News About Pilgrim’s Rest

The High Court in Pretoria has ruled that an application for an interdict submitted by the business people of Pilgrims Rest in Mpumalanga was indeed urgent.

At the onset of the matter on 25 July 2012, Judge Stanley Makgoba said he deemed the application made by affected business people as a matter deserving urgency.

The group of business people is seeking an urgent interdict to prevent their eviction from business premises in Pilgrims Rest.

At least 17 tenants in the old gold mining town, which has been declared a national monument, face eviction at the end of the month after being served with notices. See my previous post on Pilgrim's Rest!

After Makgoba’s ruling on the urgency, the court started hearing argument from legal representatives of the applicants and respondents.

Seventeen businesses in Pilgrim's Rest, Mpumalanga, have been ordered to close by the end of the July 2012. 

The Provincial Department of Public Works, Road and Transport issued the businesses with eviction orders at the beginning of July giving those 31 days to close.

The historic gold mining town's architecture had remained unchanged since the 1800s and it was declared a national monument in 1986. It was run by the Department of Public Works, and business owners leased properties.

Tourism was the backbone of the town's economy and provided employment to residents of the Schoonplaas Township.

Department spokesperson Dumisa Malamule said the Department had advertised the leasing of buildings in a tender bulletin in October 2011, and the closing date was in November 2011.

"The leases of all business which were on tender had expired. The whole tender process was finalized in June 2012, as the process allowed for a 90-day validity period with an allowance of extension when there is a need," he said.

The Post Office Tree

The first post office in South Africa was nothing more than a tree!

The Old Post Office Tree is so named because it acted as a mail system for seagoing men in the 1500’s. It is an old milk-wood tree and one of the Commanders of Cabral ships, Pedro De Ataide, left a letter of importance in an iron pot shoe under this large tree on his return journey from the East. This letter was found by the Commander of the third East India Fleet, Joao De Nova in 1501 when he was on his way to India. 

This is how the post office system started in South Africa. This is a National Monument and is generally known as Post Office tree.

My Scrapbook

Visit the District Six Museum (District Six, Cape Town Central)

District Six was so named as it was literally the Sixth District of the Western Cape in 1867. District Six was so loved as a community of colourful characters.

A friendly mix of artisans, freed slaves, free spirits, labourers and locals living harmoniously were forcefully removed from their rightful city homes and re-settled in barren Cape outskirts during an unthinkable period in South African Apartheid history commencing in 1901. Over 60 000 residents fell victim to the government at the time who reduced homes to rubble without cause or resurrection. An award winning community project the District Six Museum welcomes evicted residents to make a mark in chalk on a map hand painted on the floor to show where their home once stood and what their hearts still mourn.

Storytelling of former residents interacts as a live history recreating the vibrancy that turned to desolation. Tactile images of loss are held in this old church building where slaves once worshipped. Authentic street signs mark 75 roads that labelled paths of diverse religious acceptance. A 300m memory cloth absorbs the ink of ex-residents contributions to memory lane. Built on a fabric of healing so that bare recollections prevent such devastating from repetition, this brush with a haunting past is a moving museum experience.

How the bake the best ever banana bread