Durban - In this week’s picture of old Durban we feature what was once the home of the Cato Manor Residents Association. The building is situated on Bellair Road, today Vusi Mzimele, as it winds its way through Cato Manor. The picture was taken in 1988, and already the building looks somewhat dilapidated.
It also advertises the services of Bhanabhai and Co. Little is known of the company that ran what presumably was a corner shop.
The residents association has a record of fighting the forced removals from Cato Manor over the years.
After the riots in Cato Manor in 1949, the Durban City Council decided to house homeless African people in a camp known as Umkhumbane after the local river. However it wasn’t long before the camp’s population reached “unmanageable levels” and the municipality encountered problems controlling the homemade distilled liquor called shimeyane, the only source of income for unemployed African women.
Then in 1958, Cato Manor was officially proclaimed a white area and massive removals started. The Mayville and Cato Manor branches of the Natal Indian Congress assisted residents in resisting the removals.
The situation came to a head in 1959 with a widespread wave of rioting.Nine policemen were killed by a mob in the camp, after which a rapid clearance of the area began. By 1964 most shacks were destroyed.
The African community was largely relocated to KwaMashu, Lamontville and Umlazi and the greater part of the Indian community was resettled in Chatsworth.
By 1968 Cato Manor was was largely vacant – only a few Hindu temples remained and a couple of solitary homes, shops and a beer hall.
In 1979, the few remaining residents formed the Cato Manor Residents Association to resist further removals and racially based housing developments. Their demands included the auctioning off of existing plots by the Durban City Council, adequate housing for all income groups, with the authorities consulting them on any future plans for the area and its residents.
Previous residents began making attempts to regain their properties.
In November 1979, about one-fifth of Cato Manor was de-proclaimed as a white area and, in May 1980, was gazetted for Indian occupation.
The pictures today taken by Shelley Kjonstad show the building is a mere shell of its former self, stripped and inhabited by vagrants. The sign above the current building is unreadable although Google maps has the premises occupied as Cato Manor Building Supplies.
The Independent on Saturday