District Six

When the apartheid government swooped on District Six, Cape Town

in 1965, forcibly removing its occupants and declaring the area a
"whites-only" zone, the rich fabric of an impoverished but vibrant
community was torn to shreds.

Over 60 000 people were wrenched from their homes, livelihoods,

community centres and societal networks, and relocated to the bleak
plains of the Cape Flats, several kilometres away.

District Six in Cape Town and Sophiatown in Johannesburg, both

sites of diverse and vibrant subcultures, posed similar threats to
the apartheid government, which was intent on enforcing "separate
development" for different ethnic groups. Sophiatown was razed to
the ground in 1957 to make way for the "white area" of Triomf
(meaning "triumph" in Afrikaans).

In an effort to preserve the memories of District Six and create a

monument to the thousands of people around the country forcibly
relocated under apartheid, the District Six Museum Foundation was
established in 1989. In 1994, the District Six Museum came into
being.

According to the museum's website, the museum "came into being as

a vehicle for advocating social justice, as a space for reflection and
contemplation, and as an institution for challenging the distortions
and half-truths which propped up the history of Cape Town and
South Africa.

"The Museum is committed to telling the stories of forced removals,

and assisting in the reconstitution of the community of District Six
and Cape Town by drawing on a heritage of non-racialism, non-
sexism, anti-class discrimination and the encouragement of debate."

The District Six Museum is a heritage project in itself. Part of its

mission is to provide the space for former inhabitants of District
Six to share and explore their memories and develop new
interpretations of both the past and the present. The museum also
functions as a forum where debate and policy development is
initiated.