”Model native townships” in Suid-Afrika : “the pinnacle of perfection”? ʼn historiese evaluering, ca. 1900’s-1940’s

Abstract

The “model native township”-phenomenon with its embodiment in a number of black urban townships in South Africa during the first half of the 20th century is the focus of this study and is investigated from a historical evaluation perspective. The contemporary description of these residential areas as the “pinnacle of perfection” in terms of the theoretical-technical prescriptions and standards for the provision of black urban housing, and how this was realised in practice in the black township of Atteridgeville in Pretoria, is assessed through the use of contemporary criteria.

The theoretical, contextual and conceptual framework in which this research took place relies on the concepts of modernism, the British welfare-state idea, and the sanitation syndrome which underlie the idea of model housing conditions for the working class during the first half of the 20th century. In the multiple nuanced meanings of the concepts paternalism and segregation, the establishment of “ideal” black urban living conditions in South Africa took place on a racial basis. Town planners and architects visualised and designed model black townships. The practical reality of the financial burden on local urban authorities and the weak economic position of the black inhabitants, amidst the challenging war (1939-1945) years, undermined these idealistic plans. Model black townships were not the “best” that had ever been established, but they were better than existing slum areas.

The methodological lens that was used to investigate this phenomenon, is founded on established historical research principles, augmented by contributions from a range of relevant disciplines. The critical analysis of source material; the use of both a class and race analysis and explanatory model; and the necessity of postmodern questioning was applied. Research about housing — a “real life” topic that investigates the true, complex human reality — demanded an interdisciplinary, and even a transdisciplinary approach. Historical comparative methodologies were applied where Atteridgeville was compared with contemporary housing criteria. The emphasis on the complex and intricate nature of this topic also necessitated the use of visual elements. Above all, the establishment of historical understanding, utilising nuanced and empathetic engagement with the past, its people and the structural (township) heritage, was necessitated in order to make balanced and accountable historical evaluations.