Locating the location of a South African location: the paradoxical pre-history of Soweto

Urban History ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 311-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
HOWARD PHILLIPS
Keyword(s):  
Inner City ◽  
South African ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
The South ◽  
Pneumonic Plague ◽  
South African War ◽  
History Of ◽  
Emergency Measure ◽  
The City

ABSTRACT:This article examines the decisive role of the pneumonic plague epidemic of 1904 in re-shaping the racial geography of Johannesburg after the South African War. The panic which this epidemic evoked swept away the obstacles which had blocked such a step since 1901 and saw the Indian and African inhabitants of the inner-city Coolie Location forcibly removed to Klipspruit Farm 12 miles outside of the city as a health emergency measure. There, the latter were compelled to remain, even after the epidemic had waned, making it henceforth the officially designated site for their residence. In 1963, now greatly expanded, it was named Soweto. From small germs do mighty townships grow.

South African War, Union, Segregation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goolam Vahed
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
South African ◽  
The South ◽  
South Africans ◽  
South African War ◽  
Black South Africans ◽  
Black Resistance ◽  
Late Nineteenth

This chapter examines the politics of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century South Africa. It considers the South African War and itsrole in shaping modern South Africa through the postwar program of reconstruction under the watch of Milner’s kindergarten, in the context of the British imperial project. Factors that led to the war are outlined, including the role of Randlords, followed by a discussion of the reconciliation between the British and the Boers at the expense of black South Africans, the standoff between Smuts and Gandhi, reconstruction, segregation, the marginalization of black South Africans, and the genesis of organized black resistance to white minority rule under which union was forged.

Horses in the South African War, c. 1899-1902

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 348-366 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Swart
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Rural Economy ◽  
Military History ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Cultural Dimension ◽  
The South ◽  
South African War ◽  
Human Cost ◽  
Massive Scale

AbstractThis essay discusses the role of horses in war through the lens of their mortality in the South African War (1899-1902). This conflict was the biggest and most modern of the numerous precolonial and colonial wars that raged across the southern African subcontinent in the late nineteenth century. Aside from the human cost, the theater of war carried a heavy environmental toll, with the scorched-earth policy shattering the rural economy. The environmental charge extended to animals. Both sides relied on mounted troops, and the casualties suffered by these animals were on a massive scale. This is widely regarded as proportionally the most devastating waste of horseflesh in military history up until that time. This paper looks at the material context of—and reasons for—equine casualties and discusses the cultural dimension of equine mortality and how combatants on both sides were affected by this intimate loss.

Review – Tom Lodge, Red Road to Freedom, A History of the South African Communist Party 1921–2021, Jacana, Johannesburg 2021.10.26

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110596
Author(s):  
Jeremy Cronin
Keyword(s):  
South African ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
African National Congress ◽  
The South ◽  
Central Focus ◽  
History Of ◽  
National Congress ◽  
History Of The South ◽  
Ruling Party

In the year of the South African Communist Party’s centenary, Tom Lodge’s in-depth, scholarly work is a landmark achievement. The account is particularly strong in tracing the ideological currents that shaped the party and the changing and diverse sociology of its membership. The influential role of the party in helping transform the African National Congress into a mass-based campaigning formation from 1945 is a central focus. Lodge also traces the critical role of the party in the re-building, at first largely in exile, of a weakened ANC following the major strategic setback of the liberation movement in the mid-1960s. There is less focus on the reciprocal impact of the ANC upon the party, especially in the context of the practice of “dual membership” in both formations. This neglect is one factor in weakening the analysis of the post-1994 period in which the ANC has been the ruling party.

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