Former residents and community members will gather in Newlands and Claremont on Heritage Day, Thursday 24 September. They will join the fifth annual Walk of Remembrance.

The event commemorates communities displaced from the areas through decades of dispossession and forced removals.

The Newlands/Claremont Heritage, Environmental Justice and Restitution Society (NCHERS) will host the walk on Thursday, 24 September. The event begins at the Newlands Cricket Experience Museum at Newlands Cricket Ground.

About NCHERS

St Saviour’s Anglican Church in Claremont and the Claremont Main Road Mosque founded NCHERS. It works to preserve the histories, memories and lived experiences of communities displaced from Newlands and Claremont.

Specifically, the organisation says the annual walk is a symbolic act of resistance. It resists the erasure of community histories from the areas before and during apartheid-era forced removals.

Programme and route

First, the programme begins with the NCHERS annual general meeting at 09:00. Then the Walk of Remembrance follows at 09:30.

The route includes three stops. At each stop, former residents and speakers will reflect on the communities that once lived in the area.

The first stop is at Draper Square, at the bottom of Draper Street off Main Road. Speakers will reflect on the community, families and institutions that once occupied the surrounding area. These include Talfalah Primary School and the Orpheum Bioscope.

The walk then continues under the subway to Stegman Road Mosque. Speakers will discuss the role of the mosque and Imam Abdullah Haron. They resisted apartheid forced removals during the late 1950s and 1960s.

The third stop is outside the Cape Town Athenaeum in Mariendahl Lane. According to NCHERS, the venue was a meeting place for members of the Teachers’ League of South Africa. The broader Non-European Unity Movement also met there during the 1960s and 1970s.

Participants then return to the Newlands Cricket Ground. They will gather at the museum for a talk by journalist and author Dougie Oakes at 11:00.

Talk and exhibition

Furthermore, Oakes will reflect on the history of anti-apartheid resistance through sport. This includes the role of the non-racial South African Council of Sport (SACOS). He will also discuss its founder, Hassan Howa, who built solidarity against apartheid.

The museum will also feature an exhibition. It celebrates the sporting achievements of people from Claremont, as well as the legacy of Imam Abdullah Haron.

Significance

NCHERS said the event is particularly significant for families now dispersed across the Cape Flats. Their histories and connections to Newlands and Claremont remain part of their family and community heritage.

The organisation describes the walk as a journey of reclaiming and remembering. It honours the history of communities that once lived in the area.

Details

The walk starts at the entrance to Newlands Cricket Ground. Visitors can purchase refreshments at the museum, while the exhibitions are free to view.

For more information, contact Imam Rashied Omar on 078 271 4440.

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