A conversation between two CPUT staff members and the rector of an iconic District Six church lit the spark for the development of a virtual memorial based on baptism records. 

The St Mark’s Anglican Church, situated on the District Six Campus, survived the forced removals in District Six and has become a symbol of resilience to many.

Father Austen Jackson said that since he came to St Mark’s in 2016, he’d had a vision of building a memorial for the people who were baptised at the church between 1871 and 1983, which was the last year people were removed from District Six.

He shared this vision with the congregation from time to time and during a meeting mentioned this to Jacqui Scheepers, CPUT’s manager of Community Engagement and Work Integrated Learning, and Nicholas Pinfold, lecturer in Town and Regional Planning.

“We spoke about how CPUT could help us with this and Nicholas immediately said they would be able to help us and that his colleagues have been thinking along the same lines in terms of using maps to recreate a historic community,” said Jackson. Siddique Motala, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying who has been involved in the mapping of District six for many years, also came on board.

The other partners on the project are the University of Michigan through its Global Information Engagement Program and the District Six Museum.

“We thought of a virtual memorial, something interactive, that involves the names of the people. We want to ensure a life for these records in future,” said Jackson.

Motala said not only could the process add to our understanding of District Six but importantly it could also help in the restitution process as it could serve as proof of residence in District Six.

The baptism records were digitised in 2012 and have now been passed on to three students from the University of Michigan.

“They have been looking at how they can convert the digitised records into numeric digital records that can be used in an attribute table that is attached to a map in a GIS (Geographic Information System),” said Pinfold.

Michigan student Jackson Huang said that originally the hope was that they could run the records through software and extract the information but they’ve had to take a more manual approach.

“Because the records are handwritten and in so many different people’s handwriting this was not possible. This was a diverse community with different languages and different versions of names because of the way language changes over time so we’ve had to take the manual route,” he said.

The students started on a 400-page volume that stretches from 1950 to 1957 and has thus far completed half of it.

Pinfold said Town and Regional Planning students have been getting familiar with District Six as it was in 1968 (when the demolitions began) by digitising the buildings, flats and other units and doing a 3D model of it. They’ve also done a land use map with different colours denoting different uses to get a sense of what the activities were in the area at the time as well as of the density of the dwellings.

Motala’s undergraduate students are also involved in the creation of the master map of addresses as they were in 1968 while postgraduate students are using a subset of the master map to create the baptism records.

The CPUT students will also ensure the continuity of the project once the Michigan students returned to the US.

Pinfold said the project would be an ongoing service learning and community engagement project.

“The campus is slap bang in the middle of where D6 was we have a responsibility to give back and let our students understand the context.”

Written by Ilse Fredericks
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The Head of Department: Teacher Professional Development, Melanie Sadeck is happy that more women have been appointed into senior management in Higher Education and she is confident that their presence will make a difference “but it is not easy”.

“Many women in leadership positions are still not given the support and space they require to succeed.  Empathetic, personal leadership styles are still frowned upon and sections of the HE environment are still hostile.  I am on the Board of HERS SA whose mission it is to develop women for leadership in Higher Education, so I am acutely aware of the challenges still being experienced by women despite their appointment into leadership positions.”

Sadeck also thinks that it is unfair to have unrealistic expectations of women leaders – the system often mitigates against the best efforts to promote change.

“When I took on a leadership position, I had to learn assertiveness skills and how not to take things personally. I believe you can only be a true leader when you represent and are respected by the people you lead,” she says.

I have come through the ranks and have worked with both men and women at many different levels. This has shaped my leadership style and my appreciation of how each individual/role contributes to the efficiency and effectiveness of a department/ faculty/ university.”

In over 30 years in academia, Sadeck has learnt a lot about the changing landscape of higher education and how the university operates.

Reflecting on her journey at CPUT which began in February 1988, Sadeck says: “Hard work, commitment, and dedication to improving education in South Africa. I worked during my holidays and put up my hand when the department/ faculty requested staff to serve as a representative on a committee, take on a project or run a programme.”

In this period, the Faculty of Education Community Engagement and Work Integrated Learning (CE and WIL) Coordinator has been involved in many committees at the faculty and institutional level. Amongst other things, Sadeck has represented Senate on Council and participates in working groups, forums, task teams, and Teacher Education Development committees in the Western Cape. She has been on the HERS SA Board for many years. Sadeck is a Board member of the South African Education Research Association (SAERA) and serves on an advisory board for a joint UK- SA project to develop a violence prevention intervention for primary schools.

Through these projects, the former high school Physical Science teacher has been able to present at conferences, publish articles and book chapters. Sadeck is also part of the community of practice in the Centre for International Teacher Education (CITE), Professional Education Research Institute (PERI), and part of the Management Team of the Newly Qualified Teachers (NQT) project. Her research interests have expanded to include Women in Leadership in Higher Education, TVET, Teaching Practice/WIL, Teacher Education and NQT.

However, Sadeck, who believes in social justice at all levels and fights hard against any form of discrimination and injustice, says coming to study and work in Cape Town from Kimberley was not easy. “I always appreciated my work so I strived to do the best I could no matter what task was given to me. At Pen Tech [CPUT], my colleagues became my family and the Bellville campus became my home.

“All levels of management and administration were supportive and confident in my abilities – even when I was doubtful. I learnt to stand up for myself and for others. My long term as the executive of the Employees Union, as Deputy Chair of the Institutional Forum, and as part of the Gender Committee contributed to my understanding of the issues facing staff particularly women and the disabled, and my work in academic support and as HoD illuminated the challenges of students. My leadership style is thus one of trust, fairness, and honesty.”

Written by Aphiwe Boyce
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