Sunday, 14 December 1986: Racist Social Engineering Destroyed a Community

Emissary Community, Constantia, South Africa

Yesterday I was taking photos in downtown Cape Town and kept getting accosted by friggin’ beggars who tried to make me feel guilty.  When this happens, I tend to withdraw and not look or smile at anyone who might be panhandling. 

To escape these hassles, I walked over to an area of Cape Town formerly called District Six.  Beginning in the 19^th Century, the population of this area close to downtown grew rapidly and included former slaves, immigrants, merchants, and artisans.  By the mid-20^th Century, it was a very racially mixed, vibrant community.  A majority of the residents were classified by the government as “coloured” (mixed-race) but there were also blacks (mostly Xhosas) as well as smaller numbers of Afrikaners, English-speaking whites, and Indians. 

A District Six street prior to demolition of the community from the late 1960s to early 1980s. Photo source:  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/14003448813394207/

After the National Party came to power in South Africa in 1948, the government began a policy of residential separation of the races, one element of the grand South African scheme of Apartheid.  Multi-racial neighborhoods like District Six were not to be allowed. 

In 1966, the apartheid government classified District Six a whites-only area probably because of its desirable proximity to the city center of Cape Town.  It declared the area a slum and demolition of homes soon followed.   Between 1968 and 1982 more than 30,000 residents were relocated mostly to neighborhoods reserved for coloureds, blacks, and Indians to the east and southeast of Cape Town.

View north toward the Cape Town city center from vacant land formerly occupied by District Six residential neighborhoods and commercial areas.

 

Eventually all buildings in District Six were torn down except for a handful of churches and mosques.  There are plans to redevelop the area into white upper middle class apartments.  However, many white people don’t want to live there because of residual bad feelings over the neighborhood’s destruction, so very little has been built so far. 

 

        Condominiums for whites and a technical training center built on the ruins of District Six. 

 

I saw a van stop to pick up a group of Moslem women who had been standing in front of a mosque on the desolate street where I was walking.  The driver motioned to me and made a picture-taking signal with his hands.  I figured he was going to hassle me about taking pictures in the area but I walked over to see what he wanted.  It turned out that he and the dozen or so women wanted me to take their picture in front of the mosque.  When they found out I was from the U.S., they insisted that I tell the story of District 6 to Americans.  They were very friendly and gracious Indian South Africans and the few minutes I spent with them made my day.  One woman pointed to a vacant lot across the street and told me this was where her home had been.  Another told me they come here to pray every day.  As long as they keep using the mosque, the government won’t tear it down.      

 

These Moslem women still pray daily at their mosque in District Six.

 

[April 10, 2023 Update:  Since the establishment of a multi-racial democracy in South Africa in the 1990s, there has been an effort to return the vacant properties to their former owners and residents.]