Contested pasts, forgotten voices: remembering and representing slavery in South Africa A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Hull by Samuel North 201010331 BA (Hull), MA (Sheffield) 1 Abstract The transition to democracy in South Africa after 1994 saw president Nelson Mandela proclaim South Africa a ‘rainbow nation’. This in theory signalled a new respect for diverse histories, which museums and other heritage projects were expected to reflect upon. Certain elements of the past have, however, remained marginalised as new state-funded museum projects have invested in the idea of a shared past. As a means of encouraging unity in a divided country, this new national history centres on the idea of a nation which united against apartheid, overcame it, and now enjoys a glorious present as a result. Slavery and colonialism are amongst the histories which have not been discussed openly. This thesis considers how slavery and its memory have functioned in relation to post-apartheid initiatives of transformation both in terms of museums and heritage projects, and broader society. Through use of qualitative interviews, it scopes the responses of museologists, policy makers, and heritage activists to the questions and demands posed by post-apartheid society. These questions are particularly pertinent currently given that new generations of activists are increasingly calling for ‘decolonisation’ as a means of reforming a society which they claim has not delivered the changes promised in the immediate post-1994 period. Such claims by necessity require discussion of the deeply-ingrained injustices which colonialism and slavery set in motion. Indeed, it is suggested that in post-apartheid South Africa it is problematic to commemorate historical slavery without reference to these often visible legacies. The thesis argues that the different concepts of historical slavery held by different groups results in contestations when the subject rememerges in public discourse. These contestations are variously shaped by the specific ways slavery has been marginalised over time in South Africa, and by the demands of the present. 2 Contents List of acronyms ................................................................................................................................ 4 A note on terminology ..................................................................................................................... 6 List of figures and maps .................................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... 9 Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 11 Literature Review .............................................................................................................. 25 Methodology: a word on positionality .............................................................................. 53 Chapter One: Remembering many atrocities: slavery, museums, and the South African metanarrative ................................................................................................................................. 65 Chapter Two: ‘Our communities are still enslaved’: heritage, slavery, and coloured identity in the Western Cape post-apartheid ...................................................................................................... 115 Chapter Three: Presenting the past, creating locality: Cape slavery in the local and community museum ....................................................................................................................................... 157 Chapter Four: Beauty is only skin deep: memorialising slavery in contemporary Cape Town .... 213 Chapter Five: Slavery sells? Representing the past in the Cape Winelands ................................. 265 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................... 317 Bibliography .................................................................................................................................. 