District Six Museum - by Vicki

Poignant plaque on the outside wall of the District Six Methodist Church (now the District Six Museum)

Cape Town is composed of six districts and it was in 1967 in District Six that the social engineering of apartheid was applied. As visitors we have an interest in how apartheid shaped the social fabric of South Africa and, in particular, Cape Town. An understanding of how society changed then, and what it is now, can be gained by visiting the District Six Museum.

The District Six Museum documents the eviction, removal and destruction of a thriving multi-cultural district of Cape Town. Black Africans were removed to the townships as early as 1901. However it was not until 1967 that the Group Areas Act sought to more thoroughly create separate business and residential areas for non-whites, reserving most of the country for whites only, relegating coloureds and blacks to segregated areas. Through this mechanism 60 000 coloured people were also displaced into ‘townships’ on the Cape Flats.

However the story does not end there. As part of a process of reconstruction and reconciliation the museum has captured the life stories of many past residents’ of District Six. It was a deeply moving experience to read these stories.

 Removal to a township visited many privations and fears on these Cape Town residents and gave rise to an era of fear and oppression.

For former District Six residents moving to and from a township to work was closely monitored. Social support networks were fractured and people became isolated and alienated. Fortunes and economic opportunity were stolen from many and were not regained.

District Six Museum provides a montage of life as it was lived by the many newcomers to Cape Town - photos of weddings, christenings, coming of age celebrations and graduations. Newspapers stories, aerial photos at different points in time, street signs and other memorabilia highlight the poignancy of this story. There are sad stories and stories of lost friendships. There are children’s stories – memories of growing up on the foreshore of Table Bay when you could wander to the beach and play. There are stories of living next door to someone of a different religion and cultural background – unique in South Africa at that time but now common in many large cities of the world.

A long view of District Six, as it was prior to application of the Group Areas Act.  The city centre stands in the background.

District Six was a place of cultural diversity and religious tolerance.  But many of its buildings were old and poorly maintained.

Poor condition was used as thin justification for the removal of its coloured residents, allowing buildings to be torn down, making way for a new (white) neighbourhood to be built in its place.

A view down the same street (as shown two above) today.  The mosque still stands at the top of the street.

District Six now. What is most astounding is that to this day the area remains mostly vacant land with the former community's churches and a mosque scattered in this landscape.  The State quickly built some major new civic projects, but private enterprise failed to follow and  build the new white neighbourhood – an amazing silent statement. 

The removal of many black and coloured people occurred approximately two generation ago. The apartheid era geographically and culturally deeply divided South Africans from each other, but now the tide has begun to turn and hopefully will keep turning.

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