Chatsworth, Durban

Chatsworth umhlatuzana township
Chatsworth Show map of KwaZulu-Natal Chatsworth Show map of South Africa Chatsworth Show map of Africa  Chatsworth shown within KwaZulu-Natal
Location within Durban  Chatsworth
Coordinates: 29°54′36″S 30°53′06″E / 29.910°S 30.885°E / -29.910; 30.885Coordinates: 29°54′36″S 30°53′06″E / 29.910°S 30.885°E / -29.910; 30.885
Country	South Africa
Province	KwaZulu-Natal
Municipality	eThekwini
Government
Area
• Total	42.73 km2 (16.50 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	196,580
• Density	4,600/km2 (12,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	38.2%
• Coloured	1.2%
• Indian/Asian	60.0%
• White	0.1%
• Other	0.5%
First languages (2011)
• English	62.6%
• Zulu	26.2%
• Xhosa	5.7%
• Sotho	1.3%
• Other	4.2%
Postal code (street)	4092
PO box	4030
Area code	031

Chatsworth, is a large formerly Indian township designed in the 1960s to marginalise and segregate the predominantly South Africa Indian population and create a buffer between the white suburbs to the north and the black townships to the south. The township is situated in South Durban basin in South Africa and is roughly bordered by the Umhlatuzana River in the North and Umlaas River in the South. The township today is undergoing fast pace integration of blacks and Indians. Praised by many as one of the many success stories of post apartheid south Africa

In the 1940s, The Pegging Acts and the Asiatic Land Tenure and Indian Representation Act, 1946 were passed. These acts gave the government the right to remove and destroy shacks and small self-made shelters, with the putative intention of improving sanitary conditions. This led to the Group Areas Act of June 1950, in which certain residential areas were designated for Whites, Indians, Coloureds and Africans only. Indians were removed from areas such as Mayville, Cato Manor, the Clairwood, Magazine Barracks, Bluff, Riverside, Prospect Hall, Duikerfontein and Sea Cow Lake. They were forcibly moved into the two townships of Phoenix, which is situated North of Durban, and Chatsworth in the South.

During the late 1940s and early 1950s, there were advertisements in papers for an exclusively Indian town, Umhlatuzana. This progressed into the greater Chatsworth District in the early 1960s when planning commenced and official movements took place in 1964 to the eleven units : Unit 1,2,3,5,6,7,9,10 and Unit 11. Modern day Chatsworth is spread over seven municipal wards which all fall roughly in the South Central municipal area. The intentional buffer design of Chatsworth creates today an interesting melting pot of people frequenting Chatsworth's business district which comprises a bustling center, The Chatsworth Center.

The crime rate has seen a drastic increase, however, due to lack of resources to the youth and South Africa's worrisome unemployment level. The township has a noticeable issue with drug use amongst youngsters. Several efforts are organized by the community to combat the drug use but further interventions are needed from provincial and state level.