Red Location Museum - Maduna Road

Maduna Road is one of the road in Langa, Uitenhage, where the Langa massacre took place in 1985.  The Langa massacre took place on the 25th anniversary of the Sharpville massacre of 1960.  The police fired on a group of mourners on their way to a banned funeral, killing 20 people. There was an international outcry following this incident and a Commission of Inquiry (Kannemeyer Commission) was immediately appointed to investigate the cause of the shooting.  The story is told in one of the exhibits in the Red Location Museum in New Brighton.

Red Location Museum Memory Box - Vuyisile Mini

One of the Memory Boxes in the Red Location Museum is dedicated to Vuyisile Mini, one of the first African National Congress members to be executed by apartheid South Africa.  The space contains three nooses representing those that he was hung on along with Wilson Khayinga and Zinakile Mkaba.

 

Vuyisile Mini was born in 1920 in the Port Elizabeth.  Mini's militant political activities began in 1951 when he joined the ANC.  In 1952 he was jailed with Govan Mbeki and Raymond Mhlaba for three months in North End Prison for participation in theDefiance Campaigm.  In 1961 Mini was one of the first group of people to be recruited into uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), and become a member of the Eastern Cape High Command.  He was arrested on 10 May 1963 together with two other prominent ANC members, Wilson Khayinga and Zinakile Mkaba, charged with 17 counts of sabotage and other political crimes including complicity in the death of Sipho Mange, an alleged police informer and sentenced to death. Mini, Khayinga and Mkaba were hanged in the Pretoria Central Prison on 6 November 1964.  Mini went to the gallows singing freedom songs, some he had composed.

 

Port Elizabeth's Market Square in front of City Hall was renamed Vuyisile Mini Square a couple of years ago.

Reconciliation walkway

This week 20 years ago, then president FW de Klerk made the speech in which he announced the planned unbanning of parties like the African National Congress (ANC) as well as the intended release of Nelson Mandela from prison. By chance a bit earlier in the week I discovered a paved path in South End fairly close to where I work. It was built by a local family who formed their business here in Port Elizabeth 100 years ago and represented all the major events of the century. The walkway ends overlooking the Baakens Valley with these three seats. On the middle seat is the word Reconciliation which represents 1994 as the year in which the first free and fair elections took place.

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GPS: 33°58'18.19"S , 25°36'52.36"E

Langa Memorial

Langa in Uitenhage holds a special place in the history of resistance to apartheid, as it was here that 20 people were shot dead by police on 21 March 1985, the 25th anniversary of the Sharpeville massacre of 1960. The 1985 shooting took place just outside Langa township, and became known as the Langa Massacre. There was an international outcry following this incident and a Commission of Inquiry was immediately appointed to investigate the cause of the shooting. A year after the Langa massacre, a memorial tombstone to those who died was unveiled in the KwaNobuhle Cemetery. The tombstone was vandalised in June 1987 and re-erected in March 1994. The Langa Memorial marks the spot where the police opened fire on a crowd of mourners on their way to a banned funeral.

Ruins of St Peter's Church

Part of the ruins of St Peter's Church in South End. Built in 1877, the church was partly demolished by the apartheid government to prevent members of the congregation to return after the community was forcibly removed in 1965. For more info and pictures, visit The Firefly Photo Files.

Why not pop over to Skywatch to see some more photos from all over the world.

such a shame

We have taken you to the fascinating Red Location Museum before. It documents the movement against apartheid, and the red location was one of the significant places in the evolution of the ANC and the struggle for democracy in South Africa. We have written in more detail about this fascinating place on our personal blogs, and lamented the fact that the last few remaining historically significant shacks, built in 1903, are being vandalised and sold to unscrupulous scrap dealers. It was under the basements of these shacks where the underground leaders of the freedom movement held meetings and hid from the Apartheid Police.

Here is a phototaken by Max last year,

and these were taken last week showing the degree of damage that has taken place.

A lame attempt has been made to fence off two of the remaining ones, but the fence has already been pulled down. How sad that selfish individuals have so little pride in the accomplishment of this community in bringing about the downfall of the repressive Apartheid system.

The Ruins of St Peter's, South End

We have posted about South End before, it is one of the areas that were cleared out during the Apartheid era, because of the racialy mixed community, and this church was later demolished because the congregation kept returning here to worship. It remains as a necessary reminder of a shameful part of our history that will hopefully never be repeated!

Hideousness from the 80s

This is the Mount Road Police Station. It is hideous on many levels, the most apparent being the austere looking architecture which is typical of many apartheid era government buildings. There is a sort of repressive nazi look about them before you even know what went on inside. This building has a nasty history.

It was previously called Louis Le Grange Square, named after the then Minister of Law and Order, who was responsible for some of the worst human rights abuses that went on at the time. The notorious Security Branch had their offices on the fifth floor, and there were many deaths in detention which were put down as "the detainee committed suicide by jumping from the unbarred window to escape detention".... If you want to know more and are in the mood for some depressing reading, the TRC commission findings shed light on how the Security Police operated, and saw themselves as completely above the law. A dark period in South African History.

On a more positive note, you can see workers in the foreground, digging up the pavements. This is actually good news! Our previously state run Telecomunications supplier was "privatized" many years go, but has enjoyed a monopoly all this time, thus giving it freedom to overcharge and provide really shabby service. (Telkom also owns major shares in Vodacom, and regulate cell phone rates, so ours are very expensive.) Finally, a competitor has been licenced, and Neotel is busy digging up our streets at the moment to lay fibre-optic cable. Most of us are delighted to endure a bit of inconvenience if it means we might soon be getting a decent telephone service at competitive prices.

