Muslims are reclaiming the streets
can’t always identify them. But already there have been two other mass boekas in Bonteheuwel, organised by different people. “If they, God forbid, choose to do something to me, I fought the righteous fight,” Mayman de Grass says.
Bo-Kaap
It began in the Bo-Kaap in late May. A group of young men, who form part of the Bo-Kaap Youth Movement (BKYM), stood outside the mosque one night after taraweh (an evening prayer) and wondered what they could do to unite their community.
Since almost the beginning of Ramadan, at 5pm every evening the BKYM had been burning tyres to block traffic from accessing Wale Street. But they decided to change tack. The boeka, they figured, was a better way to unite people who disagreed with burning tyres while still blocking the street as a form of protest.
“We had no plan. We just said we were going to go there and block the road. Some guy spotted [sponsored] us white paper, as like a table. It was so cool because we thought people didn’t like us because we are the troublemakers. At first we didn’t want anyone to know that we were the ones organising it,” says Saud Gamiet.
Their protest is to have Bo-Kaap declared a national heritage site and to stop gentrification in the area known for its colourful houses. Ward councillor Brandon Golding appeared at one of the mass boekas in the Bo-Kaap to say that parts of the area are provincial heritage sites and he understood why residents were protesting.
But Gamiet believes Golding and the City of Cape Town are taking them “for a ride”. The BKYM refused to apply for a permit from the city because they saw the boeka as an act of reclaiming the streets and believed the city had no place interfering in that. The mass boekas have been held for three consecutive Fridays. The first was a quiet affair, but the second drew people from all over Cape Town who, after seeing pictures of the first boeka, braved the cold to attend the second.
Isaacs watched as people flocked to the Bo-Kaap. He knows that wealthy Capetonians feel safer in pretty Bo-Kaap than in Manenberg.
“I noticed there were a lot of highprofile organisations that attended the Bo-Kaap one, and this one in Manenberg is much more important. The social problems in Manenberg are, like, 5000 times more. I’m not insensitive to Bo-Kaap; I was born there,” he says.
“We want to break that perception that Bo-Kaap is a better place. There’s drugs there also … Everywhere, in Sea Point and Llandudno, there’s people with drugs there as well. Sometimes the main ou [merchant] lives there.”
Eid is expected to be on Friday, and the Bo-Kaap plans to host a mass Eid salaah (prayer). Manenberg is considering one as well. Bonteheuwel may simply hope for a day of peace.
Rossouw has lived in Manenberg all his life. He wants an end to the violence so people can move on with their lives.
“They [the gangs are] fighting for a road, but they will die fighting and the road will still be standing,” he says.