Interfaith walk focuses on restitution

VARIOUS religious groups visited places of worship in Cape Town during the annual Reconciliation Day Interfaith Walk at the weekend.

The walk offered participants a unique opportunity to walk in solidarity with those who were dispossessed in the past and long for justice and restitution today.

Organising committee member Di Oliver said the event was organised by local faith leaders with the theme “Restitution and District 6”.

“There about 200 people of various backgrounds, race and ages participating in yesterday’s (Saturday’s) walk.The focus was on the united stand being taken by faith communities in the Cape that the scar that is District 6 today should be restored to those who were forcibly removed from the area under apartheid.”

The walk began at the historic Moravian Church on Moravian Hill, which has been reopened after many years and went on to St Mark’s Church at Cape Peninsula University of Technology Cape Town campus and then onto Al-Azhar Mosque and a long windy walk up to the Holy Cross Church.

Speaking at the event were Fatima Swartz of the Institute for the Healing of Memories, Sharlene Swartz of the Restitution Foundation and Cullen Goldblatt whose post-doctoral research focuses on how historical violence shaped the present.

The goal with the establishment of the Restitution Foundation is to advocate for restitution as a tool to achieve justice and healing in South Africa.

The foundation’s chief operating officer, Deon Snyman, said District 6 remained a startling symbol of the apartheid past in the City of Cape Town.“The walk under the theme restitution was significant as the reconciliation project in this country was going through a difficult time due to the negative impact on the Rainbow Nation in recent history.

“There was not enough focus on justice, as those who benefited from colonialism and apartheid had yet to take responsibility.”

He said the many faithbased leaders, who organised the event, chose to host the event for a second time in District 6 and would focus on making the event an annual occurrence there.

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