Cato Manor, and the Writer’s Trail, has been included in the KZN Freedom Route. I am confident however, that this was no mistake.
1. Cato Manor not only bears the history of Durban but also that of the previously oppressed and their political and social movements.
2. Cato Manor is named after the Durban’s first mayor George Christopher Cato, and he resided in the area.
3. The 1949 riots in Cato Manor resulted in 137 people, Indians and Blacks, being killed with thousands more injured.
4. The 1959 beerhalls riots also affected Cato Manor with government beerhalls in the area being burnt down in protest.
5. The beerhall riots culminated in 9 policemen being killed in Cato Manor. This particular spot has been declared one of the heritage sites in the area.
6. The apartheid system declared Cato Manor as a white zone under Group Areas act of 1950. Forced removals to the racially segregated areas kwaMashu, Umlazi and Chatsworth began.
7. Towards the end of the apartheid era, African and Indians families moved back to Cato Manor, reclaiming their expropriated land. The area now boasts low-cost housing, a heritage center, schools, libraries, community centers and clinics and is a home to about 90 000 people.
8. Cato Manor luminaries include ANC president Jacob Zuma, activist Florence Mkhize, musician Sipho Gumede, amongst others.
9. We are now working on a proposed Cato Manor Interactive Cultural Center, which seeks to keep the heritage history of the area alive and will provide rehearsal and performance venues for local artists.
As municipality officials, we are promoting tourism in the area and in the process putting measures in place so that tourism will benefit the local community. To this end, we are developing tourism products and at the same time developing a tourism services/provider database of the area. We hope to provide tourists with our own Cato Manor tour guides, transport, accommodation, arts and craft, beers and drinks, halls and sport grounds.
To this effect I tend to boasts about the area’s close proximity to the city, and hence believe that we are standing a good chance to benefit when international events are hosted by the city. We cannot deny the fact that the city alone sometimes fail to cater for all of its visitors during some particular international events, and that presents opportunities to areas like Cato Manor.
