By Ndaba Dlamini
FIFTY years ago, the people of Roodepoort-Maraisburg Native Location, otherwise known as Juliwe, were forcibly uprooted from their beloved homes amidst the presence of the police and the army and moved to Dobsonville, a place far from their workplaces and friends and relatives.
In memory of the forced removals of the people of Juliwe, that occurred at the same time as the infamous Sophiatown removals, a monument will be erected at Horizon View Cemetery in Roodepoort some time this year, says Jenny Moodley, spokesperson for Johannesburg City Parks.
"The community of Dobsonville, championed by the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights, met and decided to erect a monument at the cemetery," she said.
"City Parks, which is responsible for the maintenance and development of Johannesburg's parks and cemeteries, supports the installation and will observe the maintenance costs of the memorial."
According to Bongani Ngwenyama from the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights, the project was given the green light in June 2004 after the commission saw the need to "give back the rights of the people to the right people" and to accommodate the Dobsonville community's claims.
Ngwenyama said the commission is currently scouting for funding from various sources. He said they have approached the Gauteng department of sport, recreation, arts and culture and the National Lottery Fund for financial support.
"Our major challenge at the moment is getting funding for the project. The community will definitely need some assistance to raise the costs of installing the monument, initially pegged at R60 000."
The design of the monument, yet to be drawn up, will have to be informed by the historical background of the former Juliwe community, Ngwenyama added. "The design of the monument will have to be submitted to the Department of Arts and Culture for approval. The monument should also serve an educational purpose."
The community, together with City Parks, will have to decide where in the Horizon View Cemetery to erect the memorial. According to Oscar Oliphant, community liaison officer at City Parks, the cemetery is currently filled to capacity and identifying a site will pose problems.
"Family members of the deceased at the cemetery will have to be identified and informed if the identified site encroaches on graves."
Oliphant, however, said City Parks would support a site that will give the monument exposure. City Parks and representatives of the community will conduct a site inspection on 13 April 2005.
Initially, black South Africans lived "all over Roodepoort" which, by 1900, was already a functioning municipality. In 1907, a black residential area for Roodepoort was surveyed on the farm Roodepoort No.43.
Roodepoort No.43 was owned under surface right by TS Nefdt and others - a situation, according to records, which permitted the Roodepoort-Maraisburg municipality free use of the land for township purposes. The land was situated 1.6 kilometres from the centre of Roodepoort.
A survey conducted in 1922 revealed that the Roodepoort township, the only black residential area for Roodepoort, had a population of 1 460 people living in 170 houses. The residents had to build houses for themselves because the Roodepoort council was "unwilling" to build houses. By 1938, 3 233 people were living in Roodepoort township, mainly working in Florida, Maraisburg and Roodepoort (the Roodepoort-Maraisburg municipal area).
The township had two sections, the old and the new. The houses in the old section were mostly constructed of "pieces of iron" and were "close together". There were 350 single "pit latrines" in the old section of the township serving 360 black owned houses.
The new section of the township consisted of municipal houses built under a "sub-economic housing scheme". The new section was "well built" with 43 municipal houses erected departmentally from a sub-economic loan of £11 000.
According to museum records, in 1942 the Roodepoort-Maraisburg council proposed the establishment of a new township because of "overcrowding" in Juliwe. The population of the township had ballooned 4 516 at this time due to the influx of black families moving from rural areas to the towns in search of work.
In 1951, central government decided to relocate residents of Juliwe to a new site following a visit by the then Minister of Native Affairs. A new site was eventually decided on - Vogelstruisfontein No.12, present day Dobsonville.
Joe Tabane, a member of the Dobsonville committee set up to build up support for the establishment of the monument and an "ex-Roodepoort Native Location resident" remembers the police trucks or kwelakwelas and the heavy police and army presence when the families were moved from Juliwe.
"People and their possessions were loaded on to trucks without any prior consultation. Dobsonville was far from our places of work and far from essential services that we needed. The compensation was meagre - £8 a household."
The new township was named after RT Dobson, a local superintendent of Juliwe. The name, according to Tabane, was suggested by residents for services rendered by Dobson.
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