SHARPEVILLE HISTORY
Sharpeville; named after a Scottish; John Lillie Sharpe, was established in 1942 on a portion of Leeuwkuil Farm after the Vereeniging Riots of 1937 and the population expansion of the people of Top Location due to industrialization and related job opportunities.
The government provided new residents with free hold stands and rental stock houses that ranged from two roomed houses in Vuka Section and the four roomed units in Putswasteen [Grey Bricks], Rooisten [Red Bricks], Vergenoeg [Far Enough]. Sea-Point and Phelandaba [End of Talk] including other sections that were built later. Sharpeville also had its own suburb called Ditentsheng [Stands].
APARTHEID ARCHITECTURE
Sharpeville is another victim of Apartheid Architecture that made it one of the townships placed within the Highways, Cemeteries and Railway Lines. It is also the only settlement in South Africa that is situated between two towns [Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging].
CEMETERIES
Sharpeville boasts two burial sites; the Vuka Cemetery and the Phelandaba Cemetery. These two cemeteries are iconic because they both have the victims of Massacres within them. The Vuka Cemetery is a burial ground for most of the Boipatong Massacre victims and the Phelandaba Cemetery is a burial ground for most of the Sharpeville Massacre victims.
These two cemeteries have been de-commissioned after reaching their burial capacity.
CHURCH SQUARE
Sharpeville boasts a unique Church Square which has a collection of ten churches. Nine built and one stand undeveloped. This is one of the few church squares of their kind in the world but similar to the one in Heilbron.
PUBLIC AMENITIES
Within its immediate and future plans, Sharpeville had a Library, Clinic, Shopping Centre, Post Office, Police Station and a Swimming Pool. The settlement also had a filling station next to a men’s hostel that was nicely built alongside the brewing house that helped to fund the development of other traditionally black townships and the Apartheid’s homelands.
All these made Sharpeville an intended Model Township that was better policed than Top Location.
PASS LAWS
Indeed life was better in Sharpeville than at Top Location in the 1950’s and 1960’s except the brutal pass laws that made life a living hell for the black people in South Africa. People had to endure the wrath of the law that humiliated them and caged them within certain areas against their will.
This was met with fierce resistance on the morning on Monday the 21st March 1960.
The government provided new residents with free hold stands and rental stock houses that ranged from two roomed houses in Vuka Section and the four roomed units in Putswasteen [Grey Bricks], Rooisten [Red Bricks], Vergenoeg [Far Enough]. Sea-Point and Phelandaba [End of Talk] including other sections that were built later. Sharpeville also had its own suburb called Ditentsheng [Stands].
APARTHEID ARCHITECTURE
Sharpeville is another victim of Apartheid Architecture that made it one of the townships placed within the Highways, Cemeteries and Railway Lines. It is also the only settlement in South Africa that is situated between two towns [Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging].
CEMETERIES
Sharpeville boasts two burial sites; the Vuka Cemetery and the Phelandaba Cemetery. These two cemeteries are iconic because they both have the victims of Massacres within them. The Vuka Cemetery is a burial ground for most of the Boipatong Massacre victims and the Phelandaba Cemetery is a burial ground for most of the Sharpeville Massacre victims.
These two cemeteries have been de-commissioned after reaching their burial capacity.
CHURCH SQUARE
Sharpeville boasts a unique Church Square which has a collection of ten churches. Nine built and one stand undeveloped. This is one of the few church squares of their kind in the world but similar to the one in Heilbron.
PUBLIC AMENITIES
Within its immediate and future plans, Sharpeville had a Library, Clinic, Shopping Centre, Post Office, Police Station and a Swimming Pool. The settlement also had a filling station next to a men’s hostel that was nicely built alongside the brewing house that helped to fund the development of other traditionally black townships and the Apartheid’s homelands.
All these made Sharpeville an intended Model Township that was better policed than Top Location.
PASS LAWS
Indeed life was better in Sharpeville than at Top Location in the 1950’s and 1960’s except the brutal pass laws that made life a living hell for the black people in South Africa. People had to endure the wrath of the law that humiliated them and caged them within certain areas against their will.
This was met with fierce resistance on the morning on Monday the 21st March 1960.