Crossroads, Cape Town

Crossroads
Aerial view of Crossroads
Crossroads Show map of Western Cape Crossroads Show map of South Africa Crossroads Show map of Africa  Crossroads shown within Western Cape
Location within Cape Town  Crossroads
Coordinates: 33°59′S 18°35′E / 33.983°S 18.583°E / -33.983; 18.583Coordinates: 33°59′S 18°35′E / 33.983°S 18.583°E / -33.983; 18.583
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Established	1970
Area
• Total	2.35 km2 (0.91 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	36,043
• Density	15,000/km2 (40,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	96.7%
• Coloured	2.9%
• Indian/Asian	0.1%
• White	0.1%
• Other	0.2%
First languages (2011)
• Xhosa	89.0%
• Afrikaans	3.4%
• English	3.2%
• Sotho	1.4%
• Other	3.0%
PO box	9334

Crossroads is a high-density township in Cape Town, South Africa.

It is situated near Cape Town International Airport and borders Nyanga, Philippi, Heideveld, Gugulethu and Mitchells Plain. Crossroads is one of Cape Town's largest townships.

The establishment of Crossroads as a settlement began in the 1970s when workers from a nearby farm were told to leave and move to 'the crossroads'. By 1977 a survey indicated that a total of 18,000 people were living at Crossroads.

An added motivation for the initial settlers in what was then unsettled Cape Flats Dune Strandveld was the opportunity for families to build individual, more respectable homes than the hostels of Gugulethu allowed for. Since the Apartheid authorities considered the settlement temporary, orders to evict and dismantle it were issued in 1975.

These orders were not enforced due to the efforts of a Men's Committee and a Women's Committee that had been formed to oppose the order as well as the Black Sash. The Women's Committee was particularly successful at organising and gaining support from within and from outside of the community. In 1978 Crossroads was declared an 'emergency camp' thereby obliging the City Council to supply basic municipal services. Once Crossroads had been declared a legal settlement by the government they began to focus on dismantling the rapidly growing informal settlements in the surrounding area. The government's focus on destroying these settlements was driven by a desire to neutralise the threat the government faced in the wake of 1976 Soweto uprisings.

From this group of activists the Development Action Group was established in 1986. A non-governmental organisation that a former mayor of Cape Town, Nomaindia Mfeketo, used to work for prior to becoming mayor.