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Atteridgeville Township
Atteridgeville, Tshwane (Pretoria), Gauteng
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Click to view large map Coordinates: | [Editors’ note: Terms used in the article are now no longer acceptable but retained for sake of historical authenticity.] ATTERIDGEVILLE NATIVE TOWNSHIP, PRETORIA. BY THE PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE, CITY COUNCIL. Generally regarded as one of the two best and held by many to be the best native location in the Union, Atteridgeville, the Pretoria municipal location, about eight miles [~13km] west of Church Square, was established in 1939, after all the aspects of embarking on a venture of such major character had been fully considered. The administration of native affairs in urban areas is a function of the local authority in charge of such an area, and all services for natives, including housing, are administered on a sub-economic basis. This means, that the European ratepayer and employer, apart from any direct charges he may have to meet, such as service contract fees, also has to contribute through the general municipal revenue fund towards meeting the charges for such services. Up to 30th June, 1947, the City Council had spent nearly £510,000 on the Atteridgeville Location, and it is estimated that the total capital expenditure on the scheme, providing it is not extended beyond the City Council's present decision. will be about £590,000, by which time 1,533 dwellings will have been erected. This seemingly huge expenditure on only one aspect of this work may seem surprising, but it should be borne in mind that the administration of native affairs is a major task entrusted to the Municipality. In Pretoria all the votes for Native, Coloured and Asiatic Administration Affairs absorb 11d. out of each £1 of municipal revenue collected, which is equal to nearly five per cent. of the total municipal revenue. The annual loss on Atterdigeville on the basis of the sub-economic rentals charged for houses there is over £28,000 per year which works out at about £2 per house per month. This is a considerable amount when one bears in mind that Pretoria is not a " rich " city and that its finances can be kept "straight" only by exercising the greatest financial caution. When this scheme was decided on, these big losses, which have since become a feature of nearly every sub-economic housing scheme, not only in Pretoria but also in the Union, were not foreseen. Otherwise another basis, such as is being looked for to-day, might then already have been searched for. In spite of this major obstacle, Atteridgeville has developed into what one might term a "showplace" of its kind in the Union, and there are few visitors to South Africa who, provided they are interested in native affairs, do not make a special effort when they are in Pretoria, to visit Atteridgeville. The scheme is not yet quite complete, but already there are 1,223 houses, with an additional 309 under construction. This number is inadequate to meet the requirements of the city's native population but it has to a great extent served to fulfil the object for which Atteridgeville was primarily established, namely, to accommodate residents of the Schoolplaats and Marabastad locations which, for a number of reasons, the City Council was anxious to evacuate. At the time of the latest census taken at Atteridgeville, the population was 8,957, comprising 4,347 males and 4,610 females. To cater for the children, there are five· schools with an enrolment of between 2,500 and 3,000 children. One of these is a high school, the Hofmeyr High School, named after a former chairman of the City Council's Native and Asiatic Administration Committee, who was also for many years principal of the well-known Boys' High School in Pretoria. This school provides secondary education, right up to matriculation for those who desire it. But education is not confined to children only. There is also a university, the "Kolege ya Ban a ba Afrika" with an enrolment of 26 students studying for their B.A. and B.Econ. degrees. There is also a normal college, controlled by the Union Education Department, for training native teachers, and an adult education scheme under which evening classes for adults are conducted. The university and normal college collaborate closely in educational matters. The City Council has always shown a keen interest in the progress of these various educational institutions. Not only has it permitted members of its Native and Asiatic Administration Department to give lectures, but it contributes financially. When the University was launched, it was given a substantial grant and the City Council is represented on the University's Council. A grant to the University, and bursaries to deserving students, totalled £1,050 for the current financial year, while bursaries are also made available for primary high school children. At present both the university and the normal college use a school for teaching purposes, but at Vlakfontein, which the City Council has purchased for establishing a new native location, a separate building will be available for the normal college. There again the university and normal college will collaborate closely. It is of interest to note that when the location was laid out, the commonly accepted principle of planning one school for each block of 300 houses was embodied in the plan. But experience has shown that this is insufficient, as the schools provided for each such block are inadequate to meet the demand for accommodation. In this respect, Atteridgeville is no exception to conditions prevailing throughout the Transvaal Province. Ensuring adequate educational facilities is not the only