Apartheid, Urban Segregation, and the Local State: Durban and the Group Areas Act in South Africa

Updated: 28 Mar 2023

Group Areas Act of 1950 — Group Areas Act

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Summary

There has been some speculation about the origins of the Group Areas Act (GAA), one of the key instruments used to enforce the ideology of apartheid. This paper examines the origins, development, and implementation of the Group Areas Act in Durban. The key argument of this paper is that the anti-Indian agitation or the Durban City Council and its White electorate played an imponent role in the development of the legislation.

How we know this

01Brij Maharaj, Department of Geography, University of Durban-Westville

Last updated · 28 Mar 2023

Cite this entry

South African History Online. (2023, March 27). Apartheid, Urban Segregation, and the Local State: Durban and the Group Areas Act in South Africa. South African History Online. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0151970

South African History Online (2023) 'Apartheid, Urban Segregation, and the Local State: Durban and the Group Areas Act in South Africa', South African History Online, 27 March. Available at: https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0151970 (Accessed: 19 August 2026).

South African History Online, Apartheid, Urban Segregation, and the Local State: Durban and the Group Areas Act in South Africa [website], https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0151970, (accessed 19 August 2026).

"Apartheid, Urban Segregation, and the Local State: Durban and the Group Areas Act in South Africa." South African History Online, 27 Mar. 2023, https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0151970. Accessed 19 Aug. 2026.

South African History Online. "Apartheid, Urban Segregation, and the Local State: Durban and the Group Areas Act in South Africa." South African History Online. March 27, 2023. https://sahistory.org.za/ref/R-0151970.