September 25, 2003
By Lucille Davie
THE people of Fietas are reclaiming their heritage by holding their second festival in an area that used to be a vibrant community but was demolished by the apartheid government in the 1970s.
The Fietas Festival, seen by the organisers as a festival that "defies the intent and legacy of apartheid", is to be held from 26 to 28 September in Pageview and Vrededorp, previously known to its residents as Fietas. The organisers are former residents of Fietas who were moved out as children but who have "returned to reclaim their heritage and in the process to restore themselves and their parents following so many years of abandonment in the townships".
The festival is endorsed by the City of Johannesburg.
Fietas is made up of two small suburbs and used to be a multiracial area until the late 1970s, when most of the residents were relocated to far away suburbs like Lenasia and Eldorado Park in the execution of the Group Areas Act. But instead of the area being developed for white residents, it has remained in its partly-demolished form, with bare plots of ground dotted between rows of semi-detached houses or newly-built complexes.
It's not a large area, sandwiched between the Braamfontein and Brixton Cemeteries - 1st Street starts north in Vrededorp and runs into Pageview, which ends in 25th Street, edged by Krause Street in the west and Solomon Street in the east.
During the removals some of the Fietas residents managed to remain in their homes. Others have subsequently moved from Lenasia to nearby suburbs like Mayfair. Vrededorp and Pageview are an odd mix these days of pensioners in old-age homes, former residents, and café and shebeen owners.
Last year a successful festival was held with an emphasis on "an appeal to popular memory" - former residents were invited to a podium to recount their Fietas experiences through poetry, story and anecdote-telling. Local dishes were prepared on the street, their delicious aromas filling the area and tempting the passersby to open their purses. Tours of the suburbs were conducted.
This successful combination will be repeated again this year but with much more on offer, inviting in particular existing white residents of Vrededorp (who were not moved but significantly diminished by the removals) to reconnect with the past.
A film festival, consisting of short films, documentaries and old home videos of people and scenes from Fietas, is to run from Friday to Sunday. There'll be talks and lectures, given by, among others, author Ahmed Essop, writer Harry Dugmore, and commentator Chubb Garda. There'll also be a slide show and photographic exhibition, with work by David Goldblatt and Aziz Tayob on show.
The poetry and prose sessions are back, including, like last year, Urdu and African poetry.
Street music will be performed, with The Kajala Boys, an old Fietas group, belting out their beat. Too close and the Fietas Bedouins will also perform, and Shaheed Patel will do an Elvis impersonation in memory of the Fietas ducktail culture.
There'll be traditional games to play - kennetjie, morabaraba, marbles, three tins, blikkies, kiriebekha, charms and dominoes.
Sport was always a big part of the Fietas community, and efforts are being made to regain the Queenspark grounds (corner of Krause and 17th streets), formerly used by residents. Soccer and cricket games will be played in this week's festival, with veteran sides invited to recapture memories of their former clubs.
There'll be mass prayers at the two historic mosques, following by an unveiling of a plaque to commemorate the lively and buzzing 14th Street shopping area. A Truth and Healing Workshop will be conducted, tapping into the pain and bitterness that still persists in the community.
And of course, there'll be food stalls including African, Indian and Malay dishes. There'll be puri bhajiya, Malay koeksusters, China fruit, bowla-braaied mielies, vetkoek, slap chips and fish, and choria. Other stalls will include henna hand decoration and hand-made toys.
There'll be a repeat of the successful heritage walking trails of last year, taking in historic homes and ruins, and visits to the Braamfontein and Brixton cemeteries where former residents are buried.
And to end the festival, there'll be a symbolic crossing of 11th Street, the old divide between the mixed-race community of Fietas and the white Afrikaner community of Vrededorp, to "culminate in a joyous and united celebration hosted by members of the old Afrikaner community for the residents of Fietas from the south side who were forcibly removed".
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