The establishment of Crossroads as a settlement began in the 1970s when workers from a nearby farm were told to leave and move to 'the crossroads'. By the year of 1977 a survey indicated that a total of 18,000 people were living at Crossroads. An added motivation for the initial settlers in what was then unsettled
Cape Flats Dune Strandveld was the opportunity for families to build individual, more respectable homes than the hostels of Gugulethu allowed for. Since the
Apartheid authorities considered the settlement temporary, orders to evict and dismantle it were issued in 1975. Opposition came from Men's Committee and a Women's Committee that had been formed to oppose the order as well as the
Black Sash. The Women's Committee was particularly successful at organising and gaining support from within and from outside of the community. In 1978 Crossroads was declared an 'emergency camp' thereby obliging the City Council to supply basic municipal services. From this group of activists the Development Action Group was established in 1986. A
non-governmental organisation that a former mayor of Cape Town,
Nomaindia Mfeketo, used to work for prior to becoming mayor. Although the 'Save Crossroads' campaign was successful violence broke out within the community due to a feud between supporters of the then head of the residents committee Johnson Ngxobongwana, and those who accused him of favouritism and rewarding his henchmen. The government used the Witdoeke to clear areas of KTC and Crossroads of UDF influence. The Witdoeke attacked neighbouring townships and set fire to all the shanty settlements in old Crossroads thereby leaving 60,000 people homeless. As a result, some residents moved to a tented town near Site C in Khayelitsha to avoid the violence. ==References==