Wentworth is an area of Durban, South Africa, located in the province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated entirely within the South Durban Basin, Wentworth forms a significant part of this industrialized region.
Location of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa
Historical Background
Initiated in 1938 by British colonialists, the area's original purpose was to serve as an army base. However, the landscape of Wentworth was profoundly altered by the implementation of the 1950 Group Areas Act during the apartheid era.
Due to the 1950 Group Areas Act Apartheid-era policy, the region was split into districts depending on ethnic background. In the 1960s, Coloured people were relocated to the swampy, unused land of Wentworth (also known as Austerville). Wentworth is still primarily inhabited by people who identify as Coloured. The red-brick buildings in this area, once occupied by white military families, were then converted into homes for Coloured people.
Apartheid Sign on Durban Beach
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An area known as "Happy Valley" separates Treasure Beach from Tara Road and Wentworth. This bushland was the site of many informal settlements and tin shanties, but they were soon demolished when the area's two largest oil refineries, Engen and SAPREF, moved in 1952 and 1963, respectively.
Demographics
According to the 2011 census, Wentworth has a population of 24,365 people, with a high population density of 7,430 people per square kilometer. The racial makeup of the community is predominantly Coloured (81.7%), followed by Black African (16.7%), Indian/Asian (1.1%), White (0.3%), and Other (0.2%). English is the most spoken language (86.4%), followed by Zulu (7.2%), Afrikaans (2%), and Xhosa (1.2%).
Culture and Lifestyle
The mix of cultures leads to a mix of cuisine. Common street foods include samosas, veda and "bunnies," with roots in the Indian community, and biryani is also popular. Another fixture in Wentworth culture is the use of "combis," or share taxis.
There are many local soccer, rugby, and cricket leagues for people of all ages. Because of Wentworth's proximity to the coast, the area is also ideal for fishing, spending time at the beach, and recreational swimming.
Sport & Recreation Management
Law and Order
Wentworth is part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality. The South African Police Service has a significant presence in the area, with their offices and local cells located in Austerville Drive. It also operates a Victim Friendly Centre for victims of abuse, and the Majesterial district has one of the major courts in Durban South. Historically, most of the crime in the area stemmed from either gang violence, drugs, or acts by locals to defend the area from unscrupulous outsiders.
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Community Initiatives
Along with the Addiction Recovery Centre and Victim Friendly Centre, other notable forces of change include the national organization Brothers For Life and the Violence Free Zones. The Violence Free Zones were launched in 2008 with the combined efforts of the Brothers For Life and the Prevention in Action (PIA) movement, with the goal of providing community-based action and support against gender-based violence. Wentworth is becoming a safe zone and is low on the list of high-crime areas in KwaZulu-Natal.
Economy and Industry
Currently, there are approximately 350 businesses in the Wentworth area, the major ones being the SAPREF and Engen oil refineries, and the Mondi and Sappi paper mills.
Environmental Justice
Environmental justice and apartheid are closely related. Under the Group Areas Act, Blacks, Coloured and Indians were placed in environmentally and aesthetically less pleasing areas, closer to centres of heavy industry, which ultimately led to those communities being exposed to more environmental hazards resulting in "a historically tense relationship between residents, big businesses, and environmentalists" that still continues. Organizations like the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance (SDCEA) fight to change policies surrounding both environmental and social issues.
Education
Wentworth is home to several schools, including:
- Assegai Primary School: Founded in 1961 with the motto “Prosperity, Peace, Progress", the school offers education from grade R to grade 7. The school's facilities include a computer room, library and grounds with basketball and netball courts as well as a soccer field. Assegai's students come from many different areas including both the surrounding Wentworth community and the nearby township of Umlazi. They are taught three languages (English, Zulu, and Afrikaans) in addition to the basic subjects such as Mathematics, Arts and Culture, Geography, etc.
- Austerville Primary: Austerville Primary was founded in 1960. It was the first school for so-called mixed races. The motto is "Progress through knowledge". From 1960 to 1978 the school was housed in the K2 building. In February 1978 the school moved into the building on Silvertree Road.
Other schools in the area include Collingwood Primary School and Bluff Christian Academy.
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Students in a South African classroom
Community Identity and Memory
Despite what many would construe as massive political and legislative transformation, many South Africans still inhabit what can be best described as a fragmented and discontinuous geographical and ideological landscape. A case in point is the 'township' of Wentworth as a spatial and temporally situated example of a community dispossessed. Wentworth is home to a historically disenfranchised Coloured community that holds to an identity that is rich, in as much as it is complex and fraught.
One study excavated memory of 'place' and 'people' as shared through the narratives of residents of Wentworth, a so called 'Coloured' suburb in Durban. It works through a social constructionist and interpretivist approach and proceeds through the narratives of a sample group of thirty one participants. It excavates, through narrative inquiry, a sense of self as articulated by the participants, through their experiences of living in Wentworth.
Notable Insights
Few people can tell social histories like Ashwin Desai. More especially with a specialist eye in mining the depths of ethnography.
Wentworth - The Beautiful Game and the Making of Place has just rolled off the University of KwaZulu-Natal Press. It is seventy years since the Group Areas Act wormed its way into apartheid’s statute books.
The ugliness of race was not just a black and white thing.
Contrast that with the affection in the Wentworth community for the medic, Professor Bugsy Singh who played, managed, coached and trained the iconic Cherrians club originally from Clairwood. George Moses recalls: “This guy Bugsy Singh, I have never seen a person like this.
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