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.

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)