- It was the ghosts' turn to have their say.
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- Over the past months their skeletons have been unearthed
and some of their bones removed. Building at the Prestwich Street site,
where they have lain for so long, has been halted, at least until their
descendants decide what to do with them.
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- Some of their voices, however, are asking to be heard
and have persistently been calling to psychic Belinda Silbert recently,
she says.
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- And so it is that on a hot summer's day we're at the
site, with permission from the SA Heritage Resources Agency, to hear what
the voices have to say.
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- Silbert steps right in, keeping to the paths, speaking
constantly as she relays the information she's getting.
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- It's not a comfortable place, she says, unlike graveyards
that are peaceful and timeless. There's been a lot of pain here, and many
souls have not been able to move on.
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- There are layers of burials, and some people were buried
elsewhere and then brought here. Many were buried without dignity.
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- There's also no uniformity - different areas seem to
have different groupings - to the north lie slaves who were Muslim, but
were forced to convert to Christianity, and then buried as neither. They
want to be buried as Muslims.
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- Some were just thrown into graves, many died of smallpox.
Some, from different religions, want to be separate.
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- As she walks around she picks up names like Maria Adriana
van Vuuren, Anna Februarie, Johan van Rensburg. So many stories. She wants
historians to check the names she's come up with.
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- "There aren't so many old people here," she
says. Anna Februarie was only 17 when she was buried here with her son,
Klonkie, the slavemaster's son. The child was not baptised because the
slavemaster's wife prevented it, and so Anna is earthbound because she
believes Klonkie can't enter heaven and doesn't want to leave him.
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- While many have passed on, some souls are earthbound
and stuck in a timezone.
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- "They can see me and are confused by me. But they're
willing to listen," she says.
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- "There isn't a nice feeling here," she says,
at another spot. "He spoke back to the slavemaster's wife. He was
publicly flogged and his back broken on a wheel. He died humiliated because
all he had done was ask for water for a second time on a hot day.
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- "Here's a Johan van Rensburg, and Lettie? Or is
it Letta? They aren't from this area or the slave lodge ... they were buried
on a farm and later brought here. She doesn't rest."
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- In the northwest corner she pauses, head down. "I
see such darkness here. They didn't die in an easy way. Dampness and a
difficult winter ... and they weren't dead when they were thrown here."
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- Maria Adriana, she says, was a Dutchwoman who was an
outcast because her father was a slave. "Her mother isn't buried here,
she had a very hard life."
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- Silbert says there are layers of bones on the site. "There
are just so many people here."
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- She stops, as if to listen: "Hannah van Rinsburg,
not Rensburg, was very beautiful, but her family discarded her when her
face became eaten by the pox. In desperation she was buried on a beach,
and later brought here.
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- "The message she's getting, she says, is that these
people are not unhappy they've been unearthed - it's a chance to be acknowledged.
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- "The majority do not object to their bones being
moved, they don't expect this place to be a memorial," she says. "And
if their bones are not moved, it's OK - but there should be a ceremony
and they'd like to be a symbol to others buried all over the city.
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- "The city was built on their backs. They don't want
to stop progress, but they have an issue with how the land is used. There
must be provision for a place for children to play, issues of freedom have
to be addressed," she says.
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- She points to a section where they want a garden, with
a plaque, as a testament to them. "They want a ceremony to be done.
There has to be honour and dignity.
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- "The spirits are asking to be laid to rest, and
by telling their story this will happen.
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- "You won't get all the people out. Those deeply
embedded want to be left alone, don't want to be hacked out the rock. But
the Muslims say that if you take the bones, you must take the entire body
- if you cannot take entire skeletons, leave them. They want prayers said
for them."
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- Silbert is confident that if all this is done, there
will be a feeling of peace, and this would be a symbol for all the others
buried in the area. She's also willing to help the earthbound "cross
over".
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- Maybe then peace will return to the area, she says.
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- ©2003 The Cape Argus. All rights reserved.
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- http://capeargus.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=281878
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