This Day in History: February 21, 1985
Additional Date: February 21, 1985
On 21 February 1985, the South African government finally approved the introduction of 99-year leasehold rights for blacks in the townships of Nyanga, Langa and Gugulethu. The government also promised to improve facilities in those areas. The statement was made by the Minister of Cooperation and Development, Dr. Gerrit Viljoen.
Viljoen stressed that this would only apply to those who were legally allowed to live in the Cape Peninsula. The Minister also announced that he would visit representatives of different squatter groups in Crossroads. The 99-year leasehold rights were first extended to Soweto's townships in 1979, an experiment that the government may have considered successful. This represented an extension of the measures to all other black townships.