Waterloo Bay, East London

A Bay is an Area of water surrounded or otherwise demarcated by Land. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds. Not in the case of Waterloo Bay though, many Sea Vessels have had their demise here!

Geolocation
27° 53' 60", -33° 16' 48"

Al-Azhar Mosque, Cape Town

The Al Azhar Mosque is an Islamic Mosque in District Six, Cape Town. It holds the same name as a rather resplendent more-famous Mosque in Cairo, Egypt but what it lacks in minarets, it makes up for with position, for the Mosque of Cape Town lies right in the heart of one of the City's former 'grey areas' of the Apartheid era - District Six.
Al Azhar Mosque, in Aspeling Street, is the oldest Mosque in District Six, founded in 1887.North, Tennant Road to the West, De Waal Drive South of it, and Cambridge Street to the East. District Six, though, is no longer there. Most of it has been absorbed by the Suburbs of: Walmer Estate; Zonnebloem and Lower Vrede. Only a tiny portion of the original Victorian-style Neighbourhood remains.
Between 1966 and 1980 (it took 15 years) the Group Areas Act enabled the government to forcibly remove 60 000 residents from District Six, which was labelled a 'whites-only' Area. Homes (1 800 of them) were razed to the ground and a hugely diverse (racially, religiously and tolerance-wise) Community was destroyed.
District Six has been described as a cosmopolitan area where a complete mix of people lived, from all walks of life (from priests to politicians, from fishermen to prostitutes). It was poor, and overcrowding was bad but it was a hive of activity with streets rich with bakeries, butcher shops, clothing retailers and old Victorian houses. People remember a vibrancy. The rich mix of cultures meant that the Area was a seedbed of opinions, thought and enterprise, which were a threat to Apartheid!
The Government changed the name to Zonnebloem and left only a few Churches and Mosques to act as a Memorial of what once was. Worse still they renamed the new townships on the Cape flats after road names of the former District Six – Hanover Park, Lavender Hill, Tyne Court.
As if the void was too loaded to fill, the land in Town remained undeveloped; a blight right alongside De Waal Drive, nothing more than 91 hectares of empty Land and a grassy Hillside. A feature of the drive into to Cape Town!

The Al Azhar Masjied was founded by Imam Kassiem Gamieldien in the late 1800’s. Imam Kassiem served as the first Imam of the Masjied. Imam Kassiem Gamieldien’s son, Sheigh Abubakr Gamieldien better known as Imam Akaa studied at the Al Azhar College, in Cairo. He served as the Imam of the Masjied until his demise in 1945. At the time the masjied operated a madrasah, where the learners were taught Shariah studies by Hafith Abdul Mallick. Sheigh Abduragman better known as Imam Amaanie, another son of Imam Kassiem, left for Cairo in the year 1900 to study at the Nasrih Government College in Cairo. He returned in 1907 and was appointed as Ustadh and Imam of the Indian College in Mowbray. In 1908, Sheigh Abduragman was appointed as co- Imam of the Al Azhar Masjied and assisted his brother in the duties of the Imam at the Masjied. He also acted as Headmaster of the madrasah at the Masjied. He passed away in Cairo in 1935.
In 1922, Sheigh Abduragman departed with his family, including his sons, Muhammad Shakir, Habib, and Muhammad Ihsan for Egypt.
Sheigh Muhammad Shakier, the eldest son of Sheigh Abduragman, completed his studies at the Al-Azhar University Cairo. He returned to Cape Town in 1938. He was recognized as one of the foremost Islamic scholars in the Cape and South Africa. He served as one of the Imams of the Al Azhar masjied for many years until his passing on in 1997.
Sheigh Muhammad Ihsan who studied at Cairo University returned to Cape Town in 1945 and was appointed as Imam of the Masjied after the passing on of Sheigh Abubakr in that very same year. Sheigh Muhammad Taib Jassiem who also studied at the Al-Azhtar College in Cairo assisted with the Jumuah prayers until 1972.
Sheigh Ismail Keraan, the current Imam of the Al Azhar masjied, was appointed as the assistant imam of the masjied in 1995. Sheigh Keraan was a student of the late Sheigh Shakir. Sheigh Keraan is a graduate of the University of Cape Town and studied at the Al Azhar College and also in Rhiyadh, Saudi Arabia. On the demise of Sheigh Muhammad Shakir, Sheigh Keraan became the Imam of the Masjied and has now been serving as Imam of the masjied for almost 17 years.

Geolocation
18° 25' 48", -33° 55' 48"
References

https://www.sa-venues.com/attractionswc/al-azhar-masjied.php/http://www…
Hanif Edwards – His Life and Works by Moegamat Hoosain Ebrahim, 2004
/Dr Ahmad Fuad Gamieldien- youngest son of Sheigh Abduraghmaan Gamieldien (born 1930 in Cairo)

Mitchell's Plain, Cape Flats

It was laid-out as an Area for Coloureds and erected to house the middle income group, about 30 years ago! Parts of it quickly deteriorated into little more than ‘urban ghetto's’ - a description so often applied to these ready-made slums erected by former Apartheid rulers to separate Whites from other race Citizens.

Mitchells Plain lies about 20 kilometres from the City of Cape Town at the end of a brand new railway line, just West of Langa. Mitchell's Plain is one of fifteen areas identified as high priority for action against crime and drug abuse - renowned for its gangster-ism and tik addiction among its youth. Many families relocated here from District Six when it was razed to the ground, and although violent gangs are a way of life, Mitchells Plain in no way resembles the Informal Settlements that line the N2.

Today Mitchell’s Plain Houses almost a Million Residents from a diversity of class and backgrounds. It is Economically divided into East and West - the Western half of Westridge, Rocklands and Portland's is wealthier than the Eastern half of Tafelsig, Beacon Valley and Eastridge.

Geolocation
-34° 2' 47.8502", 18° 33' 57.6"

Retreat, Cape Town

Retreat is a Suburb of City of Cape Town, Western Cape with a postal code. It is about 15 kms West-North-West of the Provincial Capital City of Cape Town. The Suburb of Retreat in Cape Town was so named because the Dutch retreated to that Area when they were losing the Battle of Muizenberg. The Area falls under the Municipality of Cape Town. Retreat has many Transport Routes available: Rail, Air, Water and Road. As well as Labour, making it an Industrial Hub. This Suburb is bursting with potential and adjacent is the exclusive; Marina De Gama and many new developments, especially new Retirement Centers!

Geolocation
18° 28' 1.2", -34° 3' 28.8"

Radio Freedom: A History of South African Underground Radio by Chris A. Smith

1985 AMR poster.Antiapartheid Movement Radio

At seven p.m. sharp, seven nights a week, during the darkest days of apartheid, an incendiary radio broadcast beamed out from Lusaka, Zambia. It began with the clack of machine-gun fire, followed by a familiar call-and-response:

Amandla Ngawethu!

“Power to the People!”

The shooting faded in and out, waxing and waning with the chant.

Language

President Cyril Ramaphosa calls for national lockdown for 21 days in South Africa

Cyril Ramaphosa
On 23 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster in terms of section 27 of the Disaster Management Act. This was an urgent response as the World Health Organization declared the Corona outbreak as the global pandemic. There were more than 162 000 people who have tested positive across the globe, 61 confirmed cases in South Africa.