“I don’t think living on top of your great grandfather’s grave [is wrong], if he knows you have no place to live. I wouldn’t mind my son here, living on top of me if he has no other place to live. Because I would know, I would understand spiritually.”
Thembelani Fene, Resident of Fingo
In recent history, Fingo Village has been forced to address an issue of traditional, practical and spiritual importance. While building the foundations for the new Ndancama community hall in 1998, human remains ranging in levels of decomposition were discovered. The problem did not cease and only proved to continue with time, as, since then, other development projects have unearthed more bones. The question raised by these events separates the Fingo community. On one side, traditionalists believe that the remains of the ancestors are to be preserved; on the other side, a strong sentiment is to continue development as the livelihood and quality of life for the living takes a much stronger importance than the resting place of the dead. In this article, a brief history of the graves and township will be examined, and both sides of the current division will be addressed.
Problems concerning Fingo Village’s housing originate well before the last fifteen years. Choices made by white land managers for Grahamstown’s townships during the period of 1900 until 1969 had the effect of mass overpopulation of existing housing and shortage of land for housing development. As an example, during the 1920’s and 1930’s the black population doubled from 5,361 in 1921 to 9,131 in 1936, but the housing council did very little to accommodate the growth. To complicate this, due to Grahamstown’s central location and lax influx control laws, migration from the surrounding farming areas created an abundance of additional persons seeking shelter, and the majority of these immigrants chose to settle in Ndancama. With continuing overpopulation, the housing council did nothing to alleviate the situation, believing that this would send the message that permanent residence by Africans in Grahamstown was not a valid choice. Ignoring African residents did not send the desired message, and growth was not stemmed.
Overpopulation continued to worsen and, under the Group Areas Act of 1950, Fingo Village was proposed to be relocated to Committee’s Drift, 50 kilometers outside of Grahamstown. Members of the black community achieved successfully resisted this move, and of historical significance, the township stands exactly where it was created during the earliest stages of Grahamstown. While the township successfully resisted the move, other problems soon began. Bulging on every side, Fingo desperately needed new land to create houses. In 1969 the decision was made to de-proclaim the “Old Fingo Cemetery” for use of settlement. In 1972 sixty five housing plots were now made available for purchase at 50 cents each. Families immediately saw a way to achieve improved living conditions and jumped on the offer. Settlements were erected and hundreds of people relocated to the Old Cemetery.
For human rights and living conditions this was a god send, people now were able to gain breathing room and more suitable housing; for heritage and historical significance, this was a major problem. The cemetery has been labeled as Fingo Village’s first officially designated cemetery, although evidence is inconclusive as the exact original date. Judgment lines cannot be drawn, as the cemetery was not in good condition. During the time of the cemetery’s de-proclamation the graves and surrounding area were in complete disrepair. Evidence shows that since the 1950’s, perimeter fencing and graves were overgrown and dilapidated. Because of the condition, the graves served as a gathering place for youth rather than a location to honor past relatives. Only a small number of graves remained in good condition, many others were obscured by overgrowth and trees. The graves that remained protected were of Rhodes Lobengula, a grandson of the Ndbele king, and his wife Rosamond Lobengula, as no building was allowed on their plots. Along these lines, due to its condition and other factors, the cemetery became obsolete by the early 1940’s. Most visiting to the grave sites by families ceased in the subsequent thirty-year period. Although of heritage significance, in practical use the graves were mere memorials instead of active sites to engage the memory of past loved ones.
Residents flocked to the new area, not only for a chance to escape over-crowding but also for a chance to escape rental fees and a desire to be property-owners. Corrugated iron shacks were soon erected, and residents began a new life there. The life this area offered was not easy. During the initial construction and leveling skulls and bones emerged from the earth. In addition, infrastructure was non-existent, making sanitation, crime, and water dire problems. Due to narrow alleyways and housing density, crime was a huge problem. A resident during that time, Nonzwakazi Mbhunge, describes the crime conditions:
“…because people lived [in congested circumstances]…things were wrong…there was fighting…people stealing…people being chased by the police ran into Ndancama because of the narrow alley ways…sometimes they’d climb on top of the house…things like that…but we got used to it until we have grown up now.”
Despite all of these hardships, life continued in Fingo, and not until recent years has debate emerged about the historical significance about the grave site. In 1999 with the establishment of SAHRA (the South African Heritage Resource Agency) under the National Heritage Resources Act No. 25 of 1999, the graves were reinserted into public controversy. The act, seeking to address areas of historical significance that were overlooked during the Apartheid era, declared the graves, due to their age, just as important to preserve as the 1820 Settler Cemetery. With the help from SAHRA, during the process of the construction of the community center, which began before the establishment of SAHRA, in 1998, meetings were held to discuss courses of action. Should building be halted? Should relocation for the preservation of graves begin? The meetings decided that the relocation of residents to protect the graves was unnecessary, and declared that all remains should be given to the Albany Museum for historical preservation.
Currently the vast majority of the community supports this decision. Quality of living and developing the Fingo Village community is believed to be more important than Heritage management. Reservations still exist, as is apparent from an interview with Joyce Mbonde, a resident: “I cannot, with the full knowledge that you are buried in this place just live and be relaxed on top of you. That’s not nice… It is not nice to live on top of a grave, it feels uncomfortable.” While far from being resolved, an understanding is established that incorporates the needs of the Fingo residents.
