District Six 'a critical national landmark'

The District Six Museum is spearheading urgent steps to have District Six declared a national heritage site.

Cape Town - Urgent steps are being taken to get District Six declared a national heritage site.

The initiative is being spearheaded by the District Six Museum, in association with several social, cultural and faith-based organisations which have been at the forefront of the recognition fight.

The SA Heritage Resources Agency has welcomed the move.

Dumisani Sibayi, executive officer for heritage resources management, said they had a technical team hard at work within the old community.

“District Six is one of those critical national landmarks that truly reflect the hardships that people had to endure,” he said.

He noted the agency’s headquarters were in District Six.

“Even our office is located in this area, from which people had been uprooted, and it sometimes must be a nightmare for people who experienced this trauma to come and meet us there,” he said.

The petition had been processed by the national Heritage Council because the site was of such significance it had to become part of the national heritage narrative, as a reminder that “never again will an injustice of this kind be perpetrated on a community”.

Part of the original nomination by the SA Heritage Resources Agency in 2004 reads: “The story of forced removals is known by so many South Africans as a struggle for rights, humanity and, finally, the restitution of land rights.

“This legacy of history must be remembered for having the potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of South Africa’s cultural heritage. It must be celebrated for its importance in the community and pattern of South Africa’s history,” it read.

In pushing for the recognition of the area, the group driving the petition process also has drawn heritage authorities’ attention to the Khoi and San, noting it is “uniquely connected to the legacies of Dutch and British colonial rule, at a time when this part of the Table Mountain range served as pastoral routes for indigenous communities”.

They also called for the lessons of District Six, of tolerance, community and a spirit of sharing, to become part of what the new South Africa sought to attain.

St Mark’s Anglican Church rector Reverend Austen Jackson said he supported the initiative.

He said the two oldest Christian church buildings in District Six had survived the forced removals and demolitions - St Mark’s and the Moravian church.

Sadly, the Moravian church had closed in 1980.

“For Anglicans, St Mark’s is not just the architectural marvel that continues to attract tourists from far and wide, it is a living sign of a community that refused to die,” Jackson said.

Visit www.districtsix.co.za to find out more about the work of the museum around this issue.

Weekend Argus