Education is a right, not a privilege!




The brave ones brave the wind and chill of June 16 2009 to march, hand out pamphlets and shout for better education.

FINGO HAS A NEW LIBRARY!!

[Courtesy Grocott's Mail artile at ]

Residents of Tantyi, Vukani and Fingo Village were in high spirits on Tuesday as they witnessed the opening of the first library in the area. The library extension was set up by the Cacadu District Municipality and is situated within the grounds of the Raglan Road Multi-purpose Community Centre. Unicef partnered up with the Eastern Cape Department of Social Welfare in identifying Raglan Centre as a demonstration site for early childhood development; and opening a library within its multi-faceted premises was a step forward in realising this goal.

.... This is a great resource for Fingo and we hope many of the young ones will make use of it.

BACK TO SCHOOL 2009

Fingo learners and pupils congregated at Jeki's corner in anticipation of the new school year. Prizes were given away, voices were heard... and the young made their presence felt...

PUBLIC EDUCATION THE FINGO REVOLUTIONARY WAY

Public education the Fingo Revolutionary way
by tsepiso sathie nzayo

The Fingo Revolutionaries Movement (F.R.M) went along with the back-to-school flow, but with a different approach.
Last Saturday F.R.M had its own “Back to school”event on the corner of Raglan road near J. Henry Chan (Kwa-Jeki). The aim was to encourage parents to have regular talks with their children and to get to know what is happening in their children's education.
“We are not strictly focusing on school-going children because F.R.M believes that school is not a secluded building where there is a teacher inside a classroom. Sharing information and engaging in issues and topics that affect children is also a part of education,” said Xolile (X-Nasty) Madinda.
The event was enlivened by Hip Hop, drama and dance, with the crowd of parents and children picking up the rhythms and applauding. Umngani, a poet-emcee from Joza township touched hearts with an emotional poem about his own life experiences. There was also a competition and prizes of colouring pens, maths sets, school bags and puzzles for the children.



X-nasty said his expectations for the event had been more than satisfied, especially by the response from the children. An appreciative Sinethemba Vamba (11) said, “It is nice to be here and I also had fun. Events like these help us to contribute to the society positively. I'm a dancer (pantsula) and this is a platform where we can showcase our talent.”
Mzukisi Cagweni (24) said people were so excited about the event that it should be held more often: “Events like these must not be done once in three months, they must be a continuous thing, as they help people to be creative.”



F.R.M members feel that the historic site should become a place that is geared for this type of event, where performers can communicate with the society through different art forms. They plan to discuss possible improvements to the site, such as a cement stage, with Makana Municipality.

DEFBOYZ & GRAHAMSTOWN HIP-HOP

Hello everyone!

Very soon we will be uploading some stuff on hip-hop in Grahamstown. Hip-hop is a strong grassroots force in Grahamstown and the Eastern Cape in general.

We've never really documented our stuff on the Internet but its about time.

For now, let it be known that Defboyz, one of the most enduring, politically conscious, hip-hop fanatics/ activists/ fundamentalists from Fingo, Grahamstown will be dropping their debut album in 2008.

Defboyz MC 'X' or 'X-nasty' (Xolile Madinda) is one of the founding members of the Fingo Revolutionary Movement. He's a social commentator who uses hip-hop to get the message across. Defboyz believe in hip hop as consciousness, hip-hop as food of life, hip-hop as good times ... yeah...

Check out the following interview X did with 24.COM in 2007 24.COM DEFBOYZ INTERVIEW
http://www.24.com/entertainment/music/?p=interview&i=791879

You can also visit Defboyz on Myspace listen to some of the rough cuts for what is to come... www.myspace.com/defboyzcrew

PEACE
F.R.S.M

BACK TO SCHOOL 2008!!

We will be hosting an education awareness campaign about the value of education, the problems and challenges of education within our community. We're calling it BACK TO SCHOOL.
26 JANUARY 2008 - KWA-JEKI INTERSECTION, FINGO... Free your mind black!

STEVE BIKO 30/30

2007 was the year in which we commemorated 30 Years since the death of Biko.
We organised two events for the community.

