Country South Africa Municipality City of Cape Town Area code 021 | Province Western Cape Postal code (street) 7490 | |
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Established Developed by Communicare between 1951 - 1960 | ||
Bishop Lavis is a suburb of Cape Town, located 15 kilometres (9 mi) east of the city centre near Cape Town International Airport. It had, as of 2001, a population of 44,419 people, of whom 97% described themselves as Coloured, and 90% spoke Afrikaans while 9% spoke English. Bishop Lavis is one of many townships that was established in the Western Cape Province by the country's reigning regime at the introduction of apartheid in South Africa. During this period non-white citizens were moved from their lands and homes across the region (because it was abruptly designated for "whites only"), into these townships. It was established on sandy barren lands and many of the new inhabitants of these townships felt as if they were banished to concentration camps since the whole environment and architecture resembled such a setting.