Fordsburg
Pageview and Fordsburg are suburbs west of Johannesburg that are steeped in history. Pageview – previously and lovingly known as “Fietas” – for a period defied the apartheid legacy of the Group Areas Act that prohibited people of different races from living together. Those who remember this multicultural, close-knit community – comprised of Indians, Coloureds and Chinese people – recount stories of hard-working people living together in racial harmony. Successful traders’ shops, in what was affectionately known as Petticoat Lane (14th Street), sold a miscellany of material and sewing supplies, clothes, hardware, and kitchenware.
Oriental Plaza. Photo courtesy Jeppestown
In the early 1970s, the Nationalist government reassigned the suburb to white residents to prevent the intermingling of races and to break down the meaningful relationships that people had formed across the colour bar. The land was also considered to be well situated and the suburb too promising for non-whites. Schools were closed, which resulted in many Indian girls not continuing their education because their parents did not want them to travel to schools in Lenasia, about 30 kilometres outside Johannesburg. Another shameful forced removal exercise by the government of the day was that of Sophiatown, where residents and traders were evicted from their homes and uprooted from their communities.
A spirit of resistance and defiance marks this geographical area too. Residents, although powerless against bulldozers and armed military personnel, mobilised themselves and, in the mid-1970s for the first time, white people joined the protest against forced removals. After negotiations, Indian shop owners were resettled in the Fordsburg Oriental Plaza, or Johannesburg’s Little India, which runs between five blocks around Bree, Malherbe, Lilian, and Main Streets. It is testament to the traders’ resilience and determination as it remains a popular open-air shopping complex housing about 360 stores and restaurants. It is reminiscent of the original 14th Street with its vibrant and exotic atmosphere and noisy shopkeepers’ bartering and bantering and the smell of samoosas and spices in the air.
Originally a mining village, Fordsburg was named after Lewis Peter Ford of the Jeppe and Ford Estate Company. The “Red Revolt” in 1922 saw white miners taking an aggressive stand against the employment of cheap black labour by the government. The miners laid siege to Fordsburg but were bombed into submission by a violent response. After the implementation of the Group Areas Act (1950), Fordsburg residents were forcibly relocated to Lenasia.
Fordsburg has a history of being associated with prominent anti-apartheid personalities such as Nelson Mandela, Dr Yusuf Dadoo, Dr GM Naicker, GHI Pahad, Zainub Asvat, Amina Cachalia and the Reverend Michael Scott. These activists encouraged the people of to join the passive resistance campaign aimed at bringing about social justice for all.
After visiting the Oriental Plaza you can meander through Fordsburg, where a mix of culture, race and religion is very obvious. Businesses and warehouses selling interesting merchandise are located along Main Road, Mint Road, Bree Street, and Dolly Rathebe Avenue, and include the Fordsburg Artists Studios, Plaza Gardens and the Fordsburg Mall. The Divine Confectionary (on Mint), Home Made Delights and Shalimar Delights are legendary for their sweetmeats.
Many authentic, Indian restaurants are also found here, including popular Bismillah on Mint and the Delhi Palace where Nelson Mandela and Oliver Tambo ate in the 1950s. Alcohol is not available at Halal restaurants.
The Fordsburg precinct is largely Muslim and therefore Friday lunchtime is reserved for prayer and thus not a good time to shop at the plaza between noon and 14h00.