In-depth 2014: Yeoville Now
Yeoville Now is an In-depth research project by 2014 student journalists. They were seperated into different groups which looked at the socio-economic factors, creations and innovations, history, culture and traditions in Yeoville.
Circulations
This group followed the social and economic currencies of Yeoville, as they investigated the movement in and around Yeoville of money, people and places. Robyn Kirk examined the life of Yeoville’s traders, demonstrating the struggle between legal and illegal trading. Zelmarie Goosen looked at why, despite the constant presence of the city’s cleaning service, Yeoville’s streets remain a mess, while Tendai Dube investigated the illegal exchange of currencies, which is not as easy to detect as one would imagine. Anazi Zote explored the dilemma of overcrowding, as residents are forced to share living space with complete strangers out of necessity.
Trading in spaces
By Robyn Kirk
The streets of Yeoville are a buyer’s paradise – not only is there a sprawling, vivid green market with hundreds of stalls showing off their wares and services, but outside the market there are hawkers selling sweets and vegetables, second-hand clothes and cheap nail polish.
The market traders are legal but the street traders are breaking the law, creating a tension between the two forms of sellers in one of the oldest suburbs in the city.
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Masses of people, masses of litter
By Zelmarie Goosen
Children play and walk among burnt animal carcasses while their parents work on streets and spaces littered with used condoms and empty fast food containers.
Despite the efforts of the official cleaning company, Yeoville’s streets remain strewn with litter. But some volunteers have taken cleaning into their own hands. Animal bones are piled in one corner, burnt to a crisp.
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A nod, a wink and some dollars
By Tendai Dube
Changing money on the streets of Yeoville leaves no paper trail. It’s easy if you know who and how to ask.
The amounts are small and it is difficult to catch the traders. And the people doing it have some stories to tell about laws and legality. The popular one-way Rockey Street in Yeoville is always busy during the day, with people hustling to make a living.
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Cramming people into places
By Anazi Zote
Little pieces of paper fight for space on a community wall symbolising the struggle to find accommodation in contemporary Yeoville.
The high number of people seeking to live in Yeoville and no new residential buildings has triggered overcrowding causing people to divide and sub-divide spaces, forcing people to learn to share small spaces with strangers.
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Creations
Yeoville is a place of many creations and innovations. This group examined how these have affected the community, in ways that are both positive and negative. Lameez Omarjee investigated why a new ministry has been started in a suburb that is already filled with churches. Lutho Mtongana looked at the evolution of music and poetry in relation to Yeoville’s younger generation, while Luca Kotton uncovered how a lack of redevelopment has led to the deterioration of parts of the area. Percy Matshoba examined how the widely Pan-African Yeoville is keeping the spirit alive through fashion and “African wear”.
New church puts down roots in Yeoville
By Lameez Omarjee
Despite the large presence of both formal and informal churches in Yeoville, Joe Muthee has endeavoured to start a new church in the suburb introducing what could be called “the gospel according to Joe”.
Ushers greet visitors with hugs as they walk through the doors of St Mark’s Presbyterian Church hall in Yeoville. Buzzing conversations echo against bare walls.
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The Evolution of the Spoken Word
By Lutho Mtongana
Even during the apartheid years Yeoville was a place of freedom when it came to music and poetry.
Young artists dedicate their time to reflecting their feelings about everyday social issues. They make their music real and hope to take the young generation of Yeoville out of the streets that are growing with criminal activity as well as drug and alcohol abuse.
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Between Rockey and a hard place
By Luca Kotton
There is one resident in Rockey Corner who does not want to stay in Yeoville any more.
She opens her door to the smell of decaying rubbish and fears her children will be victims of crime on their walk to school. She is happy with her building’s redevelopment but thinks her neighbours don’t belong.
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The heart of African fashion in Jozi
By Percy Matshoba
Yeoville is keeping the spirit of Afrocentric fashion alive.
The people of Yeoville wear their Afrocentric fashion or “African wear” daily and fail to understand why other Africans wear Eurocentric every day.