We successfully hosted the Steve Biko Commemmorative IsiXhosa Speech Competition with Rhodes University's African Language Studies.
The competition was open to all Grahamstown High School kids.

Click the link to read:
HERALD REPORT ON BIKO SPEECH COMPETITION 2007
http://www.theherald.co.za/herald/2007/09/19/news/n12_19092007.htm

The topic was simply on what the scholars felt the relevance of Steve Biko is today.

It was a wonderful memorable day where the standard of language use was very high.
And of course it was good to see all these young people speaking their minds so passionately and trying out their best.

We hope this event can go on in years to come.

The winning speech was by Mandilakhe Tukulu of Victoria Girls' High School.

One 16 September we kept it street-style by holding a street event in Fingo. There was drama, hip-hop, dance and poets. As usual we held dialogues and debate on Biko with prizes given.



FRSM

FRSM activities this year

This year has been a very busy year for us. Its the 30th annoiversary of Steve Biko's death so it hold special meaning for us.
So far we have

- Hosted a Rape Awareness Event focusing on Men’s Behaviour (1 May 2007)
- Formed a partnership with Makana SAPS through Police Forum, involves visiting schools in outer lying areas to talk about drug abuse
- Are trying to organise a Biko Commemoration Speech Competition to be hosted in conjunction with African Languages Department, week of 16 September 2007.

In addition to this we've been running around doing schools visits as usual.


We'll be out on the streets of Fingo again to host an outdoor event on the week of the 11-17th of September.

Peace
FRSM

Welcome to the Fingo Village Blog

For our History 3 project this term we were commissioned to set up a blog documenting the history of one of the oldest and most significant townships in South Africa. What follows is our manifesto for the Fingo Village Blog.

Public History in General:

Baines argues that “public memory is a body of beliefs and ideas about the past that help a public or society understand both its past, present, and by implication, its future[1]”. This is what we hope to achieve with the Fingo Village Blog project. We want to record the history of Fingo Village and its people. In documenting this rich and diverse history of a culture we hope to make their history more accessible, as it is a crucial part of their identity.

Vision:

The Fingo Village Blog’s vision is to be an outstanding public history project that promotes an understanding of the history of Fingo Village and its people. In pursuit of this we are committed to being fair, honest and producing and documenting balanced material. We want to promote historical consciousness without endangering Fingo Village’s historical and cultural resources.

Mission:

In pursuit of the vision we will aim to adhere to the ‘big four’ criterion of public history. The skills balance between ethics, appeal, research and relevance. We want to strive towards theorising memory about Fingo Village and create a project that contributes to an ongoing debate about memory and how it is presented and understood. In this quest we will accordingly:

Facilitate an understanding of history as an inescapable part of the broader political and socio-economic processes of our time[2].

Work with groups and individuals to affirm their identity within Fingo Village because “historians should take care not to simplify and underestimate the need for a history which reinserts black people into the heart of the national narrative[3]”.

Odendaal writes about the nature of history in an article titled ‘Heritage and the arrival of post-colonial history in South Africa[4]’. Included in the Fingo Village Blog project’s mission is some of the concerns which Odendaal highlights that good public history projects should focus on. Therefore our vision will be achieved by representing the past through a clear narrative, explanation and analysis. A focus on the importance of the power of economic interests over time, how it contributes to change, as well as continuity. The blog will also emphasise the importance of cultivating empathy with various experiences and perspectives of the past.

We will seek to go beyond the conventional perspectives. We will not limit ourselves in terms of the resources used to document the history of Fingo Village and its people. We hope to highlight how ordinary people feel about the history of Fingo Village. We hope to include photographs of Fingo Village and the people interviewed for the project on the blog. This will make the blog visually more appealing and give readers a better idea of what Fingo Village looks like. The blog will look at the history of Fingo Village but it will also include information about what is happening there today. We will look at how its history has contributed to bringing it to where it is today. We will examine the plans that Makana Municipality and the Heritage Council has for the future development of Fingo Village.

