ABSTRACT
This chapter examines four factors that shaped the government's policy on urban segregation. The first three were the growth of a "native" free state at Korsten, the role of the African middle class leaders, and the 1903 Cape parliamentary elections in which blacks who held the franchise provided the "swing" vote for white politicians. The fourth was the reaction of African women to a special government proclamation that would force them out of Korsten and into New Brighton, a proclamation that resulted in the arrest of one woman and, subsequently, a test court case. The Act stipulated that the Cape Governor could proclaim "native" locations in/near urban areas, while Africans were not compelled by law to move into the location, they could no longer legally live within the Municipal boundaries. Between 1901-1903, before the implementation of the Native Locations Act, there were occasions when Korsten Africans in general, and property owners in particular, might have moved readily into New Brighton.
