Little Cato Manor
corner of Booth Rd and Bel Air next to temple
Mkhumbane, better know as Cato Manor, came into existence when Indian market gardeners settled in the area after it was given to George Christopher Cato in 1865, the first major of Durban.
Black South Africans came to settle there during the 1920’s. To make some money people started brewing alcohol and selling it in the streets of Durban. The authorities however were not happy with the influx of Cato Manor dwellers into the city. They instituted the Native Beer Act of 1908, which gave the municipality the monopoly to sell beer for self finance.
This Act led to a dispute between the authorities and the people. As a result people started rioting due to the fact that they lost an important means of getting an income. At the end of the 1940’s the population in Cato Manor had grown to thirty thousand squatters. The implementation of the Group Areas Act, which meant that people had to move to newly created townships, brought even more rioting.
The place began to come to life again in the early 1980s when the Cato Manor Development Association (CMDA) was formed and delivered much needed infrastructure to the place. The place then was funded by the European Union and the Cato Manor Area Based Management was instituted by the eThekwini Municipality to overseeing the development of the area.
'Little Cato Manor' is a small settlement of shacks which houses about sixty families. Walking through the settlement with their representative, Zazi, one gets a good idea of the harsh circumstances under which people here have to live.
Mkhumbane, better know as Cato Manor, came into existence when Indian market gardeners settled in the area after it was given to George Christopher Cato in 1865, the first major of Durban.
Black South Africans came to settle there during the 1920’s. To make some money people started brewing alcohol and selling it in the streets of Durban. The authorities however were not happy with the influx of Cato Manor dwellers into the city. They instituted the Native Beer Act of 1908, which gave the municipality the monopoly to sell beer for self finance.
This Act led to a dispute between the authorities and the people. As a result people started rioting due to the fact that they lost an important means of getting an income. At the end of the 1940’s the population in Cato Manor had grown to thirty thousand squatters. The implementation of the Group Areas Act, which meant that people had to move to newly created townships, brought even more rioting.
The place began to come to life again in the early 1980s when the Cato Manor Development Association (CMDA) was formed and delivered much needed infrastructure to the place. The place then was funded by the European Union and the Cato Manor Area Based Management was instituted by the eThekwini Municipality to overseeing the development of the area.
'Little Cato Manor' is a small settlement of shacks which houses about sixty families. Walking through the settlement with their representative, Zazi, one gets a good idea of the harsh circumstances under which people here have to live.