Where Does The Name Mdantsane Come From ?

What does the name Mdantsane mean ? Where does it come from? 

Nobody knows. It does not mean anything. Really, we don't know. It's just a name.

We have heard that more than once. 

But it was rather hard to believe for us! In Africa every name has a meaning! Every name comes from somewhere. In Africa behind every name there is a story. In Africa every name has significance and stands for an event, a place, a great happening or a story. Like the guy, named ambulance, whom we met and who in works in an upholstery in town. His mother gave birth in an ambulance. That is logic, that is real! That's a great story!

So we asked again and again most of the time receiving the same answers - until we came, across a  document about the history of East London and Mdantsane, that satisfied our curiosity!

MDANTSANE = UMDANZANI

Mdantsane is said to have received its name from the farm Umdanzani on whose ground it was established

By the 1940s, living quarters for black East London workers were hard to find and the existing locations and the already big township Duncan Village were overcrowded. Duncan Village is a township, that existed long before Mdantsane.
More Residential areas for black labor were needed and lengthy discussions took place on the level of the town council concerning the most suitable location for another "Bantu Residential Area". More information can be found in our article The Origin of Mdantsane.

In 1954 the City Engineer was requested to find space for expansion, especially on suitable land adjoining Duncan Village.

But the survey was refused by the national government and the area was declared to be for white people only. 

Areas near Newlands, Macleantown, Kwelegha and a farm with the name “Umdanzani”, were examined. 

The latter was found to be suitable as it lay alongside the national road and railway line, and in 1958 the new site was declared.

The municipality undertook the planning which was based on the "neighbourhood concept" of a garden city, first suggested by E. Howard in 1898. This envisaged a central CBD (Central Business District) with neighbourhoods clustering around it. 

In each neighbourhood there would be low order central areas, which would house shops, churches and educational facilities. 

The nature of the topography, ridges and valleys, dictated much of the layout, which tried to avoid the formal grid pattern and worked around curves, loops and triangles. 

By the end of 1963 the first 300 residents occupied the new houses.
In 1966 it was proclaimed a "Ciskei homeland" town and excised from East London. The advantage at least was that this did allow for freehold title. It was originally only intended to make provision for 120 000, but it grew very rapidly and today it is divided into eighteen zones which are still expanding, with the newest unit known as Unit P.

The original Name Umdanzani transformed over time to Mdantsane.

Qumza Highway - The Power of Light

Qumza Highway is the main road that leads through Mdantsane from East London city centre to an industrial area at the end, Fort Jackson.

If you take the right turn - off you will find it !

Turn again and you are on it.

Entering the suburb of Mdantsane.

In 2011, just before Buffalo City became a Metro more than 200 new, modern streetlights were installed along Qumza Highway in Mdantsane." The face of Mdantsane" was about to change.

The initiative was part of the Mdantsane Urban Renewal Project (MURP) and a budget of over 6,9 million Rand was available for the project at the time. There was however great concern how to safeguard and protect the new street lanterns with the light-fittings consisting of two 150 watt metal halide or white light lamps, allowing for minimal "upward light pollution". According to a government spokes person, the main challenge that the suburb of Mdantsane faced was vandalism with numerous attempts to steal cables that supply the poles and the lights. But the project did create jobs and two years later.......

And here they are. So Urban Renewal does take place in Mdantsane!

Or what do you think?

Gimme A Smile

Well, what can I say, sometimes my requests are a little bit misunderstood !

Rest And Play

There is a time to rest and a time to play, so I was told. The inhabitants of house 4837 can do both.
This is a typical Mdantsane scene. People love their houses and whenever a possibility presents itself and the necessary means with it, houses, shacks and even containers are improved and beautified. The walls of this house have been painted in a beautiful pink. The love of color in Mdantsane is refreshing and gives the whole township an artistic touch.

Mdantsane - A Way of Life

Car Wash on the weekend overlooking beautiful NU 5

The material for the book " The Mdantsane Way " has been collected for over five years by now, and my archive of photos and stories is still growing. The Mdantsane Way has evolved and become a project. The first version of this book will be released in January as an e-book. We have decided to publish it as an e-book as well because e-books are taking the whole world by storm. The book will be cheaper to aquire and this puts more people in a position to have access to it. There will be a hardcover version as well. 

We have named the book " The Mdantsane Way " because most of all Mdantsane stands for a certain way of life. It is the second biggest township in South Africa but foremost it represents a life-style. A lifestyle that embodies community spirit, African vibrancy and energy, uniqueness, creativity and a whole lot of humor. If you live in Mdantsane you do it the Mdantsane Way. 

It was our objective to capture and to show you as many scenes of daily life and street life of this township as possible. I can say today this has not been done before ever. Not for Mdantsane. There is very little photographic material about Mdantsane available. Nobody has taken as many pictures and collected as many stories as we did. What started in my head as an art project became a journey with consequences. I infected my friends with this idea and we could not let go of it since then. And we feel a little proud of it.

This blog was created for you, the people in Mdantsane who have helped us pushing it through. 

The stories, the faces, the photos we were allowed to take, the fun and the new things we have seen and learned are worth a trillion.

I hope you see your face here on this blog sooner or later. And it is for all the others as well that have taken an interest in it. I can say there are many who know Mdantsane by now a little bit through our stories and pictures. 

If you want to use and upload the pictures that you see here and on our facebook and twitter pages-you can. Spread them, show them around, add them to your photos. That is why they were taken. Just mention our name so that we get seen and heard more.

This will enable us may be to get more support for the online magazine and the movie we have started working on.

Coming Home

The best thing is to come home before the day ends.

Close to the taxi rank, one evening before the sun went down.

If you have been to Mdantsane you can feel the atmosphere in these pictures. Mellow ! All good !

