District Six Museum Marks 30 Years Of Memories
Joe Schaffers, whose family was evicted from District Six under apartheid, was at the District Six Museum to mark its 30th birthday.
Joe Schaffers was born in District Six in Cape Town in 1939 and lived there for nearly 30 years before his family and thousands of others were forced out in the 1960s under the Group Areas Act. On Saturday, Schaffers, now an educator at the District Six Museum, was there to celebrate the museum's 30th birthday.
District Six was declared a whites-only area in 1966. Forced removals started in 1968 and by the early 1980s, 60,000 people had been moved to the Cape Flats.
We eventually found ourselves in Hanover Park, says Schaffers. You can imagine coming from the centre of the city where you are within walking distance of work, churches and recreational spaces - and you are suddenly uprooted.