– By Gerald Garner
There are so many surprises to the story of Cape Town and South Africa. Especially so as our history was told in a distorted way during the Apartheid era. It was told to suite the preferred narrative of that time. The fact is, our real, shared history is far more interesting, intriguing, exciting, surprising and inspiring than what was told before.
For example, did you know that over 1000 ships anchored in Table Bay between 1600 and 1650, with the average stay as long as three weeks? And that the people of Mapungubwe traded with the East for many centuries before that already. Or that the local Khoe people defeated the Portuguese in the Battle of Salt River here in 1510 (there were 64 Portuguese casualties). Or that Britian invaded the Cape twice to take it from the Dutch? The Battle of Muizenberg took place in 1795 and the Battle of Blaauwberg in 1806.
Also, did you know that the Scramble for Africa and British expansion into the rest of Africa, ensued from Cape Town in the late 1800s? Or that Philip Kgosana of the PAC lead a massive march (of over 30 000 people) from Langa to central Cape Town on 30 March 1960 in protest against the Sharpeville Massacre. Thankfully it did not end up in the same massacre here! And who can forget the Purple Rain marches of 1989 in which the apartheid police sprayed protesters with blue dye from water cannons near Greenmarket Square?
– Gerald Garner is the founder of LocalPlaces, a storytelling, public speaking and tourism initiative that also acts as a thinktank questioning how South Africa’s biggest cities can be made better. Gerald is based in Cape Town and works with Charlie Moyo in Johannesburg. They share the history of South Africa and its cities with guests every day. They delve into the past to understand contemporary society and to reimagine a better future for South Africa and its cities.