Athlone, Cape Town

Athlone
Athlone, just after the demolition of the Cooling Towers
Street map of Athlone
Athlone Athlone
Coordinates: 33°57′40″S 18°30′11″E
Country	South Africa
Province	Western Cape
Municipality	City of Cape Town
Government
• Councillor	Mustapha Murudker (Ward 48) ANC Patrick Hill (Ward 60) (DA)
Area
• Total	1.50 km2 (0.58 sq mi)
Population  (2011)
• Total	8,893
• Density	5,900/km2 (15,000/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	8.5%
• Coloured	82.8%
• Indian/Asian	4.1%
• White	1.1%
• Other	3.5%
First languages (2011)
• English	81.6%
• Afrikaans	11.7%
• Other	6.7%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Postal code (street)	7764
PO box	7760

Athlone is a suburb of Cape Town located to the east of the city centre on the Cape Flats, south of the N2 highway. It is named after Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone who was Governor-General of the Union of South Africa from 1924 to 1930. Two of the suburb's main landmarks are Athlone Stadium and the decommissioned coal burning Athlone Power Station. Athlone is mainly residential and is served by a railway station of the same name. It however includes industrial (Athlone Industria 1 & 2) and commercial zones (Athlone CBD and Gatesville). There are many "sub-areas" within Athlone, including Manenberg, Gatesville, Rylands, Belgravia Estate, Bridgetown and Hazendal.

Athlone is also the home of the Trojan Horse Memorial, a reminder of the Trojan Horse Incident which took place in 1985, when three anti-apartheid protesters were killed and fifteen others wounded in a police ambush. The incident took place near the Alexander Sinton Secondary School where students had demanded to attend school the month before.

Athlone is also the home of the Robert Waterwitch / Colleen Williams Memorial, established in memory of two ANC activists who died in the struggle against apartheid.

Demographics

As of the census of 2001, there were 11,556 households and 45,056 people residing in the suburb. The racial makeup of the suburb was 3.21% Black African, 69.66% Coloured, 23.45% Indian/Asian, 3.68% White and 0% from other races.

The suburb population age varies with 28.38% under the age of 18, 28.37% from 18 to 34, 26.53% from 35 to 54, 8.04% from 55 to 64, and 8.66% who were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 women there were 86.53 males.

82.58% of the population speak English, 15.18% speak Afrikaans, 1.13% speak Xhosa, 0.52% speak another African language and 0.59% some other language as a first language.

Education

There are over 100 schools in the greater Athlone area, including Heideveld Secondary School, Rylands High, Belgravia High, Darul Islam Islamic High School and the Athlone School for the Blind, which has produced several Paralympic medal winning athletes, including Hilton Langenhoven and Jonathan Ntutu.

Organisations in Athlone

The Anti-Eviction Campaign and the Gatesville Hawkers Association have a strong presence with many members in Athlone. There are many neighbourhood watches in the Athlone area, including Rylands Neighbourhood Watch, Surrey Patrol, Greenhaven Crime Watch and Habibia Neighbourhood Watch.

Athlone Power Station

Main article: Athlone Power Station

The decommissioned Athlone Power Station is situated alongside the N2. The cooling towers, commonly referred to as the "Athlone Towers", were demolished on 22 August 2010.

External links

• Athlone, Cape Town, South Africa
• Athlone protest archives