Charles Jaftha, who runs a flower farm with his brother Malcolm, led a heritage walk in Constantia on Wednesday.
Families forcibly removed from Constantia in the 1960s and 70s were honoured during a heritage walk through the suburb on Wednesday.
The Jaftha family, who run Jaftha’s Flower Farm in the suburb, organised the walk to mark Heritage Day.
The family has been growing flowers in the Constantia Valley since the 1800s. They were forcibly removed during apartheid, but with the help of a white business owner, were able to lease land from the municipality in 1985. They have run their flower farm there ever since.
The walk on Wednesday was led by Charles Jaftha, who runs the farm with his brother Malcolm. The walk began at the farm and passed landmarks such as Peddlars restaurant, which used to be a farm stall where Charles’ father worked, and Keysers River. It ended along Strawberry Lane, from which families were removed.
Participants walked along Keysers River before reaching Strawberry Lane, from which many families were forcefully removed during apartheid.
Claire-Anne Lester, whose father’s family was forced from Strawberry Lane when he was five, joined the walk. “It is about allowing people to remember these stories … if we don’t speak about them and remind the public what happened, it will just be lost to history,” she said.
“I can see ripplings of a new generation that’s really inquisitive about the past, who are also struggling from the housing crisis, from the cost of living, and really taking umbrage at the persistent inequality, which is very much rooted in the apartheid past,” she told GroundUp.
Claire-Anne Lester, whose father was removed from the area when he was five, took part in the walk with her daughter, Rosa.
Jaftha explained that before apartheid removals, the community was closeknit. “When they were living down here, everybody was within walking distance of each other. Most of them were flower growers. A lot of families didn’t even have a proper fence … you could move around,” he told participants.
The Jaftha family plans to raise funds for a heritage museum on the farm.
There were flowers on sale as well as pictures of families who used to live in Constantia. The area is now one of the most expensive suburbs in Cape Town.
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Lack of access to education: Limited access to quality education, especially in rural areas.
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Ukraine: You have two cows. One of them feeds on American grass, the other feeds on Russian grass.
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Diary of an Englishman after he moves to South Africa….
**August 1**: Just got transferred with work from London, UK to our new home in Phalaborwa, Limpopo, South Africa. Now this is a town that knows how to live! Beautiful, sunny days and warm, balmy evenings. I watched the sunset from a deckchair by our pool yesterday. It was beautiful. I’ve finally found my new home. I love it here.
**September 1:** Really heating up now. It got to 31 today. No problem though. Living in air-conditioned home, driving air-conditioned car. What a pleasure to see the sun every day like this. I’m turning into a sun-worshipper – no blasted rain like back in London! Had the back yard landscaped with tropical plants today. Lots of palms and rocks. No more mowing lawns for me! Another scorcher today, but I love it here. It’s Paradise !
**October 1:** The temperature hasn’t been below 35 all week. How do people get used to this kind of heat? At least today it’s windy though. Keeps the flies off a bit. Acclimatizing is taking longer than we expected. Fell asleep by the pool yesterday. Got third degree burns over 60% of my body. Missed three days off work. What a dumb thing to do. Got to respect the old sun in a climate like this!
**October 25:** This wind is a bastard. It feels like a giant fucking blow dryer. And it’s hot as hell! The home air conditioner is on the blink and the repair man charged R200 just to drive over and tell me he needs to order parts from @#$# Johannesburg. The wife & the kids are complaining.
**October 30:** The temperature’s up around 40 and the parts still haven’t arrived for the fucking air conditioner. House is an oven so we’ve all been sleeping outside by the pool for 3 nights now. Bleeding R4 million house and we can’t even go inside. Why the hell did I ever come here?
**November 4:** Finally got the fucking air-conditioner fixed. It cost R1,500 and gets the temperature down to around 35 degrees. Stupid repairman. Fucking thief. If one more smart bastard says ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I’m going to fucking throttle him. Fucking heat! By the time I get to work, the car radiator is boiling over, my fucking clothes are soaking fucking wet and I smell like baked cat. Fucking place is the end of the Earth.
**November 9:** Tried to run some errands after work, wore shorts, and sat on the black leather upholstery in my car. I thought my fucking backside was on fire. I lost 2 layers of flesh, all the hair on the backs of my legs and off my fucking behind. Now the car smells like burnt hair, fried bum and baked cat. The Weather report might as well be a fucking recording – hot and sunny. Hot and sunny, Hot and fucking sunny. It’s been too hot to do anything for 2 bleeding months and the weatherman says it might really warm up next week. Fuck!!
**November 15:** Doesn’t it ever rain in this darn place? Water restrictions will be next, so my R5,000 worth of palms might just dry up and blow into the fucking pool. The only things that thrive in this hell-hole are the fucking flies. You don’t dare open your mouth for fear of swallowing half a dozen of the little buzzards!
**November 20:** Welcome to HELL! It got to 45 degrees today. Now the air conditioner is gone in my car. The repair man came to fix it and said, ‘Hot enough for you today?’ I wanted to shove the car up his backside. Anyway, had to spend the R2,500 of the mortgage payment to bail me out of jail for assaulting the stupid fool. Fucking PHALABORWA! What kind of sick, demented idiot would want to live here!
**December 1:** WHAT!!!! The FIRST day of Summer!!!!
You are fucking kidding me, right?