Removals
The relocation of residents of Old Marabastad had been on the agenda of the town council since 1903 and in 1907, when the council decided to build a new sewage farm, it became a reality. It was decided to remove all residents of the area to a new location further away from the city centre and to demolish the old township. Now followed the struggle of finding a suitable site. The site on the southern slope of Daspoortrand was decided on in 1912 and in January planning for the ‘New Location’ started. It would include a number of brick houses that could be rented from the municipality. By September of the same year the first relocations were taking place and demolishing of old structures commenced. It was a slow process and Old Marabastad was only completely destroyed by 1920.
The lack of space remained a problem and New Marabastad was experiencing severe overcrowding. By 1923 the last houses of the second municipal project was completed in New Location and Marabastad residents who had been exposed to the worst conditions were allowed to move in first. In 1934 part of the Schoolplaats population was moved to Marabastad and the squatter problem became more severe. There was no room for expansion due to a lack of space.
An attempt to solve these problems manifested itself in the establishment of Atteridgeville in 1939. The Marabastad community would be moved here and compensation was offered to previous owners of property in the form of new houses they could rent, but not own. The war slowed down the process considerably, but 1949 had moved three quarters of the population of Marabastad to Atteridgeville, and by 1950 the transition was complete.
Read more about this topic: Marabastad, Pretoria