The project will be done in way that ensures that it is sustainable. We want to do it in such a way that member of the Fingo community, or anyone else who has an interest in the village and its people, can contribute to the blog or make comments about the content. This is a public history project that aims to meet the needs of the community, to give a voice, to the previously marginalized. Throughout the project will adhere to the requirements and desires of the client. We will try to meet these needs to the best of our ability but we intend bringing some of our own creativity, originality and initiative to the project as well.

[1] Baines, G. ‘The Politics of Public History in Post-Apartheid South Africa’, p. 2.
[2] Odendaal, A. ‘”Heritage” and the arrival of post-colonial history in South Africa’, p. 20.
[3] Ibid., p. 24.
[4] Ibid., p. 12.

- Posted by Delia de Villiers

Learn more about Steve Biko

Visitors to the blog are encouraged to research Steve Biko on their own. Links to useful pages have been inserted and can simply be clicked on and it will open the relevant page.

The reason for this self-exploration is that no first-hand information could be found in Fingo Village about Steve Biko. Any information found on this blog would therefore be taken from foreign sources. This is not the ideal or the objective of a public history project. There is an abundance of information available on the life and work of Steve Biko. There is also the great 1987 film, Cry Freedom, about the life of Steve Biko.

Readers, or rather public history explorers, will find that doing their own investigation about Steve Biko will allow for a broader and deeper understanding about the driving forces behind his political aspirations and how he came to be the symbol of the Black Consciousness Movement. Steve Biko's legacy lives on today. His legacy is most noticeable on the Rhodes University campus throught the SASCO (South African Students Congress) society. Steve Biko was one of the founders of SASCO.

We want to encourage explorers to share any interesting things that they have learnt about Steve Biko on the blog. This can be done by posting comments or by contacting the producers of the blog (an email address can be found on the blog) and we will upload any information that readers of this blog want to share about the life and work of Steve Biko, or how they were personally influenced or inspired by him.

It is perhaps important to mention at this point that the purpose of a blog is for it to function as a journal, where regular postings can be made about events or thoughts or ideas. A blog is something that can be updated as frequently as any one group or individual chooses to update it.

As previously mentioned, this year (2007) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Biko and special events will be held to commemorate his life. This will probably take place in Fingo Village and on the Rhodes campus. The event will hopefully be covered in this blog.

A brief biographical history of Stephen Bantu Biko

Biko was born on 18 December 1946 in King Williams Town. He was the youngest of three children. His father was a government-employed clerk and his mother a domestic worker. Biko’s father died when he was four years old.

Biko had shown a keen interest in anti-apartheid politics from a young age. His parents had placed an emphasis on the importance of education as the only means to a career and some level of independence. Jucks suggests: “Biko’s pursuit of education suggests that early influences, notably that of his parents, and subsequently that of his teachers, consistently supported education as a promising means toward a better life and, presumably, the gradual transformation of society ”. Biko was expelled from his first school in Lovedale for what was called ‘anti-establishment’ behaviour. Despite the Lovedale school being one of those under Verwoerd’s Bantu Education, Biko was increasingly exposed to a worldview or an ideology that promoted the importance of education. It is suggested that his expulsion from Lovedale contributed to his political orientation and resulted in his resentment of oppressive white authority .

Juckes, J.T. Opposition in South Africa: The leadership of Z.K. Matthews, Nelson Mandela, and Stephen Biko (USA, 1995), p. 119
Ibid., p. 121.

Project Design Report

It is important to view the making of a public history project as a process. It is not something that can be done without planning and regular evaluation. We, the producers of this blog, therefore thought that it might be interesting to include the report submitted to our supervisor on 18 May 2007 on the intended project design. The full report can be found below.

The Fingo Village Blog will be hosted on a free internet blogging site. The URL is http://www.blogger.com. The blog was very easy to set because it has various user-friendly tools to assist one in setting up a diary of this nature. A diary is essentially what a blog is but we are using it in a slightly different way. A blog allows for visitors to the site to make comments that will then appear on the blog. This feature of a blog assist us in our mission to make the blog something that is interactive and something that ordinary members of the community can participate in.

