February 9, 2005
By Lucky Sindane
FIFTY years ago the first families were forcibly removed from their homes in Sophiatown, their possessions loaded on the back of police trucks, and dumped in Meadowlands.
The vibrant Sophiatown was then removed from the maps, to re-emerge as Triomf, a residential suburb for whites created by the policy of apartheid.
On Wednesday, 9 February, the City of Johannesburg held a memorial service for those displaced families, followed by a tour of the suburb, with residents telling their stories.
It was a cold morning on Ray Street on 9 February 1955 when 2 000 policemen, armed with guns, knobkerries and rifles, forcefully moved the families of Sophiatown to Meadowlands, Soweto.
"It was very difficult for me to lose a house which I was born in," said Patricia Mokoena-Harvey, who stayed at Gibson Street. "Children were screaming and crying. They didn't understand what was happening - and it was very cold and raining. It was very traumatic."
A symbolic removal was re-enacted at 18 Ray Street, reflecting on the pain and sense of loss suffered by the community.
"We were really suffering here in Sophiatown," said Joane Mogoboya, formerly of Good Street, who was part of the second group of people moved in 1956.
"Apartheid was very bad. Our parents owned shebeens and when the police came things would be very bad," she added. "They would handcuff my father and make my mother carry a case of beers on her head until the police who ordered her to do so changed their shift."
Mogoboya recalls how the "ladies" from Sophiatown used to dress up for the parties: "Designer clothes were our thing. Things that you are wearing now, we used to wear them. It's just that now they have changed them a bit."
When the removals scheme was promulgated Sophiatown residents united to protest the forced removals, making famous the slogan "Ons dak nie, ons phola hier" (We won't move).
"Father Trevor Huddleston, Nelson Mandela, Helen Joseph and Ruth First played an important role by becoming involved in the resistance," said Victor Mokhine, who lived on Good Street.
"We got a notice that we were going to be moved on 12 February 1955 but we were taken by surprise by thousands of policemen and soldiers, who were heavily armed," said Mokhine.
"We were still preparing ourselves to protest the removals and we had no choice because no one was ready for them - and besides, they were armed."
The people of Sophiatown were taken to Meadowlands, Lenasia, Western Coloured Township (now Westbury) and Noordgesig.
Those who did not qualify for resettlement had to find their own accommodation. Many people also moved to Orlando East and other parts of Soweto.
"Because of the government's racial classifications and strict separation of group areas, many families were split up," said former resident Paul Mashinini. "Some members would be classified as coloured, others as black. Therefore they would be forced to live in separate townships."
He added: "Number 1 Vincent Street, Meadowlands used to be the office of the Native Resettlement Board, where people had to report when they arrived in Meadowlands. Each family would be given two loaves of bread and a pint of milk. The family's furniture and goods would be unloaded in front of their new home."
After the tour and the recollection of the events, the former residents and guests moved to the South African Police Services offices in Meadowlands for lunch.
It was from the Meadowlands police station that the police officers that undertook the removals 50 years ago came.
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