APARTHEID, URBAN SEGREGATION, AND THE LOCAL STATE: DURBAN AND THE GROUP AREAS ACT IN SOUTH AFRICA

Abstract

There has been some speculation about the origins of the Group Areas Act (GAA), one of the key instruments used to enforce the ideology of apartheid. This paper examines the origins, development, and implementation of the Group Areas Act in Durban. The key argument of this paper is that the anti-Indian agitation of the Durban City Council and its White electorate played an important role in the development of the legislation. Whites in Durban were at the forefront of calls for the compulsory segregation of Indians because this group presented a serious threat in terms of competition for social and economic space. The local state in Durban worked closely with the central state and played a key role in the formulation and implementation of the Group Areas Act. In all of the race zoning proposals for the City of Durban, the views of the White electorate were considered by the local state, but those of the disenfranchised Indians were disregarded. The local state in Durban was, however, forced to review its race zoning plans when it became apparent that the central state expected it to bear the costs of uprooting hundreds of thousands of people. Despite numerous appeals by the local state and Indian political and civic organizations, the spatial impress of the central state was imposed upon the local state.