331 3 List of acronyms ANC African National Congress APO African Political Organisation BEE Black Economic Empowerment CA Western Cape Archives and Records Service CEO Chief executive officer CIDs City Improvement Districts CSAAWU Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union CSCRP Cape Slavery Community Research Project DA Democratic Alliance DRC Dutch Reformed Church EFF Economic Freedom Fighters HRW Human Rights Watch HWC Heritage Western Cape KWB Kleurling Weerstandsbeweging vir die Vooruitgang van Bruinmense (Coloured Movement for the Progress of Brown People) NGO Non-governmental Organisation NHRA 1999 National Heritage Resources Act NLSA National Library of South Africa NP National Party PAC Pan Africanist Congress PPPC Prestwich Place Project Committee SAM South African Museum SACHM South African Cultural History Museum SADF South African Defence Force SAHRA South African Heritage Resources Agency SOAS School of Oriental and African Studies TRC Truth and Reconciliation Commission UCT University of Cape Town UDF United Democratic Front 4 UKZN University of KwaZulu-Natal UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation UWC University of the Western Cape V&A Victoria & Alfred VOC Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (Dutch East India Company) WIETA Wine and Agricultural Ethical Trading Association Wits University of the Witwatersrand 5 A note on terminology Ascribing people with racial labels is problematic. It is however virtually impossible to write about contemporary South Africa without referring to the racial categories which were used to define everyday life by the apartheid state. Indeed, the labels black, white, and coloured remain common currency in the country today, together with the various sub-categories which were used to control people from colonial times until (theoretically) 1994. This thesis reproduces racial categories without quotation marks, using lower case spellings except for in situations where it would be grammatically incorrect to do so (see African, Indian). It acknowledges that the use of such terms can cover up some of the contestations and pain which they carry, and intends to evoke them in as academic a sense as is possible. Excluding the methods section where reflexivity is fundamental, this thesis is written in the third person. This is not to suggest that reflexivity is irrelevant in the rest of the thesis, but merely to highlight the necessity of associating oneself with one’s own work and train of thought when reflecting on practices adopted. 6 List of figures and maps Figure 1.1 ‘The Slave Lodge: past, present, future’, Slave Lodge, Cape Town, 2015. Figure 1.2 ‘Slave Voyages’ gallery featuring the abolitionist plan of the slaver Brookes, Slave Lodge, Cape Town, 2015. Figure 1.3 ‘Column of Memory’, Slave Lodge, Cape Town, 2015. Figure 1.4 Map which forms the centrepiece of the ‘Origins and Arrivals’ gallery, Slave Lodge, Cape Town, 2015. Figure 1.5 ‘Lesaka’, Freedom Park, 2015. Figure 1.6 ‘Wall of Names’, Freedom Park, 2015. Figure 1.7 Specific detail of ‘Slavery’ sub-section of ‘Wall of Names’, Freedom Park, 2015. Figure 1.8 Clive van den Berg’s slave ship installation, //hapo, Freedom Park, 2016. Figure 1.9 Artefacts which form part of ‘Peopling’, //hapo, Freedom Park 2016. Figure 1.10 Kitaab and other artefacts, //hapo, Freedom Park, 2016. Figure 2.1 Father Michael Weeder addresses the crowd at Strand Street Quarry, 1 December emancipation day march, 2015. Figure 3.1 Period exhibitions, Stellenbosch Village Museum, 2015. Figure 3.2 New exhibitions in the foyer area, Stellenbosch Village Museum, 2015. Figure 3.3 Exterior of outbuilding containing slavery exhibition, Swellendam Drostdy Museum, 2016. Figure 3.4 Interior of outbuilding, Swellendam Drostdy Museum, 2016. Figure 3.5 Freedom Monument, Pniel, 2015. Figure 3.6 Ubuntu Monument, Pniel, 2015. Figure 3.7 Replica slave bell, Pniel, 2015. Figure 3.8 Kitchen, Pniel Museum, 2015. Figure 3.9 Sports room, Pniel Museum, 2015. Figure 3.10 Willemse family tree, Pniel Museum, 2015. Figure 3.11 1938 slavery emancipation centenary memorial, Elim, 2016. Figure 3.12 Genealogical display, Elim Heritage Centre, 2016. Figure 3.13 Trade display, Elim Heritage Centre, 2016. Figure 3.14 Photographic display, Elim Heritage Centre, 2016. Figure 4.1 Restored original slave bell towers at Oranjezicht City Farm, Cape Town, 2016. Figure 4.2 Plaque marking the restored vegetable garden, Company’s Gardens, Cape Town, 2015. 7 Figure 4.3 1953 plaque marking the Old Slave Tree, Cape Town, 2015. Figure 4.4 2015 plaque marking the Slave Auction Tree, Cape Town, 2015. Figure 4.5 Exterior of Prestwich Memorial, 2015. Figure 4.6 Displays leading to ossuary area, Prestwich Memorial, 2015. Figure 4.7 Exhibition area, Prestwich Memorial, 2015. Figure 4.8 The Memorial to the Enslaved, Church Square, Cape Town, 2016. Figure 4.9 Nadya Glawe’s slave tree installation, Spin Street, Cape Town, 2015 (copyright: Nadya Glawe). Figure 4.10 Detail, temporary slave tree installation, Spin Street, Cape Town, 2015 (copyright: Nadya Glawe). Figure 4.11 Detail, temporary slave tree installation, Spin Street, Cape Town, 2015 (copyright: Nadya Glawe). Figure 5.1