Gugulethu

Gugulethu or Guguletu is a township 15 km from Cape Town, South Africa.

Nowadays many developments take place and have taken place to develop the townships into suburbs where life can flourish. Mzoli's, S'khomas Butchery, and The Gugulethu Sports Complex are some of the better known hotspots in Gugulethu.

Geography

The main route NY1 runs through the township. The apartheid planners did not give names to any of the roads, all were simply numbered. NY1 stood for NATIVE YARDS 1. There is a strong pressure for many of the apartheid era terms to be named properly.

History

The name is a contraction of igugu lethu, which is Xhosa for our pride. Guguletu, along with Nyanga, was established in the 1960s due to the overcrowding of Langa, which was the only black residential area for Cape Town at the time. During the Apartheid era black South Africans were not permitted to live in the city of Cape Town, and many people were removed from areas such as District Six to Guguletu, Nyanga and Langa. The predominant language in Guguletu is Xhosa.

Crime

According to data collected by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR) over 700 people were murdered in Gugulethu between 2005 and 2010. "This amounts to one murder every two-and-a-half days for five consecutive years."

Notable Events

The newest development in Gugulethu is the Guguletu Square Mall which was developed by Old Mutual, Tokyo......
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