Cape Town - Bonteheuwel Freedom Square was declared a provincial heritage site with a plaque unveiling by Cultural Affairs and Sport MEC Anroux Marais.
The site is among four others approved by the provincial heritage council last September.
Marais said Freedom Square’s spaces, buildings and memories bore significance, for social and cultural reasons, in representing defiance against the unjust apartheid state.
“Bonteheuwel has a rich history of political activism at the centre of apartheid state repression. Freedom Square in Bonteheuwel was a space used at the centre of political activism and is significant in honouring the legacy of selfless leadership and the contribution that youth played in the struggle against racial discrimination and apartheid.
“During the liberation Struggle, Freedom Square was a space for congregation and political meetings. The Civic, the library, the staircases and platforms surrounding the library would act as assembly and meeting points, which provided a platform for activists to address crowds,” she said.
Marais said Freedom Square embodied the spirit and legacy of Bonteheuwel’s heroes and heroines.
ANC MP Faiez Jacobs said that he was deeply honoured to return to Bonteheuwel where, as an activist who in the 80s and 90s, he frequented these streets and spaces.
“This year Bonteheuwel lost two of its most prominent community stalwarts who dedicated their lives for this community; Comrade Wilhemina Williams otherwise known as Aunty Meintjies and on Saturday we laid to rest uncle Frederick Grootboom.
“We must firstly claim Freedom Square for them and in their honour and then state unequivocally that freedom square is a tribute to their legacy and to all the founding fathers and mothers of this community who did not come here by choice but as a consequence of the perverse Apartheid social engineering,” he said.
"Freedom Square as a heritage project offers us that space to acknowledge and recognise our past, make sense of our present and as a collective to define our future.
"This space may mean many things to many people but unless it serves as a catalyst to bring us together it is an exercise in futility; unless it unites us in a recognition of the young sons and daughters of Bonteheuwel who paid the ultimate price in our struggle for freedom we do their memory a grave injustice; unless it serves again as a rallying point for the youth of Bonteheuwel in the struggle against poverty, inequality and unemployment we have failed them,“ Jacobs said.
Bonteheuwel Ratepayers and Tenants Association chairperson Yusuf Cassiem said the community felt vindicated, adding that that was testimony that their Struggle wasn't in vain.
“Freedom Square was the only place where things happened by principle of making a change, the dream that one day we will be free, started and happened in Freedom Square. Today we can say we are being recognised, irrespective of the role others played, together with those that sold us out, because in their role they made us stronger in our efforts to bring the change. We must now share the history with our youth and we must make use of this history to benefit the people of Bonteheuwel,” Cassiem said.
Ward councillor Angus McKenzie said the heritage status must be seen as an opportunity to further bring about unity and strength among people of Bonteheuwel, the City and the country.
“The fight for freedom must be attributed to all, the people in the country, irrespective of their skin colour. I particularly want to highlight individuals that never threw a stone, blocked a road or burnt a tyre but fought relentlessly for the freedom of our people.
“We must use this heritage to bring people together because amongst us is dee- seated hatred between those that fought freedom in the corridors of power and those that did not. If we fail, this heritage status will mean nothing,” he said.
Cape Argus