THESEGREGATIONERA
government could then order all Africans in that town, except domestic
servants, to reside in the location. The location was to be administered by a
superintendent, assisted by an African advisory council, and employers
were to be responsible for providing housing for their employees. When the
act had been applied to a town, the urban authority was empowered to
expel Africans if they did not carry registered service contracts or permits
to seek work. An amendment of 1930
specifically empowered an urban
authority to remove "surplus females." This law was applied seriatim to
most of the towns in the country, but the process was slow. By 1932,
it had
been applied to fifty-one towns in the country, including Cape Town and
Pretoria, but was not yet fully in force in Johannesburg, Durban, or Port
Elizabeth. S2
Over the years, South African towns acquired a characteristic dual form.
The largest and most conspicuous part was a spacious modern town,
consisting of a business sector where people of all races worked during the
day and suburbs of detached houses, ranging from opulent to mediocre,
owned by white families and served by black domestics. Separated from
the modern town was a black location, where mud, clapboard, or corru-