Mdantsane

In the 1940s, living quarters for Africans East London workers were hard to find.[3] The implementation of the Group Areas Act of 1950 further entrenched racial segregation in East London. Unhygienic conditions, overcrowding and riots became matters of concern in Duncan Village, a township which had been created for the African population in the 1940s. The apartheid government recommended that Amalinda, a white suburb not very far from Mdantsane, should be zoned as a black area in 1957. However, the white residents of Amalinda, who wanted the area to be retained as a white zone, strongly opposed this recommendation.

In the same year, the East London municipality received an instruction from the apartheid South African government to submit an application for a new township for its African residents.[4] On February 20, the Minister of the Department of Bantu Administration and Development announced that the entire African population of East London was to be moved to a new site called Mdantsane, which was within the boundaries of the Xhosa native reserve under the administration of the Ciskei Territorial Authority which had been set up in 1961.

The first houses were built in late 1963 with removals planned for 1964. However, removals and resettlement began in 1963. Mdantsane was formally established in 1963 on a farm called “ Umdanzani” and the first 300 residents occupied the new houses. The original inhabitants were people who were forcibly removed from what was known as East Bank in East London.[3]

In 1964, approximately 112 000 people from Duncan Village were forcibly moved to the outskirts of Mdantsane township. Mdantsane was recognised as a homeland town under the bantustan of Ciskei in 1966.[3]

Ciskei became self-governing in 1972 and then granted nominal independence on 4 December 1981, with Mdantsane becoming one of the homeland's largest townships.

To encourage African residents of Duncan Village and East London to relocate to Mdantsane, the apartheid government adopted a number of strategies. The first was to introduce the Regional Decentralisation Programme (RIDP) in the 1960s which saw the establishment of clothing, food, furniture and building accessory factories on the border of East London, particularly in Wilsonia and at Fort Jackson in Mdantsane. These industries provided employment opportunities to the Mdantsane residents. To keep these industries operational, the government offered generous industrial subsidies and incentives. By the end of the 1980s, about 30,000 and 7,500 jobs respectively were available in Wilsonia and Fort Jackson.

However, low wages, the rise of trade unions and lack of funding in the early 1990s led to the collapse of these factories. To further create the illusion of Mdantsane as an ideal township for Africans, apartheid government then added social services and facilities such as Rubusana Training College, and the Cecilia Makiwane Hospital, and subsidised road and rail transport.[4]

On 13 July 1983, the Ciskei Transport Corporation (CTC) introduced an 11% (50 cent) bus fare increase on the route between East London and Mdantsane. To discuss the issue of the bus fare increment, a meeting with 1000 people was held in a church hall in Duncan Village on 10 July 1983. A committee of ten workers known as the "Committee of Ten" was elected to represent the community's interests to the CTC. The Committee of Ten tried to meet CTC management on Monday 11 July. The CTC refused on the grounds that they had already talked to community leaders two months before the increases were announced. A second mass meeting was held on 12 July in Duncan Village. About 3000 people attended. The CTC responses were rejected and a decision was taken to boycott the CTC buses. On 18 July, the bus boycott began. The commuters initially walked to work in large groups, from Mdantsane across the Ciskei border to East London, a distance of about twenty kilometres. On its second day, the boycott attracted over 80% of the bus commuters.[5]

The number of police soon increased as reinforcements were brought in, and they became more brutal. To avoid harassment from the police, the commuters began to use the trains. The railway, which formed Ciskei's border with the rest of South Africa, was run by the South African Transport Services and located on the outskirts of Mdantsane. The train fares were marginally lower than the bus fares and provided a space for commuters to discuss issues affecting the community. The train fares increased on 1 August 1983 but the commuters continued to use trains.[5]

Security forces from the Ciskei government set up roadblocks in Mdantsane, and there were reports of commuters being hauled out of taxis and ordered onto buses. On 22 July 1983, five people were shot and wounded by Ciskei security forces at the Fort Jackson railway station. On 30 July, a man was attacked and killed by vigilantes while walking near the Mdantsane stadium. On 3 August, a state of emergency was declared in Mdantsane and a night curfew was imposed. Meetings of more than four people were banned and people were prohibited from walking in groups larger than four.[6]

The Ciskei government police and soldiers formed an armed human blockade at the Fort Jackson, Mount Ruth and Ergeton train stations to prevent commuters from catching the train on 4 August 1983. The commuters moved a few paces forward. The police drew their guns and the people stopped. Without warning the police fired into the crowd. 11 people lost their lives and 36 were injured. The soldiers prevented people from going into the hospital's casualty ward to find the dead. The Ciskei government intensified its security measures, arresting 700 people in a week. By the end of August 1983, over 1000 people were in jail. The incident is known as the Egerton Bus Boycott Massacre. To commemorate the day, former South African deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe unveiled the upgraded Egerton Bus Boycott Massacre Memorial in Site in memory of the victims of the massacre on 24 September 2013.[5]

The events are referred to in the song "Mdantsane - (Mud Coloured Dusty Blood)" on Juluka's sixth album Work For All.