sphere in which the City Council plays a leading role-health is another major consideration. Apart from such conveniences as water-borne sewage and rubbish removal services, a regular clinic with qualified doctors and trained nurses in attendance is conducted regularly at the location by the Department of the Medical Officer of Health. Here first-aid is rendered whenever necessary, and arrangements for serious cases to be taken to hospital are made at once. Native women are learning that considerable benefits can be derived from regularly attending pre-natal clinics, though the value of post-natal clinics does not seem to be fully appreciated as yet. Trained midwives and, if necessary, a doctor are always available for confinement cases. These are the only cases for which a small nominal payment is asked and then only when the patients can afford it. T.B. patients and those suffering from special diseases are treated regularly at the clinic. Should a patient stay away from the clinic for any reason, he or she is visited at home and his case is followed up to ensure compliance with the health regulations. Apart from the curative work, there is also a good deal of preventive work being done. For instance in collaboration with the Transvaal Education Department, approximately 3,000 school children, and 300 pre-school children are provided regularly with a midday meal. Most of this activity takes place at the soup kitchen, built by the City Council, which has become an important landmark in the daily life of those benefitting under this scheme. These and other similar services cannot be provided with-out incurring considerable expenditure, and the City Council's contribution amounts to nearly £6,000 for the current financial year. The growth and expansion of these services, however, has been such that this amount has been found inadequate, and the City Council will be asked to authorise the expenditure of a bigger amount during the coming financial year. Every possible step is taken to make the available amount go as far as possible. An example which illustrates this point well is the fact that something like £900 a year is obtained from what might ordinarily be regarded as "waste." The kaffir beer strainings, left over after kaffir beer for the municipal beer hall has been brewed, are collected and sold, the income being about £900 per year. This money in turn is used for buying food to feed pre-school children at Bantule, another municipal location. Atteridgeville residents have sporting facilities not enjoyed by inhabitants of many other locations. There are two soccer fields, with a rugby field under construction, two tennis courts, two basket ball fields, and tenniquoit courts. These facilities provided by the City Council are highly appreciated by the residents who make full use of them. The City Council has even gone further than merely providing the fields. It has appointed physical culture instructors and sports organisers who are full-time salaried municipal officials and members of the Native Administration Department. The results of these appointments have been very beneficial. In this connection it can be mentioned that all school children take part in physical education. The plan of the location is based on a simple geometrical pattern adapted to the contours of the site. The centre was placed on an elevated plain overlooking the rest of the township with a straight main road joining Church Street West, and providing direct access to the city. The pattern of the other roads was governed by the contours of the site. The plan also provides for quite big buildings, including the main administrative centre at the main entrance to the location, but these have not yet been built. An effort was made to avoid monotony by having houses of varying designs next to each other, as is illustrated in the block development plan. There are four types of houses, with two, three, four and five rooms. The monthly rentals for these houses are respectively 18s., £r 3s., £1 8s., and £1 13s. 6d. These rentals include free water, free electricity, free rubbish removal services, free water-borne sewerage and all other sanitary services. Each house contains a coal stove and all are maintained by the City Council, the annual cost of the maintenance being £8,000. The maintenance services provided are comprehensive. The roofs of all houses have been painted and the houses have been thoroughly cleaned. Every house is thoroughly sprayed with D.D.T. twice yearly, this alone accounting for about £2,000. The transport services are not operated by the Municipality but by a public utility company. The Council, however, subsidises them substantially, the subsidy at present amounting to about £3,000 per year. This enables the native to travel the distance of eight miles to the city twice daily on each working day for about 14s. per month~ The whole route to Pretoria is tarred and in Atteridgeville itself most of the streets have been tarred. There is no gainsaying the fact that Atteridgeville is a model village. The one and seemingly insuperable obstacle is provided by the exceptionally heavy loss which the City Council is forced to bear on the village. The present indications are that this will, unless something is done, approach the £30,000 mark in the near future, an amount so substantial that it must have an influence on the general financial position of the city. In an effort to meet this position, the City Council recently decided to convert the sub-economic loan in respect of Atteridgeville into a National Housing Fund loan, with the further object of trying to convert the whole scheme into an economic one, but even this is far from being as simple as it looks. First of all, there is the substantial