Ethel - Life As A Female Car Guard

It was last year around Christmas, that I saw Ethel for the first time. She is the only female car guard I know.

May be, in the bigger South African cities there are more women who earn a living like this, but not in East London.

Two days ago I saw her again, sitting on the small wall at the Esplanade in Quigney. I stopped to have a chat with her.

Ethel works in the area around the Wimpy. Although the sky was of the brightest beautiful South African blue and the ocean was calm and looked like in the Mediterranean, this day the Esplanade had a lonely and deserted feel. Municipal workers were setting up the yearly Christmas decorations on the street lights.

She is close to seventy years old, but does not know her real age. Everyday she travels from Mdantsane, NU2, where she lives, to the Esplanade. 

Last year she got hit by a car on the road and severly injured. She spent several weeks in hospital. She has what she calls, a big plate in her right chest, which is very painful often. Since then she walks with her upper body bent to one side.

" The doctors told me that I will have to go to the hospital again to have the plate removed because something is not right, " Ethel says.

My question as to why she still wanted to work as a car guard after having such a serious accident and considering the fact that guarding cars is obviously a male dominated and sometimes also violent field of work, where competiton is not taken lightly, she said :
" It is still easier than at home ". 

" Some of the men are not happy to have me here, but I just stay out of their way .May be they don't chase me because I am short and old. Others think I am crazy ".
Ethel is not more than 1,40 m tall.

A Young Circumcision Surgeon's Quest To Preserve Tradition

The old age circumcision ritual is one of the most practiced and popular in the Eastern Cape. It is the ritual of admitting young boys into manhood upon reaching the age of 18 years when they are sent to the bush for several weeks into so-called circumcision schools and are taught how to become a man. However the practice has been attracting the wrong attention, and receiving negative coverage in recent years, as many young boys lose their lives, have their penises amputated or land up in hospital due to diseases. 

Different factors like inexperienced practitioners (traditional nurses and surgeons), underage initiates, unhygienic conditions, diseases and greed are some of the ills that are threatening this tradition. This has led to government and other stakeholders formulating measures to curb this carnage, and producing laws to regulate how the ritual is perfomed. The Traditional Circumcision Act, is a measure that provides for qualified people to perfom the ritual and also provides for the observation of health standards.

In the past being a cicurmcision surgeon was a role played by old and experienced men but now times have changed, as new methods of circumcision have been introduced. 

Andile Siko is one of the youngest traditional surgeons in the Eastern Cape who has taken upon himself to help preserve, promote and restore the circumcision ritual back to what it was. True to the stereotype, when you meet Siko you can be forgiven for not associating this charming, soft spoken and respectable young man as a traditional surgeon who is gaining popularity around the Eastern Cape.

Siko adimts that his choice of work was not his first preference, but that his job is a calling. He now cannot imagine doing something else.

SIKO in his traditional attire

"I started this kind of work when I was 19 years old and never looked back. I now have this responsibility of making boys to man, and I see more than 300 boys a year taking this important journey to manhood. I do not have a formal training but was told by ancestors in a dream to do what I do. I did not understand the meaning of my dream, and when I told my father he advised me to do this as it was my calling," he said.

He is concerned by the negativity the ritual has evoked in the community as many are calling for circumcision to be done away with, and advises parents and traditional nurses to be more involved.

"People should take precaution, be observant and extra cautious when working with young initiates. Nowadays most initiates are young, as young as 14 years old, unlike during our days. We went to the bush when we were between 18 and 20 year old, and never encountered such problems".

He pointed out greed as one of the problems and that parents should consult people who know the ritual well.

"Here in Mdantsane to circumcise a boy costs about R300 and a bottle of brandy. The money and the bottle of brandy are not a necessary payment, but a token of appreciation and helps to appease the ancestors. 

A Story by Siyanda Nkoyeni

Babalwa

Babalwa

and her little brother Moses

Vukuhambe - Wake Up And Walk Away

Do you wonder what this sculpture means?

When you drive down the valley in NU 9 you see a big sky blue painted building.

It is the Vukuhambe school for learners with a challenge.

104 children with many different learning challenges be it physical or mental stay in this institution.

Vukuhambe could be translated like : Wake up now and walk away !

On Nelson Mandela Day, on Madiba's birthday we met a group of young men from another school who had come to do 60 minutes of community service in honor of Madiba.

All over the country people of all ages, social background, capacities and capabilities came to institutions to help, clean, cook and offer their services to the ones who need them in the spirit of Ubuntu. This group was one of them.

I like these pictures very much that is why you get to see four of them.

The Deputy Principal Mr. R.Z Gobingca, dressed proudly traditional, was wearing a bright orange Madiba Shirt with black bead embroidery on that day.

Vukuhambe is the biggest institution of its kind in Mdantsane. It does get government support. But still, the principal says, to take care of 104 learners in a proper way is a big challenge financially. Some of the children are accident victims, being left paralyzed and others are disabled since birth.

The physiotherapy room. Wheelchairs and walking aids are stored in one corner. 

And there is a computer laboratory as well.

VUKUHAMBE

Wake up and walk away into the light !

Together We Can Build Better Communities

It was a beautiful sunny day with a clear blue sky and the trees were blossoming all over Mdantsane.

And these two handsome dudes were in a compatible mood

What more can a street photographer ask for ?

I am happy !

Keep On Smiling Forever

These mobile clinics funded by the Department of Health are rolling all over South-Africa. They are a fundamental and very important part of the National Health Care System to which still only a certain percentage of South Africa's population has access. But the Government is doing it's best to change that.

Mobile clinics are attached to hospitals and health care centers and reach those with their basic services who have no means of transport or who are living in rural areas. These two ambulances belong to the Nontyatyambo Health Care Center in NU 1.