Boipatong
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Boipatong | ||
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PO box 1901 |
Boipatong Vanderbijlpark is a township in Gauteng, South Africa. It was established in 1955 to house black residents who worked in Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging.
Boipatong means "the place of hiding" in the
Boipatong, along with other surrounding townships, served as a pool of cheap labour for steel industry giant ISCOR. ISCOR was built mainly as part of job creation and poverty eradication for the white working class. Although small, Boipatong was one of the places where the anger of the black people was felt during the marches of the 1960s against the requirement that they carry passes.
Boipatong massacre
The township was the site of the infamous
Further investigation from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) confirmed that the massacre was state-sponsored. The hostel dwellers who killed the residents were Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) members who later confessed to the TRC that they had been transported by government police vehicles and led by white police officers who painted their faces black. This massacre was added to a US lawsuit against multinational corporations that did business with the apartheid regime in South Africa.
Boipatong Heritage Site
A Boipatong Memorial and Youth Heritage Centre dedicated to freedom struggle veterans was being built and about to be completed. The centre was commissioned at a cost of 40 million rand by the Gauteng Province former Department of Public Works, Roads and Transport, now the Department of Infrastructure Development (DID). The private sector contributed a larger portion of the amount R40 million, including a consortium responsible for the construction of Gautrain. The memorial center construction created a number of jobs and provided skills training to members of the community.
References
- ^ a b c d "Main Place Boipatong". Census 2011.