To the east of the Cape Town’s city centre, between foreshore and Table Mountain, lies a run-down and forlorn part of Zonnenbloem area- District Six. In the 1840s, the suburb in Cape Town known as District Six, formerly an area zoned as District 12, formed part of several wine farms. Belonging to mainly Dutch people, later subdivided into smaller areas, due in part to its proximity to the port, the markets and the castle, expanded rapidly and became a home to people from different backgrounds and nationalities. In 1867 District 12 had been re-zoned and renamed District Six, Coloured people and freed slaves lived next-door to English and Dutch citizens, while Irish immigrants, rubbed shoulders with Malay Muslims Indians and Jews, a mass of diverse peoples living in less than ideal conditions.
Early image of Cape Town harbour with Devils Peak in background 1872. Just prior to harbour construction, Mr Moore 1872 - Handbook of the Cape Colony, 1875. Licence:Public Domain
This vast mixed community of freed slaves (released in 1838), immigrants from around the world, free labourers, merchants musicians and artists, needed shelter in Cape Town. They wanted to live close to the city, harbour and factories where they worked.
Meshed together in small alleyways, structures with small flats, housing as many as sixteen people, without sewage systems, begun to spring up like mushrooms after the rain.
Cape Town procession on the anniversary of slave emancipation, George Duff 1834 - MuseumAfrica 71/534 Licence:Public Domain
District Six renowned for its eclectic population was one of the inner city's most colourful areas, a vigorous and vibrant centre a true melting-pot of cultures. Also known as Kanaladorp (kanala means "help one another" in Malay language).
Lack of sanitation and poverty took its toll on the inhabitants and resulted in an outbreak of a smallpox epidemic in 1882. In 1901, under the false excuse of health legislation, hundreds of Black residents were forcibly moved to N'dabeni. This was the first attempt at "cleaning up the area". Due to its alleged link to the outbreak of the Bubonic plague the area was razed to the ground.
The houses were rebuilt, however, District Six slid into poverty as the residents who could afford to move moved to the garden suburbs.
Living conditions in the 20th century were no better than they had been in the 19th century. The streets were always busy and a population of roughly 60,000 lived there.
The area had a cosmopolitan character, It was crowded with a multiracial blend, the dynamic and diverse population of ex-slaves, African, Eastern European immigrants, Malay, Indian, activists, musicians and artists. Many of them lived decent, respectable lives, keeping their families together.
There was a great spirit of togetherness, poverty and the shared experiences of day-to-day struggle brought people together in many ways.
However, a high unemployment rate, overpopulation and poverty, led to theft, prostitution and murder.
In the 1930’s, the plan of urbanisation for District Six came to pass. The municipality’s plan of reconstructing involved "the idea" of smashing District Six.
South Africa gained independence from Great Britain in 1934 and the process of removals and marginalisation had begun. The South African government increased their segregation of whites and black Africans.
In 1948 the Nationalist Party won the elections. Strongly focused on the role of history in Afrikaner identity, portraying the other races as inferior and canonizing Voortrekker history and Afrikaans - apartheid became official government ideology. A chain of apartheid laws began to pressurize the survival of multi-cultural communities, among them the District Six.
ʺApartheidʺ comes from the Afrikaans language meaning ʺapartnessʺ. The 1948 National Party victory formalized the term as a legislative practice. This meant separate development for all race groups and the restriction of living areas for blacks and whites. Rural reservations called bantustans, reserves and more commonly homelands were designated areas for black Africans. Prime Minister of South Africa Hendrik Verwoed from 1958 until his assassination in 1966 was known as the ʺArchitect of Apartheidʺ.Streets, skollies and Coons in District Six
During the apartheid regime of the 1960s media defined the area a dirty, infested place full of gangs and brothels, a health hazard, slum place.
On February the 11th 1966, PW Botha announced District Six a "white area". The segregating Group Areas Act saw all the non-white residents of District Six evicted and relocated further outside the city to the Cape Flats. Shock, outrage and protests followed, but to no avail. Africans were removed to Guguletu, Langa, or Khayelitsha, Coloured people to Mitchells Plain, Hanover Park or Bonteheuwel. Everybody was separated from friends and family.
Landsat image of Cape Town and environs, looking roughly east. Cape Peninsula in the foreground; Table Bay with Robben Island to the left; False Bay with Seal Island to the right. The mountains of the Boland to the rear. The oval (long axis about 25km) roughly encompasses the Cape Flats, User: Joewright Licence:CC BY-SA 3.0
The first demolitions began in 1968, and over a period of 15 years, non-white residents of the area were forcibly moved, District was bulldozed house by house, and the only buildings left standing were places of worship such as Al‐Azhar Mosque.
Despite the government’s efforts to commercialise it and fill the region with white residents, it remained a deserted piece of land.
Few white people wanted to live in the area in the first place.
Because of all the negative publicity and the resistance from former inhabitants, investors were reluctant and the area has remained largely vacant. These efforts to separate people of different races were unnecessary and unfounded.
Table Mountain and Lion's Head behind abandoned District Six, December 2006, User: Derek Keats Licence:CC BY-SA 2.0
The first development project constructed in 1979 on the land now renamed Zonnebloem was "white" technical university the Cape Technikon, this was also the final stamp by the apartheid government. That same year community group "Friends of District Six" was established. Shared identification, provided people with a means to cope with a new reality.
By the efforts of the "Hands off District Six (HODS)" committee, formed in 1987, two years later the District Six Museum Foundation was established and eventually in 1994 the museum opened with its first exhibition.
Located in a hall on the Zonnebloem Estate, District Six Museum, displays first-hand reports from the original inhabitants. Tells the stories of the harsh forced removals. It preserves, recreates and heals the memories of the ex-residents and their families.
Through a land development plan, original inhabitants could claim back their land.
By 2004, work had started on the first new buildings and president Nelson Mandela handed the keys to the first returning residents. Unfortunately, after three years the District Six Working Committee halt the negotiations with the Cape Town Municipality and the bureaucracy makes the process very slow. In the last 24 years over 100 new housing units have been built.
In more recent years, District Six has become a somewhat iconic and trendy urban area, however, empty patches of land deter, in parts of the landscape that used to be District Six, a hollow residue of a displaced community at the heart of the beautiful city of Cape Town.
Charly's Bakery in old Jewish Bookstore, 38 Canterbury Street, User: HelenOnline Licence:CC BY-SA 3.0
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References
Photos:
Images: sources linked below
• Beyers Christiaan, The Cultural Politics of "Community" and Citizenship in the District Six Museum, Cape Town, Anthropologica Vol. 50, No. 2 Canadian Anthropology Society, 2008
• Jonas Ursin, Holm Lea, Streets, Skollies and Coons in District Six, Dissertation for the Cand.polit degree University of Oslo, Department of Social Anthropology, 2007
• Davenport, Saunders, South Africa. A modern history, MacMillan Press Limited, 2000
• Rive, R., Buckingham Palace. District Six Cape Town: David Philip, 1996
• Coombes, Annie E., History after Apartheid: Visual Culture and Public Memory in a Democratic South Africa, Duke University Press, Nov 3, 2003