Before 1994, white South Africans – Afrikaners in particular – commemorated the Battle of Blood River on 16 December, also known then as the Day of the Vow or Geloftedag in Afrikaans. For conservative whites that day was equal to the Sabbath, a holy day to be respected and not disgraced by worldly activities.
When Lord Roberts and his army of 34,000 men triumphantly marched into Bloemfontein on 13 March 1900 (Image 1) to occupy the capital of the former Orange Free State republic, they were welcomed with open arms.
For many black[1] people who have lived through apartheid (1948–1994), the hated passbooks they had to carry every day is emblematic of their traumatic experiences of that time. Although the passbook is synonymous with apartheid, the ideology behind it is much older.
In his novel, The Go-Between (1953), Leslie P. Hartley wrote “the past is a foreign country; they do things differently there”. Although Hartley referred to British society at the end of the Victorian era, his famous quote is also relevant to South Africa and other countries that have experienced drastic socio-political changes. The fact that the past is described as “a foreign country” means it can never be fully understood by us who live in the present age because we do not belong there. Post-1994 democratic South Africa and pre-1994 apartheid South Africa are indeed two very different countries. For those who grew up in the former, the latter is “a foreign country”.
Abstract
In 1918, Batho was founded as one of South Africa’s first so-called “model locations”. In addition to sound town planning and layout, brick houses, and public amenities, Batho also became known for its “generous” plots or “garden areas of 50 ft. by 75 ft.” and the ornamental front gardens that were laid out on them. The Bloemfontein municipality’s decision to provide residents with “garden areas” was motivated by a number of reasons, most of which were of a political nature and embedded in the segregationist ideology of the time.