The District Six Museum will have their annual remembrance walk on Monday February 11, at 11am.
The walk of remembrance marks the day that District Six was declared a white area by the apartheid government in 1966.
Remembered in different ways over the past number of years, the former and returning residents have worked hard to ensure that the day will be remembered by generations beyond their lifetimes.
It was on 11 February in 2004 that the first “Return of the Elders” event took place. District Six Museum’s director Bonita Bennett said: “On this day,
we acknowledge the tremendous impact of the draconian Group Areas Act under apartheid,
and its lasting legacy in the communities of people who were directly affected by it: District Six, Sophiatown, Bo-kaap, Windermere, Sakkiesdorp, South End, Fietas, Constantia, Claremont, Tramway Road and so many more.
“On this day we also renew our pledge to ensure that the right to memory is non-negotiable, and its place in nation-building is to be affirmed.
“We remind ourselves of the unfinished business of land restitution, and of the ongoing displacement of people even as we inhabit the space of the new South Africa.”
The walk will start at the District Six Museum at 11am, to the cairn of stones in Hanover Street (now enclosed by CPUT residence fencing), and end at the Homecoming Centre in Buitenkant Street.
Take a stone from your community to lay on the cairn if you wish.
For more information, contact info@districtsix.co.za or call 021 466 7200.
