in the new South Africa
Growing up Titles.indd 1 2010/02/26 1:46 PM
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C
HILDH
OO
D AND AD
O
LE
SC
EN
C
E IN P
OS
T-APARTHEID
C
APE T
O
W
N
in the new South Africa
Rachel Bra
y
•
Imk
e
Goos
k
e
n
s

OS
T-APARTHEID
C
APE T
O
W
N
in the new South Africa
Rachel Bra
y
•
Imk
e
Goos
k
e
n
s
•
Lau
r
e
n K
a
h
n
•
Sue
M
oses

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v
Contents
Tables and figures vii
Preface ix
The Fish Hoek valley: Maps and photographs 1
1. Growing up in post-apartheid South Africa 21
2. Discourses and realities of family life 48
3. The familiar world of the neighbourhood 97
4. Segregated and integrated spaces: Mobility and identity beyond
the neighbourhood 135
5. The real worlds of public schooling 170
6. The social aspects of schooling: Navigating an educational career 203
7. Freedom, ‘fitting in’ and foreign territories: The world of friends,
dating and sex 253
8. The quiet violence of contemporary segregation in Cape Town 294
9. Conclusion 323
Notes 331
The authors 334
References 335
Index 350
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vii
Tables and figures
Table 1.1 Details of participants in ethnographic research 35

neighbourhood 218
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viii
Figure 6.4 Educational expectations of adolescents aged 20–22, by
neighbourhood 218
Figure 6.5 Current educational reality of adolescents aged 20–22, by
neighbourhood 219
Figure 6.6 School attendance by age, Ocean View (%) 227
Figure 6.7 School attendance by age, Masiphumelele (%) 228
Figure 6.8 School attendance by age, Fish Hoek (%) 228
Figure 6.9 Reasons for not being enrolled in school, ages 15–17 231
Figure 6.10 Premature departure from school, by age and neighbourhood type 232
Figure 6.11 Study and work status, by age and neighbourhood type 243
Figure 7.1 Sexual activity and pregnancy among girls, Cape Town 258
Figure 7.2 Sexual activity and impregnation among boys, Cape Town 258
Figure 7.3 Sexual activity and pregnancy among girls, by type of neighbourhood
and age, Cape Town 259
Figure 7.4 Sexual activity and impregnation among boys, by type of
neighbourhood and age, Cape Town 260
Figure 7.5 Young women’s expected and actual ages of maternity
(2002–2005) 278
Figure 8.1 Control over life, by neighbourhood (17–20-year-olds, Cape Town) 297
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ix
Preface
This book is the product of a collaborative effort by researchers in the Centre for
Social Science Research (CSSR) at the University of Cape Town. It presents primarily
qualitative research, and has its origins in a perceived need to go beyond quantitative
research. The CSSR was established in 2001 with the goal of strengthening capacity
in quantitative social science. One of the CSSR’s major projects was the Cape Area

of Social Dynamics (32[1] 2006). Rachel and Imke co-wrote an article on the ethics
of conducting research with children in Anthropology Southern Africa (Bray &
Gooskens 2006). Rachel drew on this and further ethnographic work with mothers
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x
and young children to co-write work on childcare, poverty and HIV/AIDS with Rene
Brandt in, among others, the Journal of Children and Poverty (Bray & Brandt 2007).
Most of these papers – and others – were published as working papers in the CSSR
Working Paper Series.
Ariane de Lannoy, a PhD student in the CSSR, who is researching educational
decision-making among young people in Cape Town, provided particular input
to Chapter 6. Katherine Ensler, a visiting student from Princeton, assisted with
observational research in high schools in Fish Hoek and Masiphumelele.
This research was only possible because of the enthusiasm shown by many children
and adolescents in Fish Hoek, Ocean View and Masiphumelele, and by many of
their family members and neighbours. We are especially grateful to the six teenage
residents of the Valley who volunteered to join the team as young researchers:
Riccardo Herdien, Thandolwethu Mbi, Karen Painter, Samantha Peacocke, Zahir
Slarmie and Siyabulela White. All names used in the text are pseudonyms.
We were able to conduct research inside schools through the generous assistance of
the principals and teachers at Fish Hoek Primary, Middle and Senior High; Marine
Primary; Ocean View Secondary; Ukhanyo Primary; and Masiphumelele High. We
are also grateful to the Western Cape Education Department for their permission –
and especially to Dr Ronald Cornelissen. Staff and volunteers working in state
services, NGOs and churches welcomed us into their work environments or gave
their time for interviews or informal discussions. Nomatamsanqa Fani and Lindiwe
Mthembu-Salter provided invaluable research assistance and translation services.
The research presented in this book was funded largely by the CSSR. The funders
included the Andrew W Mellon Foundation, as part of its grant to establish the
CSSR, and the Ford Foundation, through a grant to the AIDS and Society Research