The design of the blog was chosen from a number of template options that are given to the user. We opted for a more elegant looking design. The reason for this is that is that way we hope that people will take the blog and the content, and other material found on it, quite seriously. By serious we do not mean academic, but rather that they will find honest, fair, balanced and well-researched historical discourse on the blog. The great thing about a blog is that there is no limit to the amount of space that can be used. While there is a limit to the amount of information that one can see on the computer screen, the blog automatically stores older information as new content is uploaded. The blog also allows for the inclusion of photographs or other graphics. Another resourceful feature is that one can insert links to other interesting or useful webpages. We intend making use of this as we see it as a way to entice and motivate people into learning more about this specific aspect of South African public history.

Every member of the group is able to upload content onto the blog on their own time. This is made possible by sharing the username and password that secures the blog. This is another useful feature because it means that the group is not forced to meet every time somebody wants to add something to the blog. The initial setting up required full group participation but now we will probably meet once or twice more to ensure that the overall tone and style of the blog is what we set out to do.

The blog allows for the users to include a profile about themselves. We filled in the profile part, describing how we are young historians at Rhodes University that are doing a public history project, that above everything else, will give something back to the community.

The general plan for implementation is easy because the groundwork has been done. Everybody had a part of the history of Fingo Village to investigate and write about and this will all be posted on the blog under various headings. The, very ambitious, plan is to have it all done and good to go by Saturday 19 May 2007 which is three days before the presentation of the project to our peers and lecturer. The presentation that will be done for the class will most likely be rehearsed the night before the presentation.

A ‘hook’ is always necessary to draw people into a project and to encourage them to participate in the experience. We are going to hand out little flyers that say very little apart from, ‘have you checked out this blog?’ and the web address. We think this is the most effective way of encouraging people to log onto the internet and view the blog because it makes them curious. If too much information is supplied about what is on the blog people might decide that they are not interested before even viewing it. Other hooks to be used will be striking and interesting headlines that draw people into the content. Photographs will also serve as a ‘hook’ as the visual medium serves to entice people in a different way than mere text does.

The costs involved in this project are minimal. The only costs that we have are the printing costs of the flyers and the petrol that was used to drive to Fingo Village to speak to members of the community.

As previously mentioned, a whole variety of sources will be employed. They range from peer-reviewed academic articles to interviews with people. Since it is a public history project, rather than a piece of academic work we thought to necessary to draw from a wide variety of knowledge to ensure that the content of the blog does not become stale or too theoretical. The other reason is to ensure that the blog becomes ‘the voice of the community’ in a sense. This is an all-inclusive history project, as in line with the democratic ideals of our country, and so no possible source will be discriminated against.

Nathaniel Nyaluza: Looking Forward

"Whereas the achievement of democracy in South Africa has consigned to history the past system of education which was based on racial inequality and segregation; and

"Whereas this country requires a new national system for schools which will redress past injustices in educational provision, provide an education of progressively high quality for all learners and in so doing lay a strong foundation for the development of all our people's talents and capabilities, advance the democratic transformation of society, combat racism and sexism and all other forms of unfair discrimination and intolerance, contribute to the eradication of poverty and the economic well-being of society, protect and advance our diverse cultures and languages, uphold the rights of all learners, parents and educators, and promote their acceptance of responsibility for the organisation, governance and funding of schools in partnership with the State; and

"Whereas it is necessary to set uniform norms and standards for the education of learners at schools and the organisation, governance and funding of schools throughout the Republic of South Africa..."

(Preamble to the South African Schools Act, 1996)

The learners at Nathaniel Nyaluza Public Secondary School are being prepared, in their education, to take part in a new South Africa.



Again a pioneer, Nathaniel Nyaluza was among the first of Grahamstown's public schools to connect to the internet. Working with the Rhodes University Departments of Computer Science and Education, and the Telkom Centre of Excellence, Nathaniel Nyaluza was connected to the Rhodes University network, sparking the ongoing Grahamstown Schools Project, e-Yethu.

Nathaniel Nyaluza Public Secondary School has its own website!
Follow the link for updates on events at Nyaluza, and to read the personal blogs of current students - telling their own stories, their own histories, live online.

