Manenberg

Manenberg
From top, A view of Manenberg looking towards PO box		7764
Area code	021

Manenberg is a township of

The building phase of the neighbourhood lasted from 1966 to 1970 with completion of 5,621 homes for 33,922 residents at a cost of R7,386,817[3] (roughly equivalent to R460,000,000 in 2017).^[4] By 1975 the area consisted of about seven corner shops and two liquor outlets. There were no adequate commercial facilities or community services. A railway line from the black township of Gugulethu divides Manenberg. Nyanga Railway Station was established to service the growing population of Gugulethu and Manenberg. Later in the mid-1980s, because of housing shortages and problems around squatting in Manenberg, 364 additional buildings known as maisonettes (or as ‘infill scheme’) were built. These had three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, hot water, and a toilet and were regarded as better accommodation units.^[3]

Housing conditions and the basic design of area was a major grievance that prompted local residents to participate in a range of anti-apartheid activities including acts of civil disobedience in an effort to make the country ungovernable.^[3]

Early activism in the 1970s and 1980s in Manenberg

Community activists mobilized residents in Manenberg around housing and living conditions. A citizen newspaper (named "Grassroots") was started, forming part of an alternative press movement in the 1980s. It was the first of a series of anti-apartheid community newspapers, with a circulation that grew up to 20 000 and covered community issues such as local protests.^{[citation needed]}

From the national 1976 riots to the meat boycotts of 1981 to the United Democratic Front

In the night of 29 August 1999 a tornado hit the neighbourhood killing five people with wind speeds reaching over 150 km per hour. Over 220 people were injured^[5] and more than 5,000 residents^[6] were left homeless with 40 flats being "totally gutted".^[5] R1 million (roughly equivalent to R2.6 million in 2017) was allocated by City of Cape Town's disaster relief fund for rebuilding.^[6]

Popular culture

• The famous and well respected jazz pianist Abdullah Ibrahim has a composition named "Mannenberg" after the township. Manenberg has a rich history of minstrel (Kaapse Klopse) music and several minstrel teams still emanate from this part of Cape Town.
• Manenberg has been featured in the
  Hard Living" and "Clever Kids
  ."
• The feature documentary Manenberg[7] (2010) by directors/anthropologists Karen Waltorp & Christian Vium (Denmark)^[8] about two young people coming of age in the community.

References

Bibliography

• J. Jacobs (2011) Manenberg: Then and Now: Activism in Manenberg, 1980 to 2010. Unpublished thesis (MA), University of the Western Cape
• ISBN 9789956550265
  .