The Group Areas Act has created an artificial shortage of homes for Indian families in the Johannesburg area. Pageview, once a thriving area near the centre of Johannesburg for 1,100 Indian families, is rapidly being bulldozed so that it can be 'redeveloped' as a 'white' area.
The proclamation which declared Pageview a 'white' area took effect from 1962. Today only 450 families are left, waiting to be moved to Lenasia, the Indian 'suburb' created by the government many miles outside Johannesburg beyond Soweto.
According to the city councillor for Pageview, Winston Herzenberg, "even the lovely homes are being pulled down and this utter destruction in the name of so-called Western civilization is simply unbridled racialism".
Lenasia is heavily overcrowded, forcing many homeless families to live either in backyards and garages of their parents' homes, or to find 'illegal' accommodation in 'white' areas.
The government claims that the people are being moved because the area has insufficient facilities for the residents and they would be moved to better housing (in Lenasia). Last year the Department of Community Development disclosed that it would cost R25 million to move Indian families out of Pageview and resettle them in Lenasia.
Commenting on the large amount of money being spent, Mr Herzenberg said, "the cost of apartheid is astronomical" and added that the amount would have been more than sufficient to renovate the area and create more facilities "instead of wasting so many extra millions to move people because of the colour of their skin".