Black Rugby in Fingo Village and Grahamstown

,

Grahamstown has always had a strong tradition of Rugby, mainly due to its number of schools and Rhodes University. However the history of black rugby has been largely ignored due to the political situation in the past.

When rugby first became popular among black South Africans towards the end of the twentieth century it played the role of keeping young people busy and off the streets. Rugby was a white-dominated game at this time, and most of the players achieved high social status and recognition.


The Beginnings.
Bush Manana was a Grahamstown resident who played rugby in Port Elizabeth and was instrumental in bringing the game to the township. The interest in the game grew and they would go and watch matches, for example Kingswood and St Andrews. This was an effective way of learning the rules and how it was played. Men from the township who wanted to play would gather on the fields outside St Phillips church and the resident Father Crabtree who was originally from England coached them. They eventually formed a side called Winter Rose in the 1890s which was the 1st Black Rugby Football Club in Grahamstown. This team was comprised of mainly local teachers from the township, because of their education they picked up the rules of the game very quickly.

During the 1880s St Andrew’s College began a policy of separating black and white students, this was due to Government segregation legislation and as a result blacks were no longer allowed to play rugby against St Andrews teams. This led to the formation in 1894 of Lilly White Rugby Football Club in 1894. So called because a female at teacher at St Andrews was s supportive of the idea. Another club was formed at this time as a result of watching the Winter Rose players. This team is most relevant to my project as they came from Fingo Village and were called The Wanderers. They were established in 1903. There emblem was a Lion to symbolize Ferocity. The Wanderers were a very strong team, wining many matches. They were also apparently all musicians which set them aside from other teams.

The Wanderers 1st team. 1903

The Wanderers 1st team 1948

In 1904 the Winter Rose side played their reserve side who eventually won the match 5-3, because of this success they decided to break away and form their own side, Easterns Rugby Football Club. An important figure head of Grahamstown Rugby, Milton 'Babs’ Roxo was a player of this team. When interviewed, he said how they used to go and watch the white schools rugby teams and name themselves after the best players. He has been watching Kingswood play since 1931!

Milton Roxo

It is important to understand the importance of Black Rugby; it was more than simply a form of recreation. Dr Manona described black rugby in Grahamstown as something which ‘humanized peoples lives; making life in the townships worth living.’

It was crucial in the community, bringing everyone together,
‘Even women were involved to an extent. Although they didn’t exactly play the game, they were still ‘members; of the various clubs. They were responsible for fund raising, providing food at team meetings, as well as support the matches.’ Dr Manona.

Milton Roxo described the hardships that faced the players, ‘We had to play on ground that was hard as tar and covered with rocks and stones.’ This was obviously extremely dangerous and painful for the players, but he said that it didn’t matter as their love for the game was more important.

Clubs struggled to generate enough funds to buy balls and Jerseys. Facilities were also a problem, the fields were in poor condition as mentioned earlier and one field, the egazini field sloped so badly that when players were tackled to the ground, they often rolled down the slope. Clearing the fields of the stones and gravel was a community effort and they would often clear them with their own farming equipment. Another significant field was the one in Tantyi Township. This field was situated on a mound and the supporters often had to run onto the field to see what was happening on the opposite side.

The Old Easter Festival was originally started from a rugby tournament where local black teams from Uitenhage, Port Elizabeth, King Williamstown, Queenstown and others would come to Grahamstown to play rugby. The players would approach the Principal from the local schools, in particular the ones in Fingo and ask for accommodation and the Principal would give them classrooms to sleep in. The festival usually lasted from Friday to Monday.
They would play on many fields, Egazini, Foley’s field, at Fingo, Tantyi and Joza. It was common practice for each club to enter three teams, who would all play in their respective leagues. Each team brought its crowd of supporters, and they would wear the colour of their team. The wanderers had a maroon blazer with a lion emblem, the Easterns had a purple jersey with a white stripe and the Lily White’s had a dark blue jersey.
Mr. Curnick Mdyesha, a cousin of the previously mentioned, Milton Roxo, was President of the Wanderers in 1945, President of the Grahamstown Rugby Board, E.P. black rugby ad the black Springbok team at the time, who toured England and Australia. He spoke about the Easter Festival,