saw significant growth throughout the Valley. The existing villages of Fish Hoek,
Noordhoek and Kommetjie expanded, and new suburbs, such as Capri and San
Michel, were developed. By the early 1990s, approximately half the population,
occupying most of the Valley, was ‘white’ and just under half, confined to Ocean
View, was ‘coloured’. Masiphumelele was established in 1991 as a semi-formal
settlement for the small number of African people already living in the Valley, either
legally or illegally. By 2001, however, Masiphumelele, too, had grown to the point
where it accommodated almost 25 per cent of the population in the Valley.
Today, the Valley has become a suburban expansion of Cape Town, and the
population has doubled. There are many signs of post-apartheid change – almost
everyone throughout the Valley has access to electricity, basic sanitation, schools and
healthcare facilities. However, the spatial impress of apartheid remains: the majority
of the coloured and African residents live within the narrow confines of Ocean View
and Masiphumelele, whilst the richer, white residents live in the lush suburbs and
smallholdings that have developed across the area, from one coast to the other.
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2
Locating the Valley
Map 1 The Fish Hoek Valley
This map shows the three neighbourhoods researched (reading from left to right):
Ocean View, Masiphumelele and Fish Hoek, with the main arterial routes linking
them to Greater Cape Town in the north. The insert shows the position of the Valley
relative to Cape Town.
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3
Local neighbourhoods
Photo 1 Ocean View central
Ocean View has a handful of formal shops, including a small supermarket, butchery
and video-hire store, as well as informal shops operating out of people’s homes. The
only sports facilities are bare soccer fields. The young person who took Photo 2

used for illicit activities. Because it is unlit it is particularly dangerous after dark,
when you risk being attacked if you stumble across someone lurking there.
In the centre of the map are the ‘flats’ (blocks of one- and two-roomed apartments),
where many of the children live. These are dangerous because people drink and take
drugs, resulting in fights and stabbings. The children who live there stay in after dark
because ‘gangsters come and sit on the stoep (veranda) and smoke dagga and make
a noise. They often don’t want to leave. Sometimes adults help to chase them away,
but if there are no adults home then we shoot stones and marbles with a catapult at
them or throw hot water over them and then they go away.’
‘Nella’s Pap’, in the bottom left-hand corner of the map is one of the many shebeens
in Ocean View. The boys say they are dangerous mainly after dark, when people get
drunk and become violent.
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7
Map 3 Masiphumelele: Our yard
Praise, a girl aged 12, drew this map of her immediate surrounds in
Masiphumelele.
She describes her map:
I live in this shack [bottom left quadrant]. We’ve got a stove and a fridge
in our kitchen, and my parents have a bed with a beautiful cover. We
share our yard with other families [points to other shacks in her drawing].
Our houses are built close together and they are all different sizes – some
of them are big [points to the house in the top right quadrant] and some
are very small [indicates the house in the centre].
I like staying here because all my friends are here and they can come to
my house and I can go to their houses. Sometimes my friends’ places can
also feel like my own home, so I have drawn the furniture in their houses
too.
We all use the toilet and the shower and tap here [points to bottom right
quadrant]. And after we’ve washed our clothes we hang them up between

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10
Photo 9 Maspihumelele: Shebeen
Shebeens are often run from people’s homes in Masiphumelele. Selling bottled and
home-brewed alcohol, these businesses are also social centres where people gather
to drink and relax. The music played in shebeens often attracts teenagers to them.
To avoid this, Mdu (Photo 10) and his friends prioritised working and saving for
equipment to play their own music so that they would not be tempted into shebeens
and the violence and petty crime associated with them.
Photo 10 Masiphumelele: Mdu listening to music
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11
Photo 11 Fish Hoek: After school
In Fish Hoek, children’s activities are generally contained within the walls of ‘safe’
places. Thus Konrad is allowed to go to his friend’s house for PlayStation games
after school, but may not play outside in the street. Children are usually driven
between school and other activities which ensures their safety but also means that
their movements are confined by adult routines and decisions. To show where she
loves spending her time, twelve-year-old Lara snapped Fish Hoek beach through
the window of her grandmother’s car whilst being driven to one of her after-school
activities (Photo 12).
Photo 12 Fish Hoek: Driving past the beach with Granny
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12
Our schools
Photo 13 Ocean View Secondary School entrance
Ocean View Secondary School offers basic amenities which include a computer
room donated by the local Rotary Club. Although there are also sports facilities,
maintenance costs are a continual challenge so they are not always in good
condition.

transport them anywhere they want to go. Their extramural activities, such as horse-
riding, piano or dancing lessons, are regular and supervised. Social visits and visits to
the mall are always in the company of parents. On the other hand, the girls had no
difficulty in indicating important places, places where they have fun, and where they
go to buy what they need (see the key on the right-hand side of the map).
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