowd ...

, during the anti-pass campaign. On 21 March 2010, now 50 years later, a monument was unveiled by the government in remembrance of the people who died while on the protest march.

Location

Langa is bordered by the M17 (Jan Smuts Drive) to the west, the N2 to the south, and the M7 to the east, and is served by Langa Railway Station.

History

Although Langa literally means "sun" in

, the name of the

is derived from the name of Langalibalele – a chief and renowned rainmaker who in 1873 was imprisoned on Robben Island for rebelling against the Natal government. Various prominent people fought for his release and he was subsequently confined to a farm called "Uitvlugt", which is on the site of present-day Pinelands. Langa, which adjoins Pinelands, commemorates this folk hero as it was developed in 1898 on the land known as "Langalibalele's Location". Hence Langa is often called "Kwa-Langa" meaning "place of Langa". Langa was originally designed in a way to allow the authorities maximum visibility and control of residents. In the early years local laws prohibiting the brewing of sorghum beer (utywala) was strongly resented and in the 1930s prohibition was abolished in the area with the construction of municipal beer halls taking place in 1945. In these early years tribal and sub-tribal ethnic identities were still very strong. Often local celebrations by the Mfengu community celebrating their "liberation" from the

would lead to an increase in tensions. However, the close living conditions of residents in Langa promoted a high degree of neighbourliness and the creation of broader African institutions that promoted a greater sense of community cohesion. On 30 March 1960 Langa was the starting point for a march of between 30,000 and 50,000 protesters to Caledon Square police station in Cape Town led by

Philip Kgosana Philip Ata Kgosana (Born in now Makapanstad, North West, South Africa 12 October 1936 – 19 April 2017) was a leader of the Pan Africanist Congress in South Africa, and was known for leading a march at the age of 23 on 30 March 1960, where 30,00 ...

and the

Pan Africanist Congress The Pan Africanist Congress of Azania (known as the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC)) is a South African national liberation Pan-Africanist movement that is now a political party. It was founded by an Africanist group, led by Robert Sobukwe, that ...

to protest the apartheid-era pass laws.

Recent history

Joe Slovo Joe Slovo (born Yossel Mashel Slovo; 23 May 1926 – 6 January 1995) was a South African politician, and an opponent of the apartheid system. A Marxist-Leninist, he was a long-time leader and theorist in the South African Communist Pa ...

, which was established in 1990, is the largest informal settlement in Langa and one of the largest in the country. It is currently being threatened with forced removals to make way for the N2 Gateway Housing Project. Some parts of the Joe Slovo informal settlement have since been removed and transformed into the N2 Gateway Housing Project (2006), which can be seen when travelling along the N2 highway out of Cape Town. In 2005 the Guga S’thebe Arts & Culture Centre, a cultural/multi-purpose centre, was officially opened in Langa after unofficially being in operation for a number of years. The first township B&B – Ma Neo's Bed & Breakfast – was opened in Langa in 1999. On 9 July 2014 Langa was the site of violent protests against a lack of government service delivery, specifically regarding housing, but the protesting soon turned into a more general protest about broader issues such as the

Marikana massacre The Marikana massacre was the killing of thirty-four miners by the South African Police Service (SAPS) on 16 August 2012 during a six-week wildcat strike at the Lonmin platinum mine at Marikana near Rustenburg in South Africa's North West pro ...

and general living conditions. A number of shops and local businesses were torched and looted and transport links to the rest of the city were closed off by protesters.

Notable residents

Langa has produced some prominent figures in sport and entertainment and was the birthplace of the internationally acclaimed percussion ensemble

Amampondo Amampondo is a South African percussion ensemble that was started by Dizu Plaatjies in Langa, Cape Town in 1979.Craig HarrisArtist Biography AllMusic.com. The name in Mpondo means '' people of Mpondo'' or Pondoland, a kingdom in the Eastern Cap ...

. *

Temba Bavuma Temba Bavuma (born 17 May 1990) is a South African international cricketer who currently is the captain of the South African cricket team in white-ball cricket. He also vice-captains South Africa in Test cricket. He is a right-handed batter a ...

(1990–),

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...

player * Fatima Dike (1948–), playwright and theatre director *

Brenda Fassie Brenda Nokuzola Fassie (3 November 1964 – 9 May 2004) was a South African singer, songwriter, dancer and activist. Affectionately called MaBrrr by her fans, she is also known as the "Queen of African Pop", the " Madonna of The Townships" or s ...

(1964–2004), anti-apartheid

Afropop African popular music (also styled Afropop, Afro-pop or Afro pop), like African traditional music, is vast and varied. Most contemporary genres of African popular music build on cross-pollination with western popular music. Many genres of po ...

singer, songwriter, dancer and activist * Nika Khumalo (1964–), boxer *

Thabo Mngomeni Thabo Mngomeni (born 24 June 1969, Cape Town, Western Cape) is a South African former Association football midfielder. After starting his professional career at Cape Town Spurs and having a brief spell at Manning Rangers, Mngomeni became a ...

(1969–),

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

player * Malusi Siboto (1987–), cricket player * Thami Tsolekile (1980–), cricket and

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

player * Lungile Tsolekile (born 1984) is a field hockey player who competed in the 2008 Summer Olympics. * Ernest Witbooi (born 1970-1994) was a boxer who was a featherweight champion of Cape Town.

External links

History of Langa township at capetown.at

References

{{Authority control Suburbs of Cape Town Townships in the Western Cape