‘Women wore headgears, blouses and skirts- whose would have the colour of their clubs. For men, blazers, ties and shirts showed the colours of their club. The general public would parade their best clothes in the colours of their club. Ordinary citizens would put on their best clothes for the day.’ Curnick Mdyesha

‘As a player, we used to really enjoy the camaraderie the skills, the friendship and generally the relationships with the people from other areas. Rugby was played in a fine spirit in the festival and was different from what you play for a trophy. This was a demonstration of free rugby- we enjoyed visitors, playing in front of visitors the gay spirit that went around, and the people dressed up and applauded. The whole thing was a really wonderful activity.’ Curnick Mdyesha

The festival started to suffer pressure during the mid 70s due to the emergence of professionalism which as a result saw the focus of the rugby during the Festival shift more towards a profiteering approach.

‘….With the advent of professional soccer in TV, with people getting money and the exposure of big teams everybody started switching to soccer.’ – Curnick Mdyesha.

Milton Roxo commented how the best fields were given to soccer players as the popularity of soccer grew. This was problematic for the teams as it gave rise to a new sport that encouraged professionalism, as did Rugby under new unions. This professionalism meant that clubs needed income to support their teams and this led to paid entrance to games. The jovial, unrestricted atmosphere was replaced by one of profit making. When stadiums were opened it saw the end of the ‘festival’ open field rugby and was a regulated way of collecting money from the spectators.
‘When we later had an enclosed stadium people would charge admission, and the clubs would share that money…so that now, the emphasis switched from being purely a cultural thing for enjoyment to being something for collecting funds.’ Curnick Mdyesha.
This is a list of some of the Grahamstown Black Rugby players who made special contributions to the sport:

• Curnick Mdyesha of the Wanderers team. President of Wanderers, President of Eastern Province side and Black South African Side.
• Milton ‘Babs’ Roxo of the Eastern Rugby Football Club. Played Utility back. Very strong player and went on to be a selector for Grahamstown and Eastern Province.
• Llewellyn Sunday Maquande – Well built and Robust Forward and went on to play for the black Springboks.
• Duan Hani from Lilly White, went on to play for the Black Springboks
• Khuselo Faku of Eastern R.F.C and fly-half Dodo Planga both played for eight consecutive seasons during the 50s and 60s.
• J.D.Dlepi An excellent player. Was President of Grahamstown Rugby and Wanderers. According to Milton Roxo, ‘Whenever there was nothing to do and rugby stopped, he would get everyone together and make them play. He selected for Eastern Province for many years.

These teams are still playing now and with improved government support and funding since the end of Apartheid the game is thriving in the Township. Let’s hope things continue this way so as to provide many more years of Black rugby history.

Egazini Field where they now play rugby.

Freedom and Fire

The original buildings that made up the Native Secondary School are nowhere on this blog. We were unable to locate archived images of the school. At Nathaniel Nyaluza Public Secondary School today, the oldest buildings date to the mid-1980s when the school was rebuilt after it was destroyed by fire during a student protest.

Students at Nyaluza found themselves at the centre of resistance to apartheid in Grahamstown during the late seventies and eighties. The Fingo high school was particularly affected by student boycotts. Some Nyaluza students were leaders in COSAS, and many more began, in this period, to be politically active.

A timeline of Student Action at Nathaniel Nyaluza Public Secondary School, and other high schools in the Grahamstown township:

1975
Nyaluza students staged a sit-in, refusing to sit their mid-year exams.
Only sixteen students sat for their Matriculation exams.

1977
Nyaluza students participated in marches against Bantu Education.

1980
Students from Ntsika and Nyaluza secondary schools initiated a boycott, which was ended at Mary Waters High School in May.
Government-appointed "Peacemakers" engaged in open aggression with the students.

1984
Students from Ntsika drafted a list of demands; including elected SRCs, curriculum reform and an end to corporal punishment in schools.
New boycotts were called, in honour of Steve Biko, and in response to the issue of police brutality.
Nyaluza students participated in a 500-strong, student led march from Joza to Fingo.
Attendance at Grahamstown schools dropped below 30%.

