September 22, 2004
By Lucky Sindane
MORE than 20 000 people are expected at the third annual Fietas festival, which takes places from 23 to 26 September in Vrededorp-Pageview.
The Fietas festival is an annual cultural celebration held in Vrededorp-Pageview, where the mixed community was torn apart by various apartheid laws - the most infamous being the Group Areas Act that affected the community between 1956 and 1977.
"The people of Fietas will be reclaiming their heritage - to restore themselves and the vital legacy of a community through a festival that celebrates the ways and values of a time and place that still resides in our memories and hearts," said festival director, Mudney Halim.
"Non-white people who came to Johannesburg looking for work used to live there," said Halim.
Fietas was declared a white area, the houses destroyed and its residents forced into the separate racially-based townships of Lenasia, Soweto, Eldorado Park and Western Townships.
Before then, in the late 1920s and early 1930s, black people were forcibly removed from Fietas to Orlando East.
"Some people lost their souls and we want to encourage them to come forward and talk about their experiences. Further stories need to be told," Halim says.
"Heritage is very important; South African people share a common heritage. We need to promote local talent such as our artists, writers and musicians. People are doing things which are not noticeable and we want to change that by putting what they are doing on the map," says Halim.
The Fietas festival is for everyone - the children will be entertained by the Kelloggs, Yum Yum and McCain road shows. "We have a shared heritage which we need to protect for our children," says Halim.
The highlights of this year's festival include slide shows, poetry, open air film screenings, talks by eminent South African writers including Don Mattera, Ahmed Essop, Chris van Wyk and John Matshikiza, visits to heritage trails including the 14th Street Bazaar, historic buildings and cemeteries.
There will also be sporting activities such as soccer and rugby. "People used to take part in sports under poor conditions but they managed to grow and achieve great things under oppression."
The festival will also see a Fietas Heritage exhibition at the MuseuMAfricA on Friday, 24 September. The centrepiece of the exhibition will be a quilt made up of small squares of fabric sewn together containing celebratory messages and emotive memories of Fietas residents.
"Fietas clearly was a place of experience and its past, celebrated in words and pictures on the squares making up the quilt, still continues to evoke a sense of belonging among the past residents," said a media statement.
For more information contact the organisers on 011 833 5624.
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