Made in Cato Manor: Ronnie Govender and the Fight to Preserve a Personal/Public Space

Abstract

South African writer Ronnie Govender’s work linked to Cato Manor, in Durban, urgently aims to fill an “empty space”. This is due not only to a lost childhood and nostalgia for an erased environment, but also to a sense of anger that a place like Cato Manor has never received the attention that other sites of apartheid forced removals – say District Six and Sophiatown – have. This urban township area was declared a “non place”, it seems, not only by the apartheid government but also by the post apartheid chroniclers of the past. This makes Govender’s task all the more urgent and poignant. If he doesn’t keep the Cato Manor of the 40s and 50s, and the histories of the descendants of indentured Indian families who lived there, in particular, alive in our memories, then who will? – one can almost hear him asking.

Opsomming

Suid Afrikaanse skrywer Ronnie Govender se werk verbonde aan Cato Manor, in Durban, poog om dringend 'n “lee ruimte” te vul. Dit is nie bloot te wyte aan verlore kinderjare en heimwee vir 'n omgewing wat uitgewis is nie, maar ook gebelgdheid dat 'n plek soos Cato Manor nooit dieselfde aandag geniet het as ander areas van gedwonge verskuiwings tydens apartheid, byvoorbeeld Distrik Ses en Sophiatown, nie. Hierdie dorpsgebied is as 'n “onplek” verklaar, nie net deur die apartheidsregering nie, maar ook deur die postapartheid kroniekskrywers van die verlede. Dit maak Govender se taak soveel meer dringend en aangrypend. Indien hy nie die Cato Manor van die 40’s en 50’s en die geskiedenis van veral die nasate van Indiese kontrak arbeiders wat hier gewoon het in ons gedagtes lewendig hou nie, wie sal dan? – kan 'n mens hom amper hoor vra.