July 24, 2002
By Bongani Majola
WITH tears in her eyes, Thandie Klaasen sang "Meadowlands, Ons Pola Hier" (Meadowlands, here we stay), and the audience joined in, for an emotional trip down memory lane in Sophiatown at the opening of a photographic exhibition at MuseuMAfrika in Newtown, Johannesburg this week.
The song is symbolic, capturing the resilient spirit of the people of Sophiatown in the face of demolition and evacuation by the National Party government in 1955 to make the vibrant cosmopolitan environment an exclusive reserve for "whites only".
The moving rendition of Meadowlands was a fitting opening for the exhibition - the latest in a series of events embarked upon by Region 4 of the City of Johannesburg to "genuinely recreate and commemorate the spirit of Sophiatown".
The exhibition is titled "Reawakening the spirit of Sophiatown: Images of life, loss, laughter and love". And in fact there was as much joy as bittersweet sadness at the opening of the exhibit.
Executive Mayor Amos Masondo, Regional Director Lawrence Boya, lensman Peter Magubane, City Manager Pascal Moloi and Region 4's project team under the leadership of Julie
Timm, Manager - People's Centre, all got to display their sense of the jive of the time as they danced to tunes from Dolly Rathebe, Thandie Klaasen, The Harmonaires and the Hendry Merckel Band - musicians whose melodies echoed in the Sophiatown of the 1950s, but could still hold their own, as they did on that Friday night, half a century later.
It felt as if Klaasen and Rathebe had always sung with that band, for on the night they blended in complete unison.
It's hard not to appreciate the amount of work that had gone into the revival of Kofifi, as Sophiatown was affectionately known. And revived it was, as characters, some famous and others not, showed up resplendent in the attire of the time, complete with white-brimmed Stetson hats and Florsheim shoes. What did not escape the mind was that the people of Kofifi dressed presentably, nay immaculately, all the time, even the tsotsis (the gangs and criminals).
Master of ceremonies was writer and poet Don Mattera, himself a reformed gangster, and perhaps the living symbol of a man who survived the era and was transformed for the better by that experience. In tsotsi-taal, the lingua franca of the time, Mattera regaled the audience with tales of his Vultures gang back in the 1950s.
Two other contemporaries through whose lenses the new generation has come to remember Sophiatown, Peter Magubane and Jurgen Schadeberg, also graced the occasion. Magubane's tell-tale white hair and Schadeberg's grey locks bore testimony to the decades both had spent documenting the city. Both had their fair share of Sophiatown photographs on display.
Officially opened by the executive mayor, the exhibition consists of black-and-white photos of Sophiatown and its energetic people. The photos have been plastered on to boards arranged in a maze-like pattern with famous streets of Sophiatown, like Toby Street, tagged on the panels.
And there are abundant images capturing the social, economic, political and cultural pulse of Sophiatown. In one, a black man in his 20s can be seen clutching his girlfriend in a deserted street, leaning against a pole in which "Native Bus Stop" has been written. It's a classic image!
The photographs, newspaper reports and government circulars of the time all blend to present Sophiatown as embodying the true early seeds of non-racialism in South Africa. It was here that people of all races lived side by side in close proximity until they were forcefully separated. And Kofifi boasted the best and worst of the social strata.
As the photos on display attested, Sophiatown was home to politicians and leaders of world-class quality. The mini-city harboured some of the country's worst, or was it best, gangsters. The "Americans" were famous for their sharp and flashy dress sense. Other gangs like "Vultures" and "Berliners" also flourished in the milieu.
Other luminaries came in a different garb. With his trademark apron-like black cassocks, Father Trevor Huddleston could be seen trailing the streets, flanked by black children. Huddleston used to get into trouble with the government for being "in black company".
There were many men of the cloth in Sophiatown, but Huddleston was arguably the most popular. If he still lived he would have literally blessed the Interfaith Spiritual Gathering, which took place on Freedom Day, April 27, at Christ the King Church in Sophiatown, as part of the revival of Kofifi.
First instalment in Region 4's revival and celebration of Sophiatown's historical and cultural legacy through cultural, educational and artistic events, the church service served to affirm the key role that the church played in the lives of the people of Sophiatown. And it turned out to be a truly emotional and spiritually uplifting occasion.
Ex-journalist Patricia Mokoena-Harvey, who lived in Sophiatown, wrote of the church service: "It had a unique experience of reminiscence. The church itself was a true replica of the old Sophiatown Christ the King spirit, the liturgy, the music, worship form, the works. The church was packed chock-a-block with familiar faces…all aged to a greater or lesser extent."
Speaker after speaker, continued Mokoena-Harvey, nostalgically recounted their umbilical attachment to Kofifi.
The revival of Sophiatown will continue with a community event planned by Region 4 for next year. The exhibition meanwhile will be on show for four weeks.
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