First Fietas Festival to celebrate the legacy of the community

The ex-residents and those who remember aim to reclaim their heritage, to restore themselves and the vital legacy of a community, through a festival that celebrates the ways and values of a time and place that still resides in memories and hearts and, which people yearn to collectively reconnect with and grow from again. This is a seed, the beginning of a unique annual cultural festival held in the location of the historically famous Pageview community that was destroyed by the Group Areas Act of apartheid between 1956 and 1977. Before then the first removals of people from Fietas under racial legislation was to Ormando East in the late 1920's and early 1930's. Fietas, as the place was popularly known to its people, was an integrated community of people, space and use: of African, Indian, coloured, Malay and Chinese people; Hindu, Christian, Muslim and indigenous African faiths; of workers, professionals, shopkeepers, sangomas and artisans; of mosques and churches; bioscopes, shebeens and corner cafes; alleyways, backyards and stoeps and, the internationally famous 14th Street bazaar. Words are inadequate in capturing the dynamism and vibrancy of the area as it was experienced, particularly at its height between 1945 and 1960. It was a place not unlike District Six and Sophiatown. But Fietas was declared a white area, destroyed and its residents forcibly moved to separate racial ghettoes: Lenasia, Soweto, Eldorado Park and the western townships. The historical impact of the Group Areas Act went well beyond the bulldozing of homes and the resettlement of its residents. It brutally interrupted the development of an integrated national identity, laid waste a rich and dynamic cultural heritage in all its dimensions and created conditions for the profound alienation of the people affected. In effect it ripped out the soul of a people, for generations past and to come. But now the people of Fietas reclaim their heritage, to restore themselves and the vital legacy of a community, through a festival that celebrates the ways and values of a time and place that still resides in memories and hearts and, which people yearn to collectively reconnect with and grow from again. Related: Fietas Festival Johannesburg References: Fietas Festival Programme