Cape Town – The voices of Capetonians calling for the Zonnebloem area on the fringe of the City Bowl to be renamed District Six has been heard.
Announcing this yesterday, cultural affairs and sport MEC Anroux Marais submitted a supported application to Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa to officially change the area from Zonnebloem back to District Six, after which it would be gazetted.
“It is hoped that the name change will communicate to the community and residents of District Six that you have been seen, you have been heard and that you belong,” she said.
The province's support for the name change followed the District Six Museum's application to the Western Cape Provincial Geographical Names Committee on October 19 last year.
Marais said the committee had subsequently invited the museum's representatives to present their application to them on February 15.
In leading up to the museum's application, it had undertaken a broad public participation process as required by the Promotions of Administrative Justice Act 3 of 2000.
That process included the museum's announcements and interviews on various radio stations, the media and television as part of an awareness-creation campaign focusing on the proposed name change, according to Marais.
The names committee subsequently resolved to support the application at a June 14 meeting, and Marais said she penned her support on September 17 for the name change application.
The District Six working committee (DSWC) has also thrown its weight behind the application.
DSWC chairperson Shaied Ajam said they were approached about four months ago by the District Six Museum to support the name change process.
“When the museum contacted us we thought it was a great idea, and we wrote a letter to the names committee in support of the process,” Ajam pointed out.
“The District Six working committee is 100% in support of the application not only because the museum initiated it, but because (the name change) has been 25 years overdue.
“We’re looking forward to working with the District Six Museum and other role-players in the Heritage Protection Overlay Zone with regard to the declaration of the heritage sites in District Six, which have already been identified,” Ajam said.
In June, the museum said it was acting on the desire of the former residents of District Six, particularly those who are members of the Seven Steps Club, and made an application to the names committee.
District Six Museum researcher Matthew Nissen said the naming of Zonnebloem had disrupted the natural progression of the area.
And it served as an imposition and reminder of an apartheid crime against the people of Cape Town.
In 1966, District Six was declared a white group area by the apartheid state and renamed Zonnebloem.
Streets were subsequently redirected and given new names.