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Nicole's
Travelogues and Budget Travel Tips..
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DISTRICT SIX, CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICADistrict Six was a neighborhood in Cape Town that was established in the 1800s as a mixed community of freed slaves, labourers, immigrants and merchants. By 1984, destruction of the area was complete - 60,000 residents were wrenched from their homes, relocated to the Cape Flats, and their former homes flattened by bulldozers. To "preserve the memories of District Six and create a monument to the thousands of people around the country forcibly relocated under apartheid," the District Six Museum Foundation was established in 1989. In 1994, the District Six Museum came into being. Part of the museum's mission is to provide space for former inhabitants of District Six to share and explore their memories. I went to the museum as part of a township tour. Now I'm really not a big museum person but this museum was fascinating! Noor Ebrahim, a former resident who also helps run the museum (not sure exactly what his title was), is very cool. We chatted for a while about his experiences and what's happening with the property now. The government has given former residents, who don't want to return, 17,000 Rand (@ $2800) as compensation. For those who want to return to District Six, the government gives them 60,000 Rand (@ $10,000), however, it would cost 200,000 Rand to rebuild. Big sigh.... |
The District Six Museum is at 25a Buitenkant Street, Cape Town. Individuals, groups and school tours can visit the mueum which is open from 9am to 4pm Monday through Saturday. The museum has a gift shop and coffee shop, and the museum’s Memorial Hall is available for hire for conferences. For more information, phone Linda Fortune or Noor Ebrahim on (021) 461-8745, e-mail info@districtsix.co.za or visit the website.
"And I tell you something, when eventually they passed the segregation laws - you couldn't have mixed couples dancing together, drinking together. How the hell can you run a jazz club like that?" - former resident, club owner
"I got in the car with my wife and two children and drove off, but only got as far as the corner before I had to stop. I got out of the car and started to cry as I saw the bulldozers move in immediately. Many people died of broken hearts - that's what apartheid was. It was really sick." - Noor Ebrahim (quote from his book on sale at the museum) |
The neighborhood became a vibrant community with jazz clubs, sports teams, schools, community centers and small businesses. It all ended for residents in 1966 when the Apartheid government declared District Six a "white only" area under the group areas act. You see, if the government needed more room for its minority white residents, then it would declare an area "white only" and move the majority black and colored residents to townships. F*cking hell! 
Of course after moving everyone out, the government never developed the area. The 'new' District Six subdivision was never built, leaving the neighborhood empty for 30 years. 
The museum had an impressive collection of historical materials, photographs, paintings, physical remains like street signs, etc. - most were donated by former residents. We saw examples of the pass books (dompas or "dumb book" in Afrikaans) Blacks had to carry and the identification cards that whites, coloreds, and foreigners had to carry. To determine if you were Black or colored, they did the pencil test - they stuck a pencil in your hair and if you could shake it out, you were colored. Of course this assinine policy broke up families sending some members to black townships and others to colored townships. 
