Small Town Urbanization in South Africa: A Case Study

Abstract

A large number of black workers from white-owned farms in the Albany and Bathurst districts have migrated to a small city, Grahamstown, in the Eastern Cape. In an attempt to illustrate the process by which people from rural areas settle in and adjust to urban life, this paper focuses on the manner in which migration presently occurs. From the 1940s farms in the Albany and Bathurst districts were rapidly losing labor, largely on account of mechanization and land rationalization. At that time many farm dwellers were migrating to Grahamstown and to some extent Port Elizabeth. The past few decades witnessed a massive further migration from these farms and this, together with natural increase, contributed to the 53.9 percent increase in Grahamstown's black population in the 1970-80 decade. Most of those who emigrated to the town have tried to establish themselves in the urban area even though their new places of residence have apparently impossible demands and challenges. In South Africa many researchers (e.g. Wilson, F. 1972) have rightly highlighted the economic and administrative constraints which prevent many migrant workers from accepting town as their permanent home. This paper seeks some understanding of the basic motivation of people who emigrate to town and decide (usually quite unequivocally) to live there permanently. Since fewer studies have been made of small towns than of the large cities, the case reveals some of the lesser known aspects of urbanization in Southern Africa: the interdependence between town and country, the immigrants' overwhelming commitment to urban living, the relevance of chain migration, the role of the extended family in facilitating urban adaptation and the utilization of rural resources by those who are settling in town.