CHAPTER 3 CHAPTER 3
3.2 Setting the scene
Driving in a westerly direction out of the centre of Pietermaritzburg up the hill towards Winterskloof and Hilton (see Map 2), one passes lovely homes with large gardens, enters groves of large trees, and looks down into the valleys of pine forests. It is a typical
experience of “white suburbia” as it would be known in South Africa pre-1994. The only hint along this main road of the anguish of the forced removals of the 1960s, are one or two corrugated iron houses probably owned by black families, two General Dealer stores, the Union Bible Institute which used to be an African Primary School, and the now empty St Michael’s Anglican Church which was the centre of worship for African Anglicans until the 1970s. There is no hint of what lies to the left of the road in the valley as one approaches Winterskloof on the way to Hilton.
Turning off this road at the second General Dealer store down the hill lies the valley in all its splendour and poverty. Thousands of mud, and now increasingly concrete block houses, are scattered up and down the hills. This area in the view of the naked eye and for many
kilometres beyond is known as Vulindlela, and is controlled by Tribal Authorities and administered by the Indlovu Regional Council. It used to be known as Zwartkop Location - the first native [sic] location to be established in Natal and demarcated in 1846 (Rosenberg, 1989:5).
In talking with other people who have worked in the churches there as well as researchers and development specialists from the University of Natal, it is described as “a forgotten place”. Of course many rural areas throughout South Africa are described in this way. But perhaps what makes this description so poignant and filled with emotion by those who have worked there is the fact that it takes a mere 15 minutes to get there from the centre of Pietermaritzburg, but you have to make the turn off the road and into the valley to find it.
And most urban residents of Pietermaritzburg do not bother.
The white residents of Winterskloof and Hilton know about Zwartkop Location. But how much they “bother” is debatable. Their history is intricately intertwined with the residents of the valley, because it has been these residents that for a century and a half have provided cheap labour for their colonial farming enterprises, brought up their children, cleaned their homes, and cultivated their beautiful gardens, many of which are displayed annually as part of the “Open Gardens” of KwaZulu-Natal. However, on reading histories of the area (Lake nd; Hoepfl, Lake & Lake 1991) the interconnectedness of the histories of the people of the Winterskloof /Hilton area and those of what was the Zwartkop Location is alarmingly absent.
Let me illustrate this omission.
The history of the greater Winterskloof area written by Chris Lake (nd) has been described by one reviewer as a series of “potted biographies” that span the 100 year period of 1860-1960.
It is a partial history - a history of the white settlers to the area and is written as a response to a question posed in the introduction to the book, “How and when did local civilization start?”! A Hundred Years in Winterskloof tells of the acquisition of land and the stories of those who acquired it. One such “potted biography” is that of the Schofield family - its significance will soon become apparent.
Lockart Alexander Schofield was born in Canada in 1880. He was sent to school in Edinburgh with his three sisters. Later he came to South Africa to visit one of his sisters, Letitia, in the Orange Free State. Her husband was responsible for the early colonial administration.
After marrying Mary Murray in England he moved to the Natal Midlands and acquired The Nest... At the Nest, the Schofields farmed Methley plums, flowers and had poultry. Donkey carts took the flowers daily to the Winterskloof station. The Schofield’s had three daughters...
The Schofield’s were refined gentlefolk who loved people. Mrs Schofield played the piano for church services in their home before the church was built.
Pastor Jeudwine was the preacher at the time. After six years at the Nest they moved up to Glengarth... The three girls travelled by train to Mrs
Colepepper’s school, Uplands in Blackridge and then later went to St Anne’s [an exclusive, private Anglican school for girls]. Mr Schofield died in 1954 and Mrs Schofield continued to live at Glengarth until her death in 1960 (npn).
The people of Zwartkop Location have no written history. Their history remains in the hearts of those who live there and increasingly in the spirits of their ancestors! Geographically and socially it epitomises the South African context where the forces of colonialism, racism, and apartheid raged unabated until 1994. Its untold history is one of subjugation and control that had brutal effects on the community, particularly on women who bore the brunt of the suffering as they struggled to ensure their children survived. Through my pastoral work as a priest, I have come to know some of the residents. One of these residents is