REMOVED

I have always said loudly and proudly and in a disruptive manner that I am Coloured and from Ocean View. This was the title of my culture, the claim and clutch at where I am from and I was never going to let anyone take away from that. But I often challenged my family to tell me more, tell me stories, tell me where we are from. Where was my Pa’s family from? If his mother was Khoi, who was his father? What are St Helena Island slaves and where do they really come from? Where is my Ma and her family from? I have craved to know my DNA and my family’s history and to revisit the land that they pride themselves on once having had, but that my Ma never ever speaks of.

Redhill is a far walk from the dry and barren area of Ocean View, the community that my family were forcibly removed to. But as children, teenagers and even young adults, no one took us there. No one wanted to visit home. No one wanted to speak about the letter of “eviction” known as “love letters” or the day they were removed or how they could never get that land back.
I began to dig and probe and ask the sensitive questions. One day I told my mom I wanted to find out why we do not have land and what happened to our rightful land and land claims. I told her I will be making a documentary about Redhill and our family and I want to know more about the life they lived there. She turned with tears in her eyes and told me this would make her so proud. So we made this documentary for our family as a healing — a process that will encourage talking and discussing. And finally so that South Africa and the world can also learn about forced removals and about Redhill.
The structures of Apartheid still exist, mainly in terms of the urban Apartheid land structures. Our people of colour still have to reside in the communities they were forced into that are far away from resources, access and especially white people. We live on top of each other so we don’t have the space emotionally to talk, heal and deal with the past.

The world is grasping for stories of home and for lived realities. And the younger generations of today are digging for identity, culture and claims to proudly say who we are and where we are from.

The current cases of forced evictions stir up the past forced removals for many in this country. The minimal talk of land and little action towards reparations have left us in despair and unhopeful. But if we do not back down; if we hold onto the current claims in the area, hopefully one day the land will be returned and we will finally claim access to vast amounts of open, protected land in this country.