Places of Worship #8

Another view of the ruins of St Peters Church in South End.

In order to stop the displaced members of the congregation returning to worship there, after the forced removal of the South End residents, the apartheid government demolished the church. Though there are a lot of townhouse developments around the St Peters, the remains of the church will be retained as a testimony to past injustices.

An exhibit at Red Location Museum

This is an exhibit in the fascinating Red Location museum.

It shows anti apartheid posters which were circulated when the restrictions were at their worst, anyone found with one of these would have been in for a very bad time! The books on the little tables are transcripts of the proceedings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, with the intention of bringing into the open the atrocities committed during the apartheid era. They make very chilling reading, but many families who lost loved ones in horrible circumstances were able to achieve some form of closure through this process.

The Bubonic Plague...

Continuing the Richmond Hill story from yesterday (and if you are new to this thread, go back to the post called Places of Worship #6 for the background history), the area known as the Strangers Location and the lands owned by the London Missionary Society had an outbreak of Bubonic Plague in 1903, and were burned down. The residents were relocated to the Red Location in New Brighton, about 6km away as the crow flies, so naturally getting to work at the Port became much more difficult for them. (This was before Apartheid became official policy, but certainly it set the foundation for later forced removals in the 60s and 70s, which caused so much heartache and suffering, as well as loss of heritage sites.) The photo shown here was taken in 1903 and shows the actual burning of the houses, while supervisors and spectators look on. It is a photo taken of the original which is on display in the Red Location museum.

Places of Worship #6

Part of Richmond Hill was originally known as "The Location for Native Strangers" and was set aside in 1855 for the Khoi San and Mfengu workers who mostly worked on loading and unloading the ships at the fast growing Port. (Yup, I’m afraid the British Colonial Government established Apartheid long before the Nats actually gave it a name…..)

The London Missionary Society was granted the land, and set up a Chapel for these workers. They also allocated plots and rough houses were built on them. Many were beehive grass huts, others were wood and corrugated iron structures.

In front of the Chapel was the graveyard which we featured yesterday, divided into Catholic, Wesleyan and London Missionary Society sections. The Park opposite our house, which has often featured in our photos, was at that time the graveyard for the Mfengu and Khoi San workers.

There is a part of the suburb where, for 2 blocks, the houses are noticeably newer than the historic ones in the rest of the area. This is because in 1903 there was an outbreak of Bubonic Plague, which devastated this community. By this time, the Government had realised this was prime residential land close to all amenities, so the plague was used as an excuse to relocate the workers to Red location, so named because of the rusted corrugated iron used to build their homes.

Over the next few days, after the New Year Theme Day, we will feature some pictures of all this, including the Chapel, a surviving corrugated Iron house, a fascinating photo taken in 1903 of the burning of Strangers Location during the Plague, and the award winning Red location Museum, with some of the original shacks and buildings.


However today, we are showing you a fascinating old building, the Edward Street Synagogue, built on part of the land vacated by the removal of the location. It has distinct Art Nouveau details, but in a uniquely Israeli style. It was built for the Jewish tradesmen who moved into the area, but since the late 70s the Jewish population of Port Elizabeth has declined sharply, and this building is now used only rarely for services. It houses a Museum of Jewish History in PE, which we will also visit one of these days.

We need help to choose which photo to use for the January 1st Theme day! Thanks so much to those who have already done so. If you have a chance, and haven't seen the choices yet, please go to the slideshow and let us know in the comments there which one you like best. Thanks!

Award and Red Location Museum

Ok, this just wouldn't be a city daily blog if I didn't show you this morning's newspaper headline.....

I mean that is quite an achievement for a town whose nickname was, until recently, the ghost on the coast!
In the 50s and 60s PE developed as the hub of the SA motor industry (very punny),
but in the late 70s many of the motor manufacturers and parts manufactures relocated, and the city went through a terrible economic depression. When we came here to live, in 1978, there were empty places to rent all over, and we could really take our pick and name our terms, owners were just too glad to find a tennant.
A real atmosphere of gloom pervaded the place, and the negativity became a well known feature of the city. Any business venture which was suggested would be knocked on the head with a comment like...oh it will never work in PE. .. It is still a feature of the PE psyche that, while the upwardly mobile in other cities brag about how MUCH something cost them, PE people will brag about what a BARGAIN they got!! Things like art, and services like design consulting sell for much less here than they do in the rest of the country.... because people here will just not pay what they consider to be inflated prices for luxury goods.
Even property prices have only recently soared to catch up with those in the rest of the country.
So against this background, the Municipality has done an amazing job of turning things around, bringing new initiatives, creating jobs, and instilling a new sense of pride in the city... the award is well deserved.

Anyway this is meant to be a photo blog, and a newspaper article hardly qualifies, so here is a shot of the wonderful award winning Red Location Musuem, mentioned in the article. It is a really amazing place, and we will show more of it in the future, but if you want to know more about it, I did a post with lots of photos on my blog here. (the photos are small to save on my uploading allowance, which is rapidly running out on that blog, but you can click on them to enlarge).

This photo shows the main lobby of the museum. The red cloth contains signatures of all involved in the project and community members. To the right, the row of pillars has biographies and pictures of the 'heroes of the struggle' for freedom from apartheid. To the left of the cloth, not seen here, is the Nelson Mandela Room, containing his biography in photos and documents, including some of his letters to his family, written while he was in prison on Robben Island.