SIGNED!! The Spirit of District Six - Cloete Breytenbach

The Spirit of District Six - All photographs by Cloete Breytenbach - SIGNED!! - Human & Rousseau - 2003 - Second Edition - 64p - Hardcover (pictorial boards) - an unread copy in very good condition.

A photographic journey through Cape Town's District Six. The luminous black and white images are accompanied by text by Brian Barrow.

The Cape Town area known as District Six (so called after its geographic position on the municipal map of the city) developed as a suburb on the farm Zonnebloem, which was first registered as a freehold by Claas Hendrik Dieperman in 1701. The trail of ownership is broken until 1832, when the farm was sold to Willaim Hurter, a wine merchant who had a house in Berg Street, Cape Town. Six years later Hurter had the property subvided into erven, for potential resale as properties.

Through the second half of the nineteenth century District Six developed as a dense residential area close to the centre of Cape Town, and was home to a diverse community with a wide range of historical origins.

In time, through neglect on the part of landlords and local authorities, the area became run-down and was fast turning into a slum on the doorstep of one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Central goverment directed repeated requests to the City Council, and the landlords, most of whom were white and not residing in the area, to upgrade the district.

To no avail.

On 11 February 1966, the goverment declared District Six a white area under the group areas act, and the whosale relocation of the inhabitants was started - mainly to areas away from the city. This process took fifteen years and some 55 000 people were removed. The area was razed to the ground, except for churches and religious institutions.

A happy and wonderful community simply disappeared and the emptiness they left behind changed the whole life and character of Cape Town.