The complexities of sustained urban struggle: The case of Oukasie

Abstract

On the 7 December 1985, the local community council, elected in a low poll in 1981, summonsed Oukasie residents to a fateful meeting. The residents were informed that they would have to move 24 kilometres north to Lethlabile on the border of Bophuthatswana. The 55 year-old township of approximately 12 000 people situated 90 kilometres north-west of Johannesburg and two kilometres from the Brits town centre was to be demolished. This paper will briefly reconstruct the history of the anti-removal struggle in Oukasie and in the process illustrate the potential difficulties of township struggle. Three key arguments are made. Firstly, it is argued that in order to understand the different responses of Oukasie residents to the planned removal, cognizance must be taken of the fact that like all townships, Oukasie at the time of the announcement, was composed of different social classes and groupings with different material interests and perceptions. Only by taking cognizance of this can the issue of why some residents decided to move and others decided to stay be explained. Secondly, it is argued that the occupation of key leadership positions by unemployed residents fueled the development of vanguardist organisation. Finally, it is argued that this vanguardism, in the context of high and lengthy unemployment, contributed to the rise of factionalism and coercive politics.