District Six Museum Marks 30 Years of Memories

Joe Schaffers, whose family was evicted from District Six under apartheid, was at the District Six Museum to mark its 30th birthday.

Joe Schaffers was born in District Six in Cape Town in 1939 and lived there for nearly 30 years before his family and thousands of others were forced out in the 1960s under the Group Areas Act. On Saturday, Schaffers, now an educator at the District Six Museum, was there to celebrate the museum’s 30th birthday.

District Six was declared a whites-only area in 1966. Forced removals started in 1968 and by the early 1980s, 60,000 people had been moved to the Cape Flats.

“We eventually found ourselves in Hanover Park,” says Schaffers. “You can imagine coming from the centre of the city where you are within walking distance of work, churches and recreational spaces … and you are suddenly uprooted.”

Schaffers says many people have died waiting to be returned to District Six.

“It was supposed to be democracy, it was supposed to be restitution. A lot of people are still sitting out there waiting, a lot of them have died. They were looking forward to when they could come back and it hasn’t happened.”

The makeshift dancefloor at the Homecoming Centre was popular on Saturday as guests enjoyed a nostalgic playlist.

The museum opened on 10 December 1994, with the “Streets” exhibition, in the old Buitenkant Street Methodist Church. The permanent “Digging Deeper” exhibition, launched in 2000, and built on the Streets exhibit, documents life in District Six.

“It was in the shambles of the destruction of District Six that this museum was born, amidst the sadness of the demolished houses, churches and buildings,” Judge Siraj Desai, chairperson of the District Six Museum board, said at the celebration on Saturday.

“I was at Trafalgar High School in 1966. Our class was getting smaller as people were being evicted. You could see the sadness. It is that sadness and the memory of them having lived here that we must continue to keep alive,” said Desai.

In the early 2000s, the Museum expanded into the historic Sacks Futeran building one block away, now called “The District Six Museum Homecoming Centre”. The museum has an educational programme for learners and a club for former residents of District Six. A fundraising campaign during Covid-19 raised more than R1-million and the museum has also been supported by the Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport, and the National Arts Council.

On Saturday people took to the dance floor as a DJ played tunes from the 1970s and 1980s by artists such as Brenda Fassie.

Tributes to those forcibly removed are written on a 300-metre long cloth.

On a 300-metre “memory cloth” hanging on the wall, the names, addresses and messages from people who had been evicted and their families had been written. Those present were invited to add their memories.

Lisa Hendricks, a member of the oral history team which collects the stories of people who were removed, said the team was inspired by the people they visited. “People have been through so much, yet they still manage to laugh, dance and smile,” she said.

“We shall continue to fight to see a vibrant community in District Six,” said Desai.

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