- Dimbaza, Eastern Cape
Dimbaza in the
Eastern Cape was created as a dumping ground for Blacks who lived illegally in White South Africa, during the mid and late sixties. The concrete houses consisted of two or three rooms. Sanitation facilities were non-existent. The lucky individuals could obtain employment inKing Williams Town , roughly thirteen miles away,paying roughly a quarter of their gross income on transportation.In keeping with then standard South African government policy, infrastructure development was financed by the beer halls.
Between the abject poverty, and active negligence by the South African government, the town became a symbol of
apartheid , and the subject of the 1975 documentary "Last Grave at Dimbaza".The town's original name was changed, due to the inability of the Special Branch to pronounce it correctly.
External links
* [http://www.pursuit.co.za/archive/aprmay05_ghosttown.htm Pursuit magazine: April/May 2005]
* [http://www.frif.com/new2006/dimb.html Last Grave at Dimbaza]
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