Re-Imagining the Past to Shape the Future

As the country celebrated Heritage Month, the Business and Information Administration Department in the Faculty of Business and Management Sciences collaborated with the District Six Museum (D6M), and engaged all second-year Diversity Management students and International exchange students in workshops re-imagining and exploring the past at the Homecoming Centre in Cape Town.

Mandie Richards, senior lecturer and subject co-ordinator, advised that although the workshop focused on forced removals in District Six, forced removals were not synonymous to District Six, as the Group Areas Act passed on 27 April 1950 by the apartheid government was responsible for the separation and segregation of people into residential areas based on their race, which in itself was a social construct, throughout South Africa.

Mandy Sanger, the Education Manager at the D6M, engaged students in active conversations about colonialism, white privilege, culture, identity, language, restitution and human dignity.

Teams of students participated in role play and enacted scenarios on stage in the Avalon Theatre, which was previously known as the Fugard Theatre, and possible future stars were born, as the student audience applauded a few dramatic performances highlighting the suffering experienced by people in South Africa.

As the past influences the present and often shapes the future, District Six ex-residents accompanied students on guided tours to sites in District Six and shared their stories. Jasmina Salie, an ex-resident and author, shared the pain she and her family endured when they were forcibly removed from District Six to Hanover Park, where she still resides.

Second-year student Zena Julie shared the story of her grandmother’s forced removal from Newlands and finally settling in Mitchells Plain, and added that the workshop provided her with a greater understanding of the past and the impact of apartheid.

Richards was joined at the workshops by Fidelis Chu, the subject lecturer on the Wellington Campus, who shared his insights on the importance of history and how it shapes students’ understanding of the present. Students engaged in further conversation over lunch which was held on the rooftop garden overlooking the City Hall and Table Mountain.

Richards further stated that to enhance the understanding of students, the conversations at the workshops were integrated into the Diversity Management curriculum. Students had to identify a challenge in their community and explore ways as to how they would make a difference in communities by sharing their knowledge and skills or creating awareness thereby empowering communities.

“The workshop concluded with teams presenting their project plans which included homework clubs in communities, volunteering their services as tutors, neighbourhood watch to ensure the safety of the community, to creating awareness about gangsterism, teenage pregnancy and gender-based violence and feedback was provided to each team,” added Richards.

Richards advised that the future of the country was in the hands of the youth, and that this required that they be part of the narrative and that their voices and contributions be valued. The challenges raised by the teams and solutions as to how they would address them in their communities, provided her with hope that “this cohort of students will be global citizens and agents of change”.

Written by Kwanele Butana
Email: butanak@cput.ac.za