- People of Protea Village were welcomed home on their land in Bishopscourt after five decades of dispossession by the apartheid government.
- They were the first community to settle on this land, better known as the Stone Cottages in Kirstenbosch.
- Now, more than 50 years later, 86 of these families will return home.
Heritage Day delivered a special and significant celebration to the people of Protea Village who gathered on Sunday 24 September to be welcomed home on their land in Bishopscourt after five decades of dispossession by the apartheid government.
These historic villagers were the first community to settle on this land, better known as the Stone Cottages in Kirstenbosch, where they lived for generations before being forcibly removed under the Group Areas Act.
Now, more than 50 years later, 86 of these families will return home.
The event was a moving blend of heritage-rich narratives, songs and treasured artifacts during which the chair of Protea Village Barry Ellman and Dr Wayne Alexander of the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) added their voices to the significance of the day’s heritage celebrations.
“This day is as much a victory celebration as it is a heritage celebration in the broader sense of social justice,” Ellman said during his speech. “Justice for a community unjustly removed and dispossessed of its home, its history and its harmonious connection with nature by the apartheid regime.”
He continued that “the Protea Village community emerged from these earlier periods of injustice into a God-fearing, humble and harmonious community fostering the same spirit of ubuntu, which is to be found in District Six, Newlands, Claremont and many other areas countrywide where various communities were forcibly removed by the Group Areas Act.”
Alexander was received with applause when he opened his speech by telling the attending villagers “Welcome home”.
“Land and heritage are so interconnected, you cannot divorce the two from each other,” said Alexander . “Communities have been fractured, and you can see how it plays out in the different townships to where we were thrown into in terms of the pain that’s still being experienced and the violence people are having to endure, sadly, by colonialism and the apartheid past.”
He believes the “symbolic value and responses of restitution by the [Protea] villagers are acts, in my opinion, of healing. We need to use these moments to talk so that we can heal. Because we are not going to heal, we will forever be a fractured society and it’s not what South Africa is about. It is about wanting to live together and taking over the space that belonged to us and making sure we tackle spacial apartheid through the issue of restoring dignity and humanity.”
The history of the Protea Village Community is intricately woven into the very fabric of this land. Between 1959 and 1970 they endured the heart-wrenching experience of being forcibly removed from their homes in Bishopscourt when Protea Village was designated a “White Group Area”.
Seventy-year-old Ann Ntebe (of the Tomlinson family) lived at No 2 Kirstenbosch Drive and was forcibly removed from her home at the age of 16 when she witnessed her family’s furniture and that of her community’s being relocated on trailers to areas such as Heideveld and Manenberg.
“No 2 Kirstenbosch Drive is very important to me. That gives me part of my identity, I live here, this is my birthplace. When people ask me ‘Where do you come from?’ I tell them before they can say that I’m from Heideveld, ‘I’m from Kirstenbosch’, then they look at you very confused,” Ntebe joked.
“And then I tell them the story of Protea Village. When I also see the protea flower I think ‘that’s part of my heritage’ that’s in Kirstenbosch. The gardens where we used to play every Sunday when we climbed out of our Sunday best after Sunday school.”
Ellman was delighted to share with People’s Post about the recent withdrawal of the Town Planning appeal by Friends of the Liesbeek (Fol), marking a significant milestone in this ongoing narrative.
“While this is indeed a cause for celebration, we must conclude the High Court Settlement Agreement without delay. Fol has committed to accepting the settlement offer, and we eagerly anticipate the removal of this final obstacle.”
Fol’s chair Nick Fordyce confirmed this, saying, however, that it was never the group’s position to intentionally block the Protea Village Community from rightfully accessing their land.
“However, our role as custodians of the river is to ensure developments alongside it adequately make space for the river and take into consideration the anticipated impacts of climate change for present and future generations.”
This particular parcel of land, in the upper reaches of the river corridor, is ecologically very sensitive, Fordyce explained.
“Through our negotiations, we’ve been able to make a little bit more room for the river, which we think is a critical intervention. One only has to look at the extreme rainfall experienced this past weekend to get a sense of what we are in for in the coming decades.”
Fol is looking to meet directly with the village community with the hopes of reconciling any differences that may exist.
Ellman added that with the town planning appeal now behind them, the Protea Village Community can earnestly engage in discussions with the City and embark on the essential phases of development.
“This brings us one step closer to the long-awaited return home and advances our vision of a sustainable and responsible restoration of our community, property, and cherished homes – a legacy we have dreamt of passing down to future generations.”
