Phespirit goes to South Africa
Cape Town     July/August 2001

THE BALLAD OF DISTRICT SIX

Before colonialism all this was just a field.

Then came the people from all corners of the globe and houses were built here and everyone lived side by side in a colourful, contented community.

Then came the wreckers of apartheid and District Six was just a field once more.

ROBBEN ISLAND PRISON

Anyone who dared to attack the apartheid regime and stand up for their basic human rights was at risk of being shipped over to this place as a political prisoner.

Nelson Mandela himself served eighteen of his twenty-seven years' imprisonment here.

British Conservatives approved - shameful.

LANGA TOWNSHIP, CAPE FLATS

As people from rural communities continue to leave the country to find work in the city, so these dwellings continue to spring up at the perimeters of established townships.

Phespirit has seen how housing conditions are steadily being improved around Langa; patience is asked for, but it must be hard.