An informal pilgrimage to the poorer ends of town
THE names given to informal settlements are often quite intriguing. It is not always clear why a name is used, sometimes even to the residents themselves.
In the Vaal there are nearby settlements called Beverley Hills and Palm Springs. These Hollywood names obviously reflect aspirations rather than reality.
Also found in the Vaal are Boiketlong (place of rest), Bophelong (place of life) and Sonderwater, which is indeed without water after the contractor failed to do the job and left scattered concrete pipe rings.
Boitumelo in Midvaal, where I got solar lights installed, means “joy”.
Lengweleng is in the Small Farms area. It means “kneel”, apparently because the settlement used to be a private farm and a gun-toting farmer would order intruders to kneel before him!
Then there are names inspired by the Bible. There are at least three settlements called Kanana (Canaan) in Gauteng, one of which is right next to a settlement called Jerusalem in the Boksburg area.
When I stayed overnight at Daggafontein in the Springs area, I asked residents if dagga was grown there.
The answer in every single case was “maybe”.
There are settlements called after public figures – Joe Slovo, Ramaphosa, Thabo Mbeki, Tokyo, Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela.
Ramaphosa was named after him in 1994. Residents told me he had never visited there or offered any assistance after he became a billionaire. Some names are sad or tragic. I was told that residents called their East Rand settlement Never Never because they were never, never going to be moved from there to proper housing.
Wagplek in Brakpan is so named because residents have been waiting since 1996 to be moved from dangerous mine land to a safer area.
Not too far away from Wagplek is the Lindelani settlement, which means “waiting place” in Zulu.
I heard two versions why the Jumpas settlement in Cleveland in east Joburg is so named. The more likely one is that it is near the Jumpers Mine, but some residents say the settlement started off with people living in mine holes and the gangster slang was to threaten people that they would get them there “jumpas”, meaning “at night”.
At the oddly named Skielik settlement, east of Pretoria, I was told the settlement was for med after they were “suddenly” evicted from surrounding farms.
Another odd name is the “Marry Me” settlement in Soshanguve which was formed quite recently. I am not sure that I understand it, but it is apparently a term of endearment for the area.
Nobody could tell me how the Baghdad settlement in Midrand got its name, but perhaps the Iraqi capital was in the news when the settlement was founded.
A sweeter name in another Midrand settlement is Meriteng, which means “in the shade” because of the many tall trees.
Also nice is Lethabong, which means “place of happiness”.
The spirit of resilience is evident in the more cheery names and in names like Ekukhuleni – “place of growth” – and Zenzele – “do it (for) yourself ”.
My favourite is from the L and J settlement in Olifantsfontein, which is named from the initials of two Afrikaner farmers who owned the land.
The residents told me they hope things improve so much that they can call it “Love and Joy”.