September 21, 2007
By Lucille Davie
JOHANNESBURG, a young city at 121 years old, has an enviable and all-encompassing heritage collection.
It includes Iron Age and Bushman artefacts; remnants of Bantu peoples, colonials, gold diggers; apartheid oppression and resistance; and the political maturing and place of residence of the country's most esteemed citizen, Nelson Mandela. Along the way it has incubated icons like Mahatma Gandhi.
British architect Herbert Baker, responsible for the Union Buildings and many Joburg structures, also used the city as his sounding board.
But it also epitomises how not to preserve its heritage - for decades previous administrations saw fit to glibly implode some of its most beautiful buildings. Thankfully, however, that has come to an end and Joburg now has a heritage policy in place.
In 2004, a 21-page Heritage Policy Framework was produced. "Heritage resources are viewed as positive instruments for growth and change and identified as a major driver of inner city revitalisation," reads the document.
The new-look Drill Hall, with dramatic pillars demarcating the walls of the razed hall
A list of 76 city-owned heritage properties has been compiled, ranging from nature reserves, houses, koppies, markets, monuments and statues, to squares and prisons. Among these are places of significant history: the Old Fort prison complex, the Drill Hall, the June 16 Memorial Acre, Walter Sisulu House, Enoch Sontonga Memorial Park and Kippies Jazz Club.
"Johannesburg's heritage resources are precious, non-renewable, finite and irreplaceable and must therefore be protected to ensure their survival."
Restoration of heritage
In the last half-dozen years the City council has moved quickly to restore and respect the city's heritage. The name
"Sophiatown" has been re-instated to the suburb, dropping the offensive "Triomf"; most of the
Credo Mutwa Cultural Village in Soweto has been restored; and the
Indian War Memorial on Observatory Ridge, a monument remembering the substantial contribution of Indians in the 1899 to 1902 South African War, has been restored.
Also in Sophiatown, although it has subsequently died, an
oak tree in Bertha Street was declared South Africa's first champion tree, denoting its historical significance. In the past it was a meeting place for gangs, religious leaders and activists. On the sombre side, two people hanged themselves from its branches, in protest against forced removal from the suburb.
The 1938
Oudstryders' (veterans) Monument on the Cottesloe Ridge, commemorating men who died in the South African War, consists of some 40 granite and marble plaques plastered on a large concrete box. The plaques have been cleaned and sealed, and the site enclosed.
New memorials
And new memorials have been erected: the
Hector Pieterson Museum in Orlando West and the
Freedom Charter Memorial in Kliptown. The building of the
Constitutional Court on the Old Fort site has given the place new life, drawing tourists to the Women's Jail and No 4 prison, while taking in judgments made in the highest court in the country. The private sector has erected the powerful
Apartheid Museum, one of several buildings in the city that form part of a new genre of post-apartheid, 21st century African architecture.
"It is routine now for the Johannesburg Development Agency to apply for heritage approvals - they recognise the value of heritage," says Eric Itzkin, the deputy director of immovable heritage in the city's arts, culture and heritage services department.
Neglected properties
But it's not all good news - other properties have been sadly neglected. The historic City-owned
Rissik Street Post Office, given over to the Gauteng legislature, has been left derelict by the provincial government and continues to deteriorate. The
1913 Marshall Street Barracks, the city's first police station and owned by the national Public Works Department, was burned to the ground in 2002, and still stands as a charred shell. In 2002, the 103-year-old
Drill Hall, site of the early stages of the 1950s Treason Trial, suffered the same fate, with loss of lives, but the Public Works Department handed the building over to the City, which has created a
multi-purpose community site, while respecting the history of the hall.
The
Mandela House in Orlando West, which belongs to the Soweto Heritage Trust, is very popular with visitors but has been in limbo for many years.
"It has been badly compromised," says Ali Hlongwane, the curator of the Hector Pieterson Museum. "The correct repairs and maintenance need to be done, but it also needs to be properly curated."
The majestic Barbican stands forlornly in the CBD, owned by Old Mutual but bricked up and suffering "demolition by neglect". And further down Rissik Street the Trades Hall, another Old Mutual property, with its classical columns, is also bricked up, waiting hopelessly for attention. The Trades Hall was the headquarters of the trade union movement, and during the 1922 miners' strike was under attack by government forces.
Private sector investment
Private sector developers have brought muscle to restoration efforts in the city. A number of
art deco buildings in Yeoville and Bellevue, among them the lovely Beacon Royal and Helvetia Court, have been refurbished. A smaller, two-person community effort has resulted in the
Gem Bioscope in Kensington being lovingly restored.
Some efforts have been misplaced. What was thought to be the original
Gandhi house in Albemarle Street, Troyeville was bought and meticulously restored. Some time later Itzkin discovered that the Gandhi house was a more ordinary house up the road, but residents can, meanwhile, enjoy the art nouveau gem that has been revived.
The ripples from the 2010 Fifa World Cup™ preparations are being felt, too. Bertrams, an old suburb abutting the Ellis Park stadium, has become untidy and overcrowded. Yet sections are on the brink of being bought and revamped - some of the dilapidated houses will be demolished, while others will be refurbished, possibly including a row of pepper pot houses. This revamp is likely to revitalise the surrounding areas.
Trails are being developed as a means of offering tourists another way of taking in the city's heritage - the hostel and mining trails are about to be launched. Hlongwane has been researching the June 16 route that learners took before they converged on Orlando West, where they were met by the police.
"We have been speaking to former pupils, driving around with them and recording their conversations." The route from Morris Isaacson High School is straightforward, he says, but the other routes are more complicated.
The policy framework states that "cultural tourism is the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry worldwide, offering a valuable source of income and employment". Two sites - Soweto and, to a lesser extent, Constitution Hill, with restored and new heritage offerings - are on every tourist's must-see list. If we continue restoring our heritage, residents and visitors will both benefit.
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