The control and administration of Port Elizabeth's African population, c. 1834-1923

Abstract

Residential development in Port Elizabeth during the 19th century is characterized by continual attempts to remove African locations from the centre of town and the proximity of white residential areas. Until 1902 the local authority continued to regulate African settlement through the establishment of additional municipal locations. To accomplish the resettlement of Africans in the new locations, the municipality of Port Elizabeth came to rely on laws for the removal of squatters, slum clearance and treating the overcrowded African locations as a health hazard. The introduction of legislation in 1903 facilitated the municipality's programme of mass evictions and slum clearance. In the same year a change in the administration of locations had also occurred when responsibility for the New Brighton location was transferred to the Cape Colonial government. This responsibility only reverted to the Port Elizabeth municipality in 1923.