difference between pre-war and post-war building costs. The average cost of a home at Atteridgeville to-day including the houses built at pre-war costs is £385 6s., or almost twice the amount which can be allowed on an economic basis. The average cost of houses constructed at post-war costs is more than £500 per house and this figure has only been kept so low as a result of the exceedingly good work done by the City Engineer's Department in this connection. At the same time it shows how impossible the position is becoming. If the Council continued to provide, from National Housing Fund loans, houses on the Atteridgeville basis, there would be a steep rise in the Council's contribution towards the loss on such housing. If, on the other hand, the Council considered increasing the rentals, then again the rentals would be beyond the earning capacity of the average native. Taking as his basis the completed scheme of 1,533 dwellings and a total capital expenditure of £590,000, the Assistant Manager of the Native and Asiatic Administration Department in a recent report said that annual expenditure in terms of the formula would be £59,000 or 10 per cent. of the capital cost. The rentals paid by tenants would amount to £23,933.The total annual loss would be £35,067 and as the rentals were less than five per cent., the Government's contribution on the ratio of 3 : 1 would be £26,300 and the Council's con- tribution £8,767. The annual expenditure of £59,000 would be allocated as follows: repairs and maintenance, £14,750 (or 2.5 per cent), interest £19,175 (or 3.25 per cent.). redemption £7,375 (or 1.25 per cent.), and administration, etc., £17,700 (or 3 per cent.) In respect of the first three items the formula was a fair one, but in respect of administration (including the usual services), it was unfair, seeing that the actual expenditure amounted to £32,884. The actual annual expenditure on administration as defined in terms of the National Housing Fund formula would, therefore, represent 5.573 per cent. of the capital expenditure, or 2.573 per cent. in excess of the quota allowed in the formula. In addition to paying its share of the losses in terms of the formula, the Council would lose £15,184 which in effect was the expenditure over and above the £17,700 allowed ir. terms of the formula. The Council's contribution would therefore, be £23,951 as against £26,300 contributed by the Government. Further, the report said that about 50 per cent. of the natives employed in Pretoria earned £1 6s. 3d., per week excluding cost of living, or about £5 13s. 9d. per month. It was, therefore, apparent that to conform to the general sociological formula that rentals should not exceed one-sixth of the income of the head of the family, rentals could not be raised very much above £1 6s. per month without endangering the health of the average family. This, then, very shortly is the dilemma in which the City Council finds itself in connection with the good, but expensive Atteridgeville housing scheme. As one step to call a halt to these mounting losses the City Council has decided that after the completion of the present stage of the development of Atteridgeville, i.e., when about 1,530 houses have been completed, no further houses will be built on this basis, but that every effort must be made to find a solution to this problem. It is seen against this background that the Vlakfontein experiment, where an attempt is being made to provide houses for Bantu according to Bantu building methods, which was fully described in "Public Works of South Africa" a few months ago, becomes so important. This experiment has now reached the stage where the first unit, comprising 70 rondavels, is being built. Considerable progress has been made in adapting the rondavels to meet the reasonable criticism that has been voiced, and though the changes have added to the cost of the family unit, the expenditure is still within the scope of an economic scheme. It is expected that as soon as this unit is complete, a further progress report will be submitted to the City Council for its consideration. Another factor that has temporarily obscured the position is the recent statement on native housing made by the Minister of Housing in Parliament. Until the final details of this scheme have been worked out and communicated to the City Council, it is not possible to say how it will affect the position. An analysis of the Minister's statement made by the assistant manager of Native and Asiatic Administration Department indicates that the new formula ·· outlined by the Minister in effect differs very little from the National Housing Fund formula. It only limits the Government's maximum loss of £25 per house without making the burden of the local authority lighter. The crux of the native housing problem can briefly be summarised as follows: To house the non-European hygienically in urban areas on a sub-economic basis makes the burden on the European taxpayer and employer of subsidising such schemes too heavy. To provide economic housing schemes of the same standard as, for instance, Atteridgeville, requires interest, redemption and service charges which are far beyond the earning capacity of the native. If the solution is sought in the direction of increasing the wages earned by natives, this will result in a reduction in the employment of natives, as is already happening. Therefore, any satisfactory solution must attempt to bridge this gap by providing economic housing at a cost not exceeding the earning capacity of the native, in other words, a housing unit at a maximum cost of between £250 and £300 each. (PWSA April 1948 Vol IX No 53:22-28). [See also Rondavel Township] References:
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