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You are at:Home»NEWS»A community remembers forced removals
NEWS

A community remembers forced removals

Kathryn ClearyBy Kathryn ClearyOctober 31, 20171 Comment4 Mins Read
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Brothers Jack and Harry Rama were among the Grahamstown residents who shared memories of a more integrated Grahamstown before the forced removals of the 70s, at an event titled ‘Remembering Forced Removals’ hosted by Rhodes University’s Isikhumbuzo Applied History Unit at the Eastern Star Museum Wednesday night. Here Harry (right) holds up a painting of the family’s Chapel Street home on the corner of Chapel and Queen Streets before it was demolished. Jack (left) holds up a photograph of the vacant plot that remains today, around three decades later. More about the project in next week’s edition. Photo: Sue Maclennan

The Group Areas Act of 1950 ravaged communities across South Africa. Names like District 6 and Sophiatown stain popular history textbooks, but never are places like Grahamstown mentioned. Despite being left out of the textbooks, the Group Areas Act eventually reared its ugly head in Grahamstown in the early 1970s.

Having the largest effect on Grahamstown’s Indian, Coloured and African residents, the Group Areas Act served to displace and destroy the very roots of these communities.

Tears slid down Harry Rama’s face as he recalled his own story of the Group Areas Act, “all for nothing”, he called it. Rama’s childhood home on Queen Street was repossessed by the government and bulldozed to the ground for redevelopment purposes. To this day, the plot where the home once stood remains completely empty except for an old avocado tree (that still bares no fruit).

“It was all for nothing!” Rama emphasised. 

Rama shared his painful story at an event organised in part by the Rhodes University Department of History and third-year public history students. The students were required to embark on a social research project that looked to uncover the ways in which Grahamstown’s Indian community was affected by the Group Areas Act. Students interviewed local families and created websites showcasing the information to the public.

Professor Julia Wells of the Rhodes History Department chats to Dennis Stuurman at the Remembering Forced Removals event. Wells is head of the Isikhumbuzo Applied History Unit which hosted the gathering. Photos: Sue Maclennan
Champa and Chiman Harjeven with third-year History students Heather Dixon and Kathryn Cleary.

The event on 18 October took place at the Eastern Star Gallery, and was led both by students and Dr Julie Wells, head of the Isikhumbuzo Applied History Unit. Community members involved in students’ projects were invited to come and share their stories, old photographs, and newspaper clippings as a way to remember the forced removals of the Group Areas Act.

The event was a great success, and laid a strong foundation for future community work and student research on the impact and history of the Group Areas Act in Grahamstown.

Nosipho Adam and NELM’s Zongezile Matshoba.

For more information about students’ work, please contact Dr Julie Wells at j.wells@ru.ac.za.

Special thank you to the families who willingly shared their stories and their time; the Harjeven, Rama, Gopal, Daya, Narsai, Naran, Dullabh, Ranchod, and Sonne families.

Students involved in the project include: Heather Dixon, Carla Franco, Kelsey Lemon, Simon Wormald, Kathryn Cleary, Megan Vetch, Simone Smith, Gerald Kihara, Nondumiso Msezane, Mike Strong, Lauren Jones, Catherine Stratford, David Barry, Tristan Britz, Pax Matia, Lesedi Setlhogo, Juan Deenik, Kibira Kadenge and Chizi Katama.

Chrissie and Harry Rama pose for a photograph with third-year History student Kathryn Cleary at the Eastern Star Press Museum Wednesday night. Harry was among the Grahamstown, Eastern Cape residents who shared memories of a more integrated town before the forced removals of the 70s. The occasion was a gathering titled ‘Remembering Forced Removals’ hosted by Rhodes University’s Isikhumbuzo Applied History Unit in which people were invited to come and share their photos, newspaper cuttings and memories with their former neighbours. Here Harry (right) holds up a photograph of the vacant plot that remains today after the family’s home on the corner of Chapel and Queen Streets was demolished in the 1970s. Chrissie (left) holds up a photograph of some of the children (Harry is among them) who were affected by the forced removals in Grahamstown. Photo: Sue Maclennan
Read Harry Rama’s moving account of his family’s experience of forced removals in Grahamstown here: http://bit.ly/GrocForcedRemovals
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Kathryn Cleary

Investigative journalist; health, human rights, politics and environmental stories.

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