1985
The government declared a State of Emergency in Grahamstown in July.
Fingo village became subject to a curfew between 10pm and 4am.
Residents of the Grahamstown townships met, and lodged a list of 33 demands to the Government - four of these issues were centred on education.

(all of the information contained in the timeline was drawn from the first two chapters of Ryota Nishino's Honours thesis:
Ryota Nishino, 'The Dynamics of School Protests: Grahamstown School Boycotts c.1984-1987' Submitted to the History Department, Rhodes University, South Africa, in partial fulfilment of the requirements of a BA (Hons) degree in History, Rhodes University, 1999)

The beginnings of a Secondary School

Nathaniel Nyaluza Public Secondary School, in Fingo Village, was the first high school in Grahamstown dedicated to the education of black students. Known only as the 'Native Secondary School', the establishment of Nathaniel Nyaluza was the initiative of the Grahamstown Joint Council of Europeans and Natives. The minutes of the executive meetings between 1936 and 1938, when the school opened its doors, detail the long and involved process of finding and acquiring a suitable location, constructing buildings, and the endless task of fund-raising.

(From the minutes of the executive council, Grahamstown Joint Council of Europeans and Natives)
17th November 1936:
"Arrangements were left in the hands of the Chairman, Secretary and ---, together with ---, who informed the meeting that another concert was to be arranged in the Location for secondary school funds."

Besides staging concerts, the Joint Committee solicited donations and won the support of the local school to reduce running costs.

The decision to establish the Native Secondary School was a progressive step at a time when the advantages and disadvantages of so-called "Native Education" were being widely debated. A speaker addressing the executive of the Joint Committee raised three main objections to "educating the native":

"He becomes cheeky - but that is due only to the wrong type of education. He will compete with Europeans - but wth education his standard of living will be raised. Education is not needed for his work - but then what of the education of those Europeans who do similar work in England?"
(From the minutes of the executive council, Grahamstown Joint Council of Europeans and Natives)
20 April 1937

The Nathaniel Nyaluza school was never intended to provide the kind of education open to students in 'white' Grahamstown. After 1955, the Native Secondary School fell within the mandate of the Department of Education and Training, under the Bantu Education Act 1953, further limiting the scope of the curriculum. However, Nyaluza was still the first black secondary school in Grahamstown. Whatever limitations it did suffer, the establishment and continued operation of the school provided - and provides! - opportunites for further education to the youth of Fingo Village and the surrounding locations.

Unearthing the Past: The Fingo Village Graves

“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.”[1]

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.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4]

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.”[5]

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. [6]

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.”[7] While far from being resolved, an understanding is established that incorporates the needs of the Fingo residents.

---

[1] Mkhize, N. "Bones of Contention: Contestations Over Human Remains in the
Eastern Cape", MA Thesis, Rhodes University, 2007, p. 17.

Clark, H. "The History and Power of Grahamstown's Fingo Village Skeletons", Dispatch Online, retrieved online at http://www.blogger.com/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.dispatch.co.za/1998/04/editorials/HISTORY.htm

[2] Ibid, p 19-24.

[3] Ibid, 26 27.

[4] Ibid, 31 32.

[5] Ibid, 37.

[6] SAHRA at http://www.sahra.org.za/intro.htm

Mkhize, N, p. 42.

[7] Ibid, p.47.

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)

Steve Biko

This year, 2007, marks the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Stephen Bantu Biko in police custody. In recognition of this and in celebration of his life, a biography of his life will be included in the Fingo Village Blog. Biko visited Rhodes and Grahamstown in 1967 for a NUSAS (National Union of South African Students) conference. Rhodes was at that stage a white campus. In terms of a ministerial decree the university authorities did not allow black delegates to stay in the residences or to eat in the dining halls. Biko was outraged by this and made his dissatisfaction known. It is said that it was at this point that Biko realised the exact nature of what he was fighting for and the enormity of the challenge he faced in fighting and campaigning for a non-racial South Africa.

Member of the Fingo Village community remember seeing Biko. Steve Biko was one of the key figures in the anti-apartheid struggle, someone whose legacy still lives today and whose life and ideas continue to inspire many young people.