Sunday afternoons in Yeoville can look like an Afrocentric fashion convention, with many residents sporting African printed designs on their way to church.
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Traditions
This group investigated the history, culture and traditional life of Yeoville. Ilanit Chernick spent time with the Igbo Jews from Nigeria, a new Jewish community. Rofhiwa Madzena looked at the Rastafari community in Yeoville and how they have integrated themselves into being a significant part of the community. Bongiwe Tutu explored the bureaucratic challenges of Yeoville’s churches, while Nqobile Dludla spoke to foreigners about how they make Yeoville a home away from home. Kudzai Mazvarirwofa investigated the challenges the Yeoville police must overcome in order to operate in the area.
The African Jews of Yeoville
By Ilanit Chernick
For decades Yeoville was seen as “a Jewish suburb” until 1994 when many Jewish residents left the area.
Now a new Jewish community is emerging. Rabbi Sylvester Obiekwe and his community are Nigerian Jews from the Igbo tribe. Their customs, traditions and beliefs have been passed down for hundreds of generations.
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‘Even Rastas aren’t Rastas’
By Rhofiwa Madzena
Rastafari are a significant part of the Yeoville community and have made substantial strides to establish and integrate themselves.
But this has created a problem in how they remain true to their cultural practices while conforming to Yeoville society. Ras Zwesh was just about to light up his zol when the police raided Rasta House and arrested him for possession of drugs.
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Promising miracles and money
By Bongiwe Tutu
Some 50 churches jostle for space in Yeoville – physical as well as spiritual. In one case, three churches share a single garage and divide the hours for their Sunday services.
Divisions are not just physical as pastors speak of the differences between “money-making” churches and “a true church of God”.
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Policing lost in translation
By Kudzai Mazvarirwofa
Effective policing is difficult enough to deliver anywhere in the world but how do Yeoville police help the community if they don’t speak the same language?
Blood pouring from a gash on the side of his head, a man clothed in torn khaki pants holds a scrunched up t-shirt to his head in an attempt to staunch the bleeding.
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Transitions
This group looked at how Yeoville has changed over time. Thabile Manala spoke to academics from other parts of Africa who are unable to use their qualifications here in South Africa, because of their refugee status. Roxanne Joseph uncovered a community of LGBTIs who have been scared into silence through violence, harassment and the homophobic attitudes of their fellow residents. Palesa Tshandu spent some time with the Congolese La Sape who worship clothing as if it were a religion of its own, while Luke Matthews discovered that Yeoville’s nightlife is forever hustling.
Skills languish on the streets of Yeoville
By Thabile Manala
Many other Africans look to South Africa as a land of opportunity.
Papa Luc, a Congo national, hoped to build a new life for himself when he fled his war-ravaged country in 2007. His life in Yeoville has turned out differently from what he expected. Papa Luc ekes out a living in Yeoville cutting hair from 9am to 6pm for R20 per head.
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Love and loathing in Yeoville
By Roxanne Joseph
Once home to a thriving lesbian and gay community, Yeoville is now filled with homophobic attitudes and hatred, effectively cutting out a significant part of the community- its LGBTIs.
With little to no structural support in the area, people are forced to either rely on one another and face possible condemnation, or struggle in silence.
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French style flourishes on the high street
By Palesa Tshandu
Passing sewage pipes and vendors selling chicken feet on the busy sidewalks of Rockey Street, ‘Ace’ Nsiala walks by in his Versace suit and Givenchy shoes into the local Congolese pub at Kin-Malebo pub.
The Congolese father and husband is a member of the La Sape – a league of extraordinary gentlemen living in Yeoville who don’t allow circumstance to determine their fate.
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The streets of vice
By Luke Matthews
In the 80s and 90s, Rockey Street, and a big part of Yeoville, was an escape for those who wanted an alternative to the apartheid lifestyle.
A grey area developed where people of different races and backgrounds could mix with one another. Today that same grey area exists. This section of Yeoville has become known as a place of vice where anything and everything goes.
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Click here to view the 2015 In-depth reporting project: Mayfair