Week-long party for 50-year-old Gugulethu
11 October 2009, 11:34
By Francis Hweshe
Gugulethu, one of Cape Town's older black townships, is throwing a week-long party to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Many residents and their parents were victims of the apartheid Group Areas Act, and were forced to move in the 1960s from places like District Six.
Located 15 kilometres outside the city, the township was developed in 1958 as Nyanga West because of overcrowding in Langa, the oldest township.
The Gugulethu Steering Committee has planned a roller-coaster of cultural activities embracing the past and celebrating the future.
Festivities are due to begin on Wednesday at 4pm, when the community is set to converge on the Gugulethu Sports complex for the premiere of the locally shot film, Fezeka's Voice, about the musical success of the Fezeka High School choir. The film is to be released worldwide.
The choir, the pride of Gugulethu, will perform at the premiere.
Wednesday will also mark the launch of Gugulethu Youth Radio, a project led by pupils from Fezeka, ID Mkhize and Gugulethu Comprehensive schools. In the past two weeks, 10 pupils from these schools have been trained in broadcasting, and they will capture on air various facets of the community's history.
The radio, which has drawn some international sponsors, is supported by Cape Town's Bush Radio.
Celebrations will include a numeracy and literacy campaign to encourage reading and writing in English and Xhosa, and the Gugulethu Lifestyle Festival.
Mzoli Ngcawuzele, Gugulethu businessman and owner of Mzoli's Meat Place, the popular butchery and restaurant that attracts guests from across Cape Town, said he was proud of his community.
"Through a piece of meat I have managed to bridge the racial divide and brought together people from all walks of life," he said.
Ngcawuzele was born in the Bo-Kaap, but his family was forced to move to Gugulethu in the 1960s, settling in NY97.
"We have come a long way as a community. When we came here, there used to be bushes everywhere, but we turned those bushes into a proud suburb."
He said his contribution to the area was Gugulethu Square, a multimillion-rand shopping mall he is building - in a joint venture with The Ideas Fund, Khula and Group 5 - which is at the heart of the community.
The mall is due to be completed by the end of the month.
Such a mall was overdue, he said, and should change people's lives by creating jobs and "taking kids off the streets".
Ngcawuzele called on black people to be at the forefront of economic development, to be innovative, and to bring about the change and growth they wanted in their communities. They should not expect the government to provide all the assistance they needed.
He said the secret to his own success was being positive and staying focused. "It also goes with love and passion for the community."
He said he could easily afford to live in one of Cape Town's leafy suburbs, but did not wish to turn his back on the people who had brought him success and whom he loved.
He said the community looked up to him as a leader, and came to him for business advice.
"My doors are always open. I want to take the youth off the streets," he said.
The township faced many challenges, Ngcawuzele said, but he was proud of the way it had developed over the past 50 years.
Gugulethu, one of Cape Town's older black townships, is throwing a week-long party to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Many residents and their parents were victims of the apartheid Group Areas Act, and were forced to move in the 1960s from places like District Six.
Located 15 kilometres outside the city, the township was developed in 1958 as Nyanga West because of overcrowding in Langa, the oldest township.
The Gugulethu Steering Committee has planned a roller-coaster of cultural activities embracing the past and celebrating the future.
Festivities are due to begin on Wednesday at 4pm, when the community is set to converge on the Gugulethu Sports complex for the premiere of the locally shot film, Fezeka's Voice, about the musical success of the Fezeka High School choir. The film is to be released worldwide.
The choir, the pride of Gugulethu, will perform at the premiere.
Wednesday will also mark the launch of Gugulethu Youth Radio, a project led by pupils from Fezeka, ID Mkhize and Gugulethu Comprehensive schools. In the past two weeks, 10 pupils from these schools have been trained in broadcasting, and they will capture on air various facets of the community's history.
The radio, which has drawn some international sponsors, is supported by Cape Town's Bush Radio.
Celebrations will include a numeracy and literacy campaign to encourage reading and writing in English and Xhosa, and the Gugulethu Lifestyle Festival.
Mzoli Ngcawuzele, Gugulethu businessman and owner of Mzoli's Meat Place, the popular butchery and restaurant that attracts guests from across Cape Town, said he was proud of his community.
"Through a piece of meat I have managed to bridge the racial divide and brought together people from all walks of life," he said.
Ngcawuzele was born in the Bo-Kaap, but his family was forced to move to Gugulethu in the 1960s, settling in NY97.
"We have come a long way as a community. When we came here, there used to be bushes everywhere, but we turned those bushes into a proud suburb."
He said his contribution to the area was Gugulethu Square, a multimillion-rand shopping mall he is building - in a joint venture with The Ideas Fund, Khula and Group 5 - which is at the heart of the community.
The mall is due to be completed by the end of the month.
Such a mall was overdue, he said, and should change people's lives by creating jobs and "taking kids off the streets".
Ngcawuzele called on black people to be at the forefront of economic development, to be innovative, and to bring about the change and growth they wanted in their communities. They should not expect the government to provide all the assistance they needed.
He said the secret to his own success was being positive and staying focused. "It also goes with love and passion for the community."
He said he could easily afford to live in one of Cape Town's leafy suburbs, but did not wish to turn his back on the people who had brought him success and whom he loved.
He said the community looked up to him as a leader, and came to him for business advice.
"My doors are always open. I want to take the youth off the streets," he said.
The township faced many challenges, Ngcawuzele said, but he was proud of the way it had developed over the past 50 years.
- This article was originally published on page 7 of The Cape Argus on October 11, 2009
Pretoria
