ARTICLE OF PAGEVIEW FESTIVAL SEPT 09

The Fietas Festival took off with a flourish that is reminiscent of all fetes gone past, be it the Sultan Bahu Centre fete or the Fordsburg Square fete. It was made possible with grant contributions from the National Arts Council, the Goethe Institute, Arts Alive and the in-kind support and donations of many organisations and individuals – and, of course, with the many volunteers that is synonymous with fetes.
Bringing success to the festival rested solely on the communities of Pageview, Mayfair, Fordsburg and surrounds, and true to form, residents and visitors from afar frequented the three day fete.
The fete, which was held on the open field across from Krause School and the Mayfair Masjid, was bombarded with shoppers and the beautiful sounds of children’s’ voices. There were stalls displaying many interesting products and several food stalls, and organizers had catered to the kids by having competition events such as soccer, dominoes, poitkiekos and others, but what was definitely a hit with the kids was the purchasing of colourful kites to fly on the open field.
The festival is a non-profit community event undertaken by the former and present residents of Pageview/Vrededorp to reconnect with the spirit and heritage of the community that was destroyed by the Group Areas Act between 1956 and 1977.
Fietas, the popular name given to Pageview by the people who lived here before they were moved to places like Lenasia, Soweto, Eldorado Park and other areas, was a vibrant, integrated and caring community.
Over the years in the apartheid created townships, the values, spirit and culture that the people once had in Fietas has been undermined. The community was torn from that which gave them soul and an integrated identity.
Now, the former residents of Fietas, joined by the present residents, worked together to reclaim the heritage of Fietas by having a cultural festival in the exact area from which they were moved.
The festival was important in reconnecting the community with a time and place that still beats in memories and hearts, and which can still be drawn on to build a sharing and caring community today.
Since the previous festivals in 2002, 2003 and 2004, much progress has been made in raising the profile of the area. This has contributed to the achievement of an official development framework for the area, with heritage as an important driver, with the first phase of the upgrade starting in De la Rey Street.
An exhibition of the framework was displayed during the festival at 26’10 South Architects, on 25a 14th Street in Pageview.
Apart from the framework exhibition, artist David Goldblatt in conjunction with Goodman Gallery, displayed all of Goldblatt’s 86 photographic works that he took during the apartheid area, highlighting the distress and unfairness of the forced removals.
Many personalities partook in the Festival to achieve a success of the much-anticipated event. Artist Marcus Neustetter, MMC Firoz Cachalia, ward councillor Juned Pahad, David Goldblatt, popular Qawali singer Nadeem Hussain and editor of City Press Ferial Haffajee are just a few to mention, who were eager to create a success of the festival.
And indeed, the festival was a huge success, as hundreds of people joined the festivities put in place by the organizers of the event.