RACIAL TENSION

IN ATTEMPTING to arrive at a deeper understanding of the incidents that besieged Phoenix during the July unrest it is crucial to interrogate the historic context of social, spatial, economic and racial tension between the African and Indian communities.

A long period of colonial rule and the recent decades of apartheid helped determine how all of our four racial groups conceive of their identities as well as the identities of others.

This history has shaped the way many South Africans see themselves and the way they see people of other racial groups.

Deliberate attempts by successive colonial and apartheid governments to separate African and Indian communities, combined with the 1949 Cato Manor Riots and the 1985 Inanda Riots provide key starting points to unravelling the nature of the relationship between Indian and African communities, especially in Phoenix.

Prior to formal apartheid, Indian and African communities lived together as neighbours in many of the areas including Inanda.

However, after the adoption of apartheid as a formal policy by the Nationalist government in 1948, apartheid spatial settlements were designed to protect the white minority, marginalise the African majority and set up others as buffer strips. Our oppression as a broader black community was hierarchical, designed to advance the “divide and rule” strategy.

The infamous 1949 riots, during which over 140 people died, represented one of the more shameful points in South African history.

Many reports have revealed that these riots were instigated by the apartheid state to drive a wedge between Indian and African communities.

The riots, which took the form of some Africans attacking Indians, has left an indelible scar on the psyche of Indian people, and fear of similar incidents occurring always lurks in their sub-consciousness.

Similarly, the 1985 Inanda riots which occurred near what we now know as Phoenix, led to the forced removal of Indian people who were living in areas near Phoenix.

The 1985 riots had no closure. Unlike 1949, there was no commission of inquiry or any investigation into what happened. Indians were attacked and forced to relocate from Inanda.

Ostensibly that was the motive. But it left a deep-seated scar in the minds and hearts of the Indian community who were the victims of this forced removal.

The 1985 riots resulted in Indian people who previously lived in Inanda, moving to nearby Phoenix. July 2021 rekindled horrific memories and generated fear and panic.