By Siyabonga Kalipa
A burial ground dating back to the days of the Dutch East India Company has been discovered in Rondebosch on land belonging to the University of Cape Town (UCT).
The site is on Middle Campus, not far from Rustenburg House and Summer House.
A spokesperson from the office of deputy vice-chancellor Martin Hall said: "The presence of this burial ground was brought to the university's attention after a recent heritage study.
"As with many colonial burial grounds there are many unanswered questions about who precisely is buried there, as slaves and other underclass people often escaped being acknowledged in the formal records of the time. What we know is that this is a slave-era burial ground and that the farms along the Liesbeek River were developed by exploiting slave labour in the early colonial period."
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The Dutch East India Company or Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie's (VoC) use of Rustenburg dated from the 17th century.
According to research conducted last year, the burial ground is repeatedly referred to in records as a slave cemetery. By 1895 it was no longer in use.
The old cemetery is clearly marked on a survey diagram of 1917 referring to land granted to the university. Between 1927 and 1934 the university built tennis courts on the site and all above-ground evidence of the cemetery disappeared. In a research document it was stated: "Whether it still exists below ground level is not known.
"Primary archival research has been carried out to attempt to answer questions of possible identity of the occupants and the university's destruction of ground level evidence of the burial site.
"The possible archaeological find of the burial site and its possible link to VoC slavery and exiles increase the potential significance of the site.
"The university's wish to locate a new building in the direct vicinity of the burial place demands completion of the investigation in line with Heritage Western Cape and South African Heritage Resources Agency's requirements."
Hall said: "The university has embarked on a public participation process using independent consultants through which a stakeholder group has been formed to work with the university towards debating and deciding on an appropriate way to memorialise those buried there."
- This article was originally published on page 10 of Cape Argus on May 11, 2008
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