the Township, Swakopmund, Namibia - Travel Photos by Galen R Frysinger, Sheboygan, Wisconsin

the Township

Swakopmund Township
each dwelling on a rectangular lot

The term township and location usually refers to the (often underdeveloped) urban living areas that, from the late 19th century until the end of Apartheid, were reserved for non-whites (principally black Africans and Coloureds, but also working-class Indians). Townships were usually built on the periphery of towns and cities.

to get ownership of the lot each must build their own house

During the Apartheid Era blacks were evicted from properties that were in areas designated as "white only" and forced to move into townships. Legislation that enabled the Apartheid government to do this included the Group Areas Act. Forced removal from city centers to townships has continued in post-apartheid South Africa. The difference is that under apartheid all black people faced forced removals to townships while now it is only the poor living in shack settlements that face eviction to townships on the peripheries of cities.

The new townships being built to house people forcibly removed from shack settlements have much smaller houses than those built under apartheid and are often, but not always, even further from city centers than apartheid era townships.

Townships for non-whites were also called locations or lokasie (Afrikaans translation), and are often still referred to by that name in smaller towns. The term "Kasie", a popular short version of "Lokasie" is also used sometimes to refer to townships.