Future for Fingo?..............

View at night of the last remaining Silvertown House, still lived in today.


I will begin with a whistle stop introduction on the history of Fingo....you probably dont realise it but Fingo Village is a really important Township. It is the oldest Township in Grahamstown and title of the land was given to the amaFengu people in return for their services and bravery in fighting the British during the battles with the amaXhosa between 1846-1853.

The amaFengu who at this point were refugees were given title to 320 plots in 1858.They quickly established a community and built churches, schools and houses. They were well respected and liked by the rest of the community and adopted Christianity. Many became shopkeepers.Many did not actually live in their houses but rented them out and lived off the proceeds.

This way of life continued relatively undisturbed until the 1950's when the Group Areas Act was passed and racial zoning came into play. Many residents complained bitterly at this re-zoning and there are many original letters from local residents in the Cory Library. There is more of this story to follow in the passage regarding the history of the "Fingo Graves"

In the 1960's and 1970's people who ventured into town from the farms were forced to build squatter camps on an area known as Dead Horse Kloof, so called because it was where the carcasses of donkeys and horses were dumped. In 1977 the East Cape Administration moved these people into 58 zinc and corrugated houses on the edge of Fingo called Silvertown or Shiny Town, it was intended as an emergency camp but there is still one house there today in 2007. The photo featured above shows the type of property that people were forced to live in..

I have taken an oral history from a previous resident of Silvertown and it paints a depressing picture of what life was like living in these apalling conditions:

"When I was small girl I moved with my Grandmother, Aunts, my mother and 5 brothers and sisters to Fingo from Mission. We had to move because there were 12 of us living under one roof. We were moved to Silvertown. It was a horrible place. All the houses were made of Zinc. In the summer it was really hot as the walls and the roof was also made from Zinc but we always had to keep the door shut so sometimes it was hard to breathe. We had two small windows which were made of plastic. In the winter when it rained the floor got very wet as we had no concrete, they had no proper floor.We had no water and no toilets and no electricity. It had two rooms for all of us. Crime was very bad.You did not know if you would wake up the next day alive when you went to bed at night. There were gangs and fights every Saturday night. I hated it" ( N.MaXoma. resident of Silvertown.1972)


However, there is hope for the residents of Fingo. A new proposal has been put forward that will aim to transform Fingo and the surrounding area. This proposal will include a tourism directive that will include play areas for children as well as rugby and soccer pitches, tennis courts, arts centre, footpaths, gardens, coffee shops, stadium and a training centre for Diviners .This project is currently in the early stages but it is hoped it will begin shortly, certainly in time for all the tourists that will flock to South Africa for the 20010 World Cup. It is hoped that this project will bring much needed jobs and money into this beleagured area. They certainly deserve to be helped and hopefully this project will place Fingo and all its history firmly on the map.(1) However whether or not it is right to spend approximately 30mRand on this type of project when there are still residents living in Fingo and surrounding areas with no flushing toilets or hot water remains a subject for discussion. We would really like to know your views...Should 30m Rand be spent on recreational pursuits and tourism or could it be put to better use elsewhere in Fingo? please submit to this blog and leave your views!.................................

( 1) Makana Municipality.Sub Comitte Meeting.21.11.06)
(Vukani Greenbelt Intiative 2006)