Smit Street Compound

SMIT STREET COMPOUND The first municipal accommodation for black migrant workers in the Town Engineers Department was in V-shaped sheds erected in 1906. The compound was constructed in 1908 to house 1000 men, mostly sanitary workers who removed the night soil in buckets. The Bucket Strike in 1918 saw these men sentenced to work without pay under threat of guns. In 1998 the compound was adapted for use by the disabled in wheelchairs, who were soon joined by the Deaf, the Blind and those with Epilepsy. Unveiled 4th October 2019