District Six, Cape Town

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District Six Memory Plaque

For other uses, see District Six (disambiguation).

District Six (Afrikaans Distrik Ses) is the name of a former neighbourhood of Cape Town, South Africa, best known for the forced removal of its inhabitants during the 1970s.

1 Creation and destruction of District Six
2 Return
3 Museum
4 Arts
5 External links
6 References

[edit] Creation and destruction of District Six

The area was named in 1867 as the Sixth Municipal District of Cape Town. By the turn of the century it was already a lively community made up of freed slaves, artisans, merchants and other immigrants, as well as many Malay people brought to South Africa by the Dutch East India Company during its administration of the Cape Colony. It was home to almost a tenth of the city of Cape Town's population.

During the earlier part of the apartheid era, District Six was a remarkably multicultural district, with a heavy concentration of the people known in South Africa as coloured, including a substantial Cape Malay community, as well as other black, white and Asian people of various backgrounds. Many former District Six residents see this cosmopolitanism as one of the main reasons that it became a target for destruction. The removals were also doubtlessly motivated by the district's beautiful views of the ocean and of Cape Town, and, as the city grew larger, its proximity to the Cape Town city center; all of these factors made it attractive for real estate development aimed at white residents.

ANC election poster, publicizing its intent to rebuild District Six as a multicultural area

On 11 February 1966, the apartheid-era government declared District Six a whites-only area under the Group Areas Act, with removals starting in 1968. By 1982, more than 60 000 people had been relocated to the comparatively bleak Cape Flats some 25 kilometers away, and the old houses bulldozed. The only buildings left standing were places of worship. International and local pressure made redevelopment difficult for the government, however. The Cape Technikon (now part of the Cape Peninsula University of Technology) was built on part of the former District Six and the area was renamed Zonnebloem, but apart from this the area was left as a wasteland until relatively recently.

Since the fall of apartheid, the African National Congress has recognized the older claims of former residents to the area, and pledged to support rebuilding.

[edit] Return

By 2003 work had started on the first new buildings — 24 houses that will belong to residents over 80 years old. On 11 February 2004, exactly 38 years after being rezoned by the government, former president Nelson Mandela handed the keys to the first returning residents, Ebrahim Murat (87) and Dan Ndzabela (82). About 4 000 families are scheduled to return over the next three years.

Land claimants at a "hand back" ceremony in District Six, 2001

Emerging from the Hands Off District Six Committee which mobilized to halt investment and redevelopment in District Six during apartheid after the forced removals, the District Six Beneficiary Trust is managing the process by which claimants will get their "land" back (actually a flat or apartment residential space). In November 2006, it broke off negotiations with the Cape Town Municipality in favor of the National Government. The Trust accused the Municipality (currently under a Democratic Alliance mayor) of stalling restitution, indicating that it preferred to work with the ANC national government. In response, the DA Mayor, Helen Zille, raised questions about the right of the Trust to represent the claimants due to the fact that it had never been "elected" by claimants. Some discontent claimants would like to create an alternative negotiating body to The Trust; however, the historical legacy and "struggle credentials" of most of the Trust leadership ensure that it will continue to oversee the process.

[edit] Museum

In 1989 the District Six Museum Foundation was established, and in 1994 the District Six Museum came into being. It serves as a remembrance to the events of the apartheid era as well as the culture and history of the area before the removals. The ground floor is covered by a large street map of District Six, with handwritten notes from former residents indicating where their homes had been; other features of the museum include street signs from the old district, displays of the histories and lives of District Six families, and historical explanations of the life of the District and its destruction. In addition to its function as a museum it also serves as a memorial to a decimated community, and a meeting place and community center for Cape Town residents who identify with its history.^[1]

[edit] Arts

With his short novel "A Walk in the Night" (1962) the well-known Capetonian journalist and writer Alex La Guma ^[2] gave District Six a place in literature.

Richard Rive wrote a highly-acclaimed novel called Buckingham Palace, District Six, which chronicles the lives of a community before and during the removals. This book has also been adapted into successful theatre productions which toured South Africa.

In 1986, District Six - The Musical by David Kramer and Taliep Petersen told the story of District Six in a popular musical which also toured internationally.^[3]

District Six also contributed mightily to the distinguished history of South African jazz. Basil Coetzee, known for his song "District Six", was born there and lived there until its destruction. Before leaving South Africa in the 1960s, pianist Abdullah Ibrahim lived nearby and was a frequent visitor to the area, as were many other jazz musicians. Ibrahim described the area to The Guardian as a "fantastic city within a city...", explaining, "[W]here you felt the fist of apartheid it was the valve to release some of that pressure. In the late 50s and 60s, when the regime clamped down, it was still a place where people could mix freely. It attracted musicians, writers, politicians at the forefront of the struggle. We played and everybody would be there." ^[4]