THE CULTURE IN KHALTSHA
It’s billed as one of the most happening party streets in the world. So what makes Khayelitsha’s Spine Road such a drawcard?
Spine Road is not on the world street party map, but it’s the best place for those seeking a good time in Khaltsha, the locals’ affectionate name for South Africa’s second-largest township, Khayelitsha.
The road is a major Cape Town thoroughfare that stretches from the sands of Strandfontein in Mitchells Plain on the Atlantic seaboard of False Bay. Along the way, it winds through the vast suburb of Rocklands and crosses Mew Way, which is the point at which it really starts to buzz.
At weekends, Spine Road in Khayelitsha heaves with thousands flocking there for a night or day out. Even The New York
Times featured this party street on its pages. In a township notorious for crime, the Times, quoting community leaders, reported that “in some ways, the booming nightlife has created pockets of safety”.
This was borne out when the FM recently took a weekend trip to soak up the Spine Road atmosphere. The bustle of thousands of people makes streets in the rest of Cape Town seem placid, while the music, not unexpectedly, is amapiano, with its deep bass of house, jazz and lounge.
Parking is just where you can find a spot but, once parked, there is no shortage of booze for sale out of numerous car boots (often from the latest upmarket vehicles). Out on the street, the fragrance is of meat on the braai chisa nyama of all varieties.
It all sounds rather marvellous.
However, Khayelitsha Development Forum chair Ndithini Tyhido concedes there are challenges not least of which are the tensions between
those who live on the street and those who come to party. At issue are matters such as littering, petty crime and flouting of bylaws. But Tyhido says that in the main, they are easily resolved and the beat goes on.
It’s also the place to dress up in your classiest kasi-style attire, put into practice your best dance moves and enjoy the vibe from some of the country’s coolest DJs. Celebrity-spotting is also something of a sport along the street, with big names in the South African art and music scene frequently making an appearance.
Spine Road regular Vusumzi Baleni tells the FM: “Township nightlife used to be boring and we had to go to town [Cape Town, 30km away] to have happiness, but that is a thing of the past. Everything is here on our doorsteps.”
Ten years ago, the young people of Khaltsha who could afford it went into the city for its clubs, concerts and eateries, since nightlife closer to home was scant and often reduced to ill-lit taverns and shebeens. The Social Justice Coalition says there are 1,400 taverns in Khayelitsha, legal and illegal.
Many of those have picked up their game and the three most popular hangouts — Rands Cape Town, Kwa Ace and The Milk Restaurant & Bar — have become popular alternatives to the Cape Town CBD. Rands is in the Khaya Bazaar business complex, one of the
There are places, good places, in Khayelitsha that provide a classy environment where the youth can socialise and network oldest shopping centres in Khayelitsha.
Tyhido says the time when the CBD had a monopoly on nightlife is long gone.
“People don’t have to drive all the way to town
There are places, good places, in Khayelitsha that provide a classy environment where the youth can socialise and network,” he says.
It is somewhat surprising that this scene is flourishing, given that crime is rampant.
The official murder rate in the suburb is 80 people a quarter.
But crime hasn’t stopped the influx, with patrons just being smarter about not venturing into secluded or poorly lit spots. About 20,000 people come at weekends from near and far to the place that was named New Home (Khayelitsha’s English equivalent) by the apartheid authorities who created the township in the early 1980s.
The Milk Restaurant founder Siphelo Jalivane says: “We’re creating a new narrative,” adding that crime is a reality, but that it is manageable.
His businesses are working with “local structures” to ensure it’s a safe environment, says Jalivane. Whether he is referring to gang protection is unclear.
It’s somewhat mystifying to outsiders that despite the evident risk of crime, patrons feel at ease on Spine Road. But it could have something to do with Cape Town’s racial dynamics, with many black people feeling ill at ease in predominantly white areas in the city such as the V&A Waterfront.
As Sbongile Matyi, who lives in the middle-class suburb of Kuils River but is a Spine Road regular, told The New York Times: “The reason I come back here: people, they value me, they respect me.”