n the 1960s and 1970s the community of Fingo Village, supported by
various solidarity groupings in the City of Grahamstown, successfully
fought against being forcibly removed by the apartheid regime. In so
doing, they have left today’s citizens with an urban space that is
n the 1960s and 1970s the community of Fingo Village, supported by
various solidarity groupings in the City of Grahamstown, successfully
fought against being forcibly removed by the apartheid regime. In so
doing, they have left today’s citizens with an urban space that is
more racially integrated than would otherwise have been the case.
It is precisely this reality and this realisation that should impress
upon us the opportunity that we have to turn macro spatial integration
into lived and substantial integration. Because the reality is that
whilst today’s residents may occupy the same city bowl, we don’t
actually live together in the full sense of the term.
From the mid 1950s until the late 1970s, the apartheid government was
intent on removing the ‘black spot’ of Fingo Village from ‘white’
Grahamstown. Indeed, in its 1970 guise the Group Areas plan for
Grahamstown sought to protect whites from the perceived threat of
blacks by setting up a buffer zone to be occupied by coloureds and
Indians.
Had this pernicious plan been implemented as intended by the apartheid
regime, the bowl of Grahamstown (the valley between the Settlers
Monument and Makana’s Kop) would have been largely cleared of black
people. In this scenario, Grahamstown would have looked like countless
other South African towns, where black people were dumped out of town
– around a corner, behind a koppie – out of sight and therefore out of
mind of middle-class whites.
However, the community of Fingo Village realised it would not be in
its interests to move from Grahamstown – away from familiarity,
family, friends, property, nearby job opportunities – to desolate,
isolated Committee’s Drift. And so they resisted, using a variety of
tactics.
Most important, the community understood the importance of solidarity
and unity. In the face of sustained efforts by the regime to break the
community through divide-and-rule devices, it stood together, and so
triumphed.
In 1980, all of 25 years after it first signalled its intention to
remove Fingo Village, the government finally backed down and began the
process of re-proclaiming it as a black area.
The magnitude of what was achieved at Fingo Village – the protection
of African freehold rights in so-called ‘white’ South Africa – is
significant not only in the local context but also in the national
South African context. By way of reference, the only other community
in the country that successfully defended its freehold rights in the
face of the apartheid onslaught was Alexandra, in Johannesburg.
During this 200th anniversary of Grahamstown, a matter that today’s
citizenry should consider is: are we doing enough to build on the
successful defence of Fingo Village, to truly integrate and unite the
city? For this, surely, would be an appropriate way for us to pay
tribute to the immense contribution that the 1970s Fingo residents
have made to Grahamstown?
These men and women have bequeathed us a city bowl in which all races live.
But what is the quality and quantity of our inter-racial and
inter-class interaction with one another today? Surely we could
conduct ourselves differently, to foster better integration, cutting
across all realms of life – business, culture, religion, sport,
education.
It seems to me that, despite the noble intentions and good efforts of
many people across a range of sectors, we have not yet properly
grasped the nettle as a community. There are so many things on our
side – geographic compactness; widespread philanthropy; well-endowed
educational institutions.
Yet there is not enough focus on fashioning and implementing incisive
and effective strategies that will genuinely integrate the city.
One of the most important strategies that is currently under-valued
and under-invoked is the sharing of resources through the direct
actions of ordinary citizens. Increasingly, there is a need to get
educated middle-class people into the townships, not merely for
purposes of research and observation, but for purposes of bringing
their capacities to bear there in meaningful ways. Similarly, there
are opportunities for more significant involvement of our powerful
educational institutions such as Rhodes University, in Fingo, Tantyi,
Zolani, Joza and so on. And there are opportunities for more
inter-school exchanges, in the classroom, on the sports field and in
the extra-curricular domain. In the context of such interactions,
thousands of new relationships would be forged and developed.
Increasingly, we would find each other, empathise with one another,
take an interest in one another and find fulfilment in others’ joy and
progress.
Come and share Fingo’s history
Over the past few months, as part of Makana Municipality’s ‘200 Years’
commemoration, Gadra Education has worked with a variety of energetic,
skilled young people on a public exhibition showcasing the resistance
of the community of Fingo Village against its threatened forced
removal to the Ciskei. The organisation is proud that its exhibition,
‘Fighting for Fingo’ will be permanently housed at the fabulous
library in Fingo Village.
It is a gift from the organisation to the Fingo Village community in
recognition of the tremendous role that it has played in the history
of Grahamstown and in gratitude for the opportunities that
contemporary citizens have as a result to unite the City today. The
exhibition will be opened on 16 November, at Fingo Village Library, at
4pm. All are welcome to attend the event.
