The District Six Museum is a memorial to the evils of the Group Areas Act, but its survival is threatened by the government’s lack of support, writes Rehana Rossouw
ALTHOUGH memorials celebrating Afrikaner history receive millions of rands of support, the government has only been prepared to make a one-off payment of R200 000 for the museum which houses the remnants of District Six.
“When I die, my ashes must be thrown at bus stop 100, Constitution Street,”. This poignant message from Mrs P Simmons is one of thousands left behind on a calico cloth by a visitor to the District Six Museum.
District Six was named for the sixth municipal district in Cape Town in 1867 and was home to a multicultural community of freed slaves, merchants, artisans and immigrants.In 1901, Africans were forcibly removed from the area and in 1966 it was declared a white area in terms of the Group Areas Act. By 1982, almost 60 000 people were forced out into matchbox houses on the barren Cape Flats, their houses flattened by bulldozers.
Today, the tract of land which once was District Six remains largely undeveloped, symbolic of the evils of apartheid. “The area is still a powerful reminder of things that happened and must never be allowed to happen again. The District Six Museum ensures this memory will not diminish,” the project says in its mission statement.
Based in the Central Methodist Church in Buitenkant Street, Cape Town, the venue also holds symbolism for its founders. The church served the District Six community and several meetings protesting against forced removals were held there.
“In a way, it’s also a war museum. This church was a sanctuary for people harassed by police during protest action. (Justice Minister) Dullah Omar used to counsel relatives here of people held across the road at the Caledon Square police station,” said project director Sandra Prosalendis.
The project calls itself a “living museum”. It began as an exhibition planned for two weeks in December 1994, but has kept its doors open because of demands from former District Six residents from around the world that it become the custodian of the area’s legacy.
The initial exhibition dubbed Streets offered little more than the original street signs of the area. Today, the museum includes a map of District Six on its floor, where ex-residents can mark their homes and other significant places. Archaeological finds like cutlery, coins, toys and costume jewellery are on display. Scores of family photographs have been donated and larger-than-life portraits of civic leaders stare down from the gallery.
Donations for the museum continue to pour in from former residents. A milk bottle from the People’s Dairy in Hanover Street, District Six, dating back to the 1920s arrived one day from London.
The most moving exhibit at the museum is a calico cloth visitors are invited to sign before leaving. More than 100m stretch from the floor to the ceiling rafters at two ends of the church. Some have only left their names and former addresses, others have left poetry and many a plea for justice and compensation.
The museum staff estimate “conservatively” that about 35 000 people have visited in the year since it opened. They include foreign tourists to Cape Town and United States vice president Al Gore and Irish president Mary Robinson.
“Most people relate in a very emotional way when they come here, but most use this space. They bring their children and grandchildren to show them where they once lived and what Distirct Six was really like,” said Prosalendis.
“The museum responds to the surrounding context all the time. We’re planning a sports exhibition for August to unearth the rich sporting life which was destroyed by the Group Areas Act.
“Some clubs, like the Sea Point Swifts soccer club, still exist today but others were destroyed. Once again we’re relying on the community to unearth that past. There’s a lot of history out there, some of it written and recorded in photographs.
“We want to tap into what has already been preserved as a labour of love.”
The District Six Museum is run by a board of trustees, most of them former residents of the area. It has been involved in collaborative events with other museums, but remains staunchly independent at the behest of the community it serves.
“It’s a part of people’s lives, not just them but their descendants as well. For some people coming to the museum is like coming to the truth commission, they all have painful stories of the past. And they want it to continue to perform that task,” Prosalendis said.
Trustee Vincent Kolbe also believes the museum has to remain independent as it does not fit in with the ethos of others. “You still have the old guard running museums in this country. They’re very involved in transformation, but all they’re doing is transforming their image, not their ideas. We are pointing the way to future museums, to a new culture.”
Unfortunately the new culture does not appear to resonate with the new government. The museum received R200 000 this year from the Department of Arts and Culture, and was expressly told that this was a one-off grant.
Yet Arts and Culture Minister Ben Ngubane revealed in Parliament recently that R1,2-million was spent on the Voortrekker Museum, R1,5-million on the Oorlogsmuseum van die Boererepubliek and R801 000 on the Afrikaans Language Museum.
“Museums are expensive to run, but it appears arts and culture is given a very low priority in South Africa. No museum in the world raises more than 10% of its running costs from door takings. District Six was a poor community, so we have little chance of getting rich patrons,” said Prosalendis.
Kolbe says he believes the government is being short-sighted by refusing to fund new museum initiatives. “It seems the RDP is only about getting a roof over your head, food in your stomach and being fit for work. Culture rehumanises people, but the RDP gives no head and heart space, what does the government want — machines?”
A spokesman for the Ministry of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, Frans Basson, said an Act of Parliament allowed for existing museums to receive government funding. This excluded independent museums which also needed government aid.
“It was therefore decided to fund them as well, but in this fashion (ie, a one-off grant). There is currently, as part of a review process of the department’s policy, an evaluation going on that should put them all on an equal footing.”
Basson said the District Six Museum could be funded again next year should the new policy not have been completed in time.