Erasing Lives
Day 217
Yesterday was an easy introduction to this very european feeling African city. Today we planned on visiting District Six, an area and now museum that would show us that looks aren’t everything in Cape Town.
We enjoyed another large breakfast served by the very friendly staff here at St.Pauls. Between the beautiful building, views from our window and the pleasant staff this was an easy place to get very comfortable at. We read through a copy of LonelyPlanet’s southern Africa that they had, planning our next moves after South Africa. After breakfast we walked west of the guesthouse to the area now shown on our map as Zonnebloem. We were headed for the District Six Museum. Zonnebloem was previously named District Six, today its a large, mostly empty neighbourhood save for a large college. Of all the areas of Cape Town this one clearly shows the evils of apartheid and its effects on Cape Town today.
We entered the museum and paid our 10 Rand (just over $1 CAD) entry fee. The museum was a former church. Inside was loads of information, personal effects and photos of the former citizens of district six. A bit of history…In 1966 the government declared district six a “White Group Area” under the Group Areas Act. At the time district six was an inner-city slum but a lively place where 55,000 people lived and worked. It was regarded as the soul of Cape Town with a rich cultural life. Not only did the blacks and coloureds have to leave, the apartheid authorities moved in with bulldozers and began to destroy the entire neighbourhood. Only leaving churches and mosques. The museum took us through everyday peoples lives and how they had to pack up everything they had and moved out to the Cape Flats. The townships that surround Cape Town, essentially shanty towns at the time with little to no infrastructure. Inside Jordana and I read story after story of the challenges people faced when they were abruptly uprooted from their homes. Also shown were explanations of the different laws the government had brought in. For example the “Population Registration Act” classified every South African at birth as “white”, “coloured” or “black”. Coloureds were people of mixed race or Indians, Malays and generally Asians. Other parts of the museum showed how deep the segregation between races was under apartheid.
Back to district six, the authorities took 15 years to rip apart the neighbourhood. When it was empty the international and domestic outcry was so great it was never developed again. Today it still sits largely empty. However one of the most interesting and uplifting parts of the museum was that after years of negotiation original residents are actually moving back to district six and a there is a plan to develop low-cost housing. Who knows maybe one day the true soul of Cape Town will return to the centre of the city.
From the museum we walked around the back of the building and looked at this oddly empty part of the city. I tried to think what this area once looked like. We walked to the beautiful Company’s Gardens parks near the South African parliament and found a bench in the warm sun. Jordana and I talked about what we’d just seen. It made me think of Toronto for a second and how proud we are of our “multi-cultural” city. Then I thought of the redevelopment of Regent Park. Tearing down peoples homes because someone thinks they will come up with something better. We have yet to find out how the “new” Regent Park will turn out but today sure made me question whether its the right thing to do. Obviously what went on here in Cape Town was very, very different but is it not sort of the same idea?
Sitting here in this beautiful park we watched the citizens of Cape Town, largely white even though they make up only 10% of the population. The effects of apartheid are seen everywhere still, even as things change I think it will take a long time for this city to even begin to truly represent South African society. Its a reminder to Jordana and I that beneath the surface there is a very different Cape Town and South Africa then what is presented to us as tourists.
Tags: , 1, Cape Town, district six, South Africa
Michael Coroneos
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