Sixty years ago the apartheid government declared District Six — for decades the vibrant heart of Cape Town’s working class — to be a slum that needed to be demolished. With a stroke of a functionary’s pen it became a “white area” in terms of the iniquitous Group Areas Act. Homes were destroyed and the residents were forced to move to the Cape Flats, far from the city centre.
Since democracy there have been frequent declarations that District Six would be restored to its former inhabitants. The promises have been mostly empty, but the memories of the neighbourhood’s heyday remain as vibrant as ever.
Two of the Capetonians who have done most to burnish those memories were honoured last month with the freedom of the city — David Kramer and Taliep Petersen, who combined their musical talents 40 years ago to produce District Six: The Musical, a memorial to the enduring pain of one of apartheid’s cruellest acts.
The honour was posthumous in the case of Petersen, who was murdered 20 years ago at the age of 56 by hitmen contracted by his second wife, Najwa. She is still in jail.
The ceremony was held in the city hall, and at one point Kramer, Petersen’s daughter Jawaahier and mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis went out onto the famous balcony from which Nelson Mandela delivered his first speech after his release from jail.
Mandela is still there in the form of a waving statue — and Kramer, 74, gave it a tap on the back. Perhaps he was remembering the time in 1998 in London’s West End when the then president attended a performance of another Kramer-Petersen collaboration set in District Six, Kat and the Kings, at The Vaudeville theatre.
The freedom of the city ceremony mixed the light-hearted with the solemn. Jawaahier spoke of her father and Kramer’s work, moving “through homes, theatres, schools and generations”.
“The legacy is not just a title or a trophy,” she said, addressing her late father. “It’s not measured by applause or accolades alone. Legacy is what remains when the curtain falls. Thanks to you and Uncle David’s work, the coloured narrative stretched beyond missing teeth, gangsterism and missed opportunity, a cultural experience too often marginalised, too often misunderstood.”
Known for his sense of humour, the man in the red velskoene and porkpie hat asked in his remarks if winning the freedom of the city meant free parking, or permission to drive a flock of sheep through the streets to graze on Green Point common, or to invite a troupe of ostriches to enjoy the offerings in the Company’s Gardens.
But he also ventured into #SmutsMustFall territory: did having the freedom of the city mean he could ask the city council to remove the Jan Smuts statue outside the Iziko Slave Lodge at the top of Adderley Street? “He looks quite stiff, sitting there, and I think it’s time we took that statue down,” said Kramer.
In its place he suggested erecting a statue of someone beating a ghoema hand drum, a traditional Cape Malay instrument.
Kramer thanked his family and the city for recognising his work. He said he accepted the honour with a commitment to continue to serve the city with “a spirit of creativity, diversity and hope, a city I love so dearly”.
The work of Kramer and Petersen has had an impact on generations of Capetonians. At an event this month marking the 60th anniversary of District Six being declared a whites-only area, third-generation District Six descendants shared stories of how their grandparents would never miss District Six: The Musical whenever it was on TV.
Speaking to the FM at the special council meeting where he accepted the freedom of the city, Kramer said all he and Petersen wanted to do was tell stories of their communities. “What Taliep and I did was to try to set an example of creating work out of our own community and focusing on our own identity,” he says.
That is the problem. We are still infatuated with what happens overseas
— David Kramer
“Celebrating who we are rather than copying people from overseas. That is the problem. We are still infatuated with what happens overseas,” Kramer adds. “That’s why it’s such a wonderful thing that we have been acknowledged for the work we have done. We have never done anything but write about our own community.”
He says he is “proud” of the new generation of Cape Town musicians. “They’ve all grown up in front of my eyes and they’ve brought along a lot of new people. There’s a lot of hope for the talent of Cape Town. We need to celebrate ourselves. We are relying on the young talent to do that.”
Kramer struggles to control his emotions when he talks of Petersen. “To see him receive this award posthumously is a testament to the indelible mark that he left on the soul of the city.”
In what was perhaps a full-circle moment earlier this month, musicians Jody Abrahams, Loukmaan Adams, Alistair Izobell and Emo Adams collaborated with Kramer on a new production, From Hanover Street, created to mark the day in February 1966 that District Six was declared “white”.
“It’s also the same date that prompted the start of writing the District Six musical 40 years ago with Taliep Petersen,” Kramer told a local radio station. “And up until that point — since the declaration and the forced removals and demolitions, which took place over about 15 years, District Six had become almost a not-spoken-about subject.”
In a social media post, Emo Adams said: “The spirit still echoes through our hearts. District Six wasn’t just a place ... it was the people, the heart, the blended community.”
The process of property restitution in District Six has been painfully slow. Only 247 houses have been completed and handed over, about 20% of the planned total. Much of the land where homes once stood remains empty and underdeveloped. The redevelopment work still to be done will cost R2.4bn.
President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged District Six in his recent state of the nation address, which he delivered at the Cape Town city hall. “The destruction of District Six is a painful reminder of our shared responsibility to redress the injustice of the past and to build vibrant and cohesive communities. The restitution claim lodged in 1998 affirmed the lawful right of former residents and their descendants to come home,” he said.
“The restoration of District Six is a goal that we all seek and a responsibility that we must all shoulder.”
