Page 107 - KBHA BULLETIN 4

104

The Group Areas Act in Kalk Bay

The fear felt by residents in Kalk Bay concerning a potential declaration of the village as a

white group area is already expressed in a newspaper article in 1951. Although the so-called
coloured community constituted more than half the population in Kalk Bay, it was observed

that the village was “ostensibly a European residential area with smart hotels.” (Cape Times
November 22, 1951.) The fears were proven right in 1964 when an announcement in the

press stated that the Group Area Development Board (GADB) was to start investigations into

the racial zoning of the area. A number of individuals and organisations, including the Cape
Town City Council, submitted memoranda to the board expressing objections to the plans.

Despite the protests, Kalk Bay was declared a white group area in 1967 (Government
Gazette, No. 25). So-called disqualified people, i.e. those belonging to the wrong race group,

who owned or rented property within the area stretching from Clovelly to Lakeside would be
given one year to leave for designated Group Areas. The Black Sash, protesting against the

proclamation, held a silent stand at the Outspan in Kalk Bay in which some two hundred
people took part. (The Cape Argus July 15, 1967.) (Fig. 5.3.)

The protests did have an effect, and those who lived in the fishermen’s flats were given
a period of respite of fifteen years, after which the government would reconsider the

future development of the area. In 1982, in an unusual course of action, the government
decided to rescind the previous proclamation of Kalk Bay as a white group area. A new

coloured group area was suggested in its place, but the plan was abandoned after a year
and a half of negotiations with residents in Kalk Bay.

How the Group Areas Act affected people in Kalk Bay

In order to establish how many people in Kalk Bay were affected by the proclamation, I

carried out research in the State Archives and the Deeds office. Eventually I found a folder,
titled ‘Lys van geaffekteerde eiendomme, Skiereland 50A’, in which some twenty-five land-

owners in Kalk Bay were listed as ‘disqualified’ owners of their properties. All those listed in
the folder received letters and visits by officials from the Community Development Board

(CDB), and were informed that they must sell their property within a year.

104