Statement of Significance
District Six, the once vibrant multi-cultural residential heart of Cape Town, was ripped out by forcing more than 60 000 people from the economic centre and relocating a whole community to the Cape Flats, an area devoid of opportunity located at the periphery of the city. In the same fashion, many communities across South Africa were disenfranchised, disempowered and dehumanised. Urban dwellers of colour were relegated to the least favourable areas and their economic ability, social opportunities and lifestyle were considerably reduced through the dramatic erosion of a cosmopolitan and lively community.
District Six is considered to possess the national heritage value of ‘telling a national history of forced removals.’ District Six constitutes a previously neglected memory of the history of South Africa that is to be used as part of the reconstruction and healing of the nation, a memory closely guarded and kept alive by the former residents and celebrated and passed on through various means, such as the arts, schools and religious centres that remained.
The significance, of District Six, is threefold as it tells the story of how people became the victims of their circumstances, but through years of non-violent resistance and a fervent struggle became victorious, evidenced by the pride of many former residents and descendants of these residents.
1. Firstly, “land was stolen from people who were defenceless, voiceless and disenfranchised in the land of their birth”
2. Secondly the resistance and struggle of the people prevented the area of District Six from being redeveloped into a middle-class white area as was envisioned and planned by the apartheid planners. The pen and the word were used as armour in the struggle and resistance of this community to return and get back their ‘stolen goods’.
3. Restoration, redevelopment and reconstitution are the final steps in the reconciliation of a community. Currently, this is taking the form of recalling the community of District Six to transplant the cultural heart back into the city.
This legacy of history must be remembered for having the potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of South Africa's cultural heritage. It must be celebrated for its importance in the community and pattern of South Africa's history.
Moravian Church
The Moravian Church has a deep history in South Africa as it was the first church to have a mission station in South Africa when Georg Schmidt arrived in 1737 to begin his work in Baviaanskloof, now Genadendal. The Moravian Chapel previously located in Russell Road, known as Moravian Hill, was built in 1886 and consecrated 25 September 1886 became the first urban Moravian congregation.
The bell of the Church provides another history as bells have come to form part of our cultural history and it was initially, ‘brought to South Africa for church and civic purposes from the earliest days of the Dutch settlement at the Cape.’ Bells served numerous purposes within the Moravian Church such as, announcing worship services, earlier years, at the mission stations the ringing of the bell called up the residents for community work, and the tolling of the church bell announces that someone in the congregation has passed away. The bell at Moravian Hill hangs in a bell-cote above the apex on the west end of the church with a backdrop against Table Mountain with the date of 1936 engraved on it. 1936 represents the 50th anniversary of the Church and it may be the bell coincided with that commemoration.
