Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Castle is symbol of past, portent of future
RENOVATING the Castle of Good Hope is not only about fixing its leaking ceiling and cracking walls, but also about making the building a space for reconciliation.
That’s the vision of castle chief executive Calvyn Gilfellan, who is managing the R81 million refurbishment being funded by the national Public Works Department.
Walking on top of the refurbished section of the castle’s roof, Gilfellan said while the structure represented Dutch colonialism, their task was to ensure it now became available for “adaptive re-use”.
The Dutch East India Company built the castle in the 17th century. It’s South Africa’s oldest building.
Gilfellan said the castle needed to undergo renovations at least every 15 years to ensure it was preserved. “The rooms were falling apart because they were not waterproof. You would sit in a puddle of water in winter.
“Visitors would peep through the windows and see water puddles in the rooms. They would wonder if this was how the government preserves its past.”
But he was clear the refurbishment wasn’t “just to whitewash a grave of our colonial past”.
“I initially thought we were expected to be spectators of builders who would come in and put new paint over old painful structures. But people are sensitive to the authenticity of protecting the fabric of what the castle was. If you do it that way, then you will be able to interpret the good, bad and ugly history of the castle.”
The renovators were trying to do it justice, refurbishing it for modern- day use while respecting the fact that it is 350 years old.
Gilfellan said the castle consisted of various spaces, including different courtyards that were rented out for conferences, weddings, exhibitions and other events. Later this year, the castle will host the inaugural Cape Town Flower Show.
Despite its commercial activities, the castle had however not lost its historical value. “If archaeologists come in here they must still be able to show how the building had been used.”
From an ideological perspective, Gilfellan said the renovation showed there was never a need to destroy colonial remnants. “Once these symbols of colonial oppression are gone there’s nothing but textbooks to reflect on.”
Reflecting on last year’s # RhodesMustFall student protests that led to the removal of the statue of Cecil John Rhodes from UCT’s campus, Gilfellan said he believed such actions were counter-productive.
“Young people are restless and need instant gratification. They don’t take the time to understand the meaning of those (colonial) places.
“Those places should become the gravesites of an era and a platform to move on from. We need to revisit those places and understand what happened.
“We need to have a confession of our colonial past. All of us must take the time to define that pain. You need to go to ( Dutch colonial) Jan van Riebeeck’s statue and understand what he really did.”
A building, he said, was “not simply bricks and mortar”.
“A building symbolises a lot of the tensions of society and progress it is striving for. We are looking at the history of the castle but also the history before it that was erased by colonialists.
“For colonisation to flourish, colonisers needed to destroy traditional forms of life, economy and religion. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be told. We are giving the survivors of colonisation a space to tell their stories too.
“Preserving the past and ushering in the future” to the tune of R84m also proved that the government did not support the demolition of colonial structures, Gilfellan said.
“This project is philosophically and politically speaking a major thing for government to do. This is a government that has been put in place by freedom fighters and they found money to renovate a symbol that undermines that freedom. They are putting money into a symbol of colonisation and oppression.”
yazeed.kamaldien@inl.co.za