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These nascent signs of change on the landscape of apartheid have been a long time coming. In the wake of the bloody 1976 uprising in the sprawling township of Soweto, outside Johannesburg, angry young radicals trashed many black businesses, along with government-owned liquor stores and beer halls, as symbols of white oppression. At that time they could find relatively few such targets, since the law impeded black ownership of homes and businesses in urban areas. Only gradually were free enterprise and limited schemes for home ownership extended to the townships on the basis of 99-year leases. In April 1986 the government scrapped the hated pass laws, which required blacks to carry documents stating where they could live and work. That tended to give blacks increased confidence about trying to build, buy and develop properties and businesses in districts where they were permitted to live. Late last year the first black freehold properties were registered.
The result has been an extraordinary construction boom, bolstered by urban black improvement schemes that were developed, often under international pressure, by local and foreign South African business organizations. Even before the lifting of residence and property restrictions, blacks were beginning to enjoy better wages, job opportunities and employment benefits. Expanded credit to township homeowners and developers, totaling some $30 million a month, has helped catapult large numbers of blacks from low-income to middle-income and even luxury housing. A Cape Town conference attended by government officials and political leaders two weeks ago held out the promise of even greater progress, as successive speakers called for economic reforms aimed at giving blacks a bigger share of the country's wealth.
In Soweto suburbs that were once flash points of unrest, signs now advertise dozens of new residential developments. Almost every other house in the black townships has a fresh look. Some feature do-it-yourself extensions; others are brand new, built on cleared lots or over old foundations. This home-ownership drive has produced profitable spin-offs for black businesses, ranging from contractors and suppliers of building materials to dealers in instant lawns and burglar-alarm systems. Moses Mahlalela, 41, a design engineer with offices in one of the new Soweto shopping centers, can hardly keep up with demand. "I'm so busy I haven't had time to build a place of my own," he says, pointing to the dozen or so blueprints on his drawing boards. "But I intend to do that before the end of the year."
The government of South Africa was not exactly motivated by altruism when it relaxed the apartheid laws restricting black businesses and property rights, thereby fostering the rise of a black middle class. "It hoped the ownership of palatial homes and heavy mortgages would create a class of black people that would have too much to lose to help the masses in the struggle for liberation," says Aggrey Klaaste, editor of the black newspaper Sowetan. "It has not worked out that way. Not at all." On the contrary, the material success of a growing number of blacks has reinforced demands for economic and political freedom by contributing to a sense of pride and rising expectations.