Langa was originally designed in a way to allow the authorities maximum visibility and control of residents. Hence Langa is often called "Kwa-Langa" meaning "place of Langa". Langa, which adjoins Pinelands, commemorates this folk hero as it was developed in 1898 on the land known as "Langalibalele's Location". Various prominent people fought for his release and he was subsequently confined to a farm called "Uitvlugt", which is on the site of present-day Pinelands. Langa is bordered by the M17 (Jan Smuts Drive) to the west, the N2 to the south, and the M7 to the east, and is served by Langa Railway Station.Īlthough Langa literally means "sun" in Xhosa, the name of the township is derived from the name of Langalibalele – a chief and renowned rainmaker who in 1873 was imprisoned on Robben Island for rebelling against the Natal government. On 21 March 2010, now 50 years later, a monument was unveiled by the government in remembrance of the people who died while on the protest march. Langa is also where several people were killed on 21 March 1960, the same day as the Sharpeville massacre, during the anti-pass campaign. It is the oldest of such suburbs in Cape Town and was the location of much resistance to apartheid. Similar to Nyanga, Langa is one of the many areas in South Africa that were designated for Black Africans before the apartheid era. It was developed as a result of South Africa's 1923 Urban Areas Act (more commonly known as the "pass laws"), which was designed to force Africans to move from their homes into segregated locations. The township was initially built in phases before being formally opened in 1927. Langa is a township in Cape Town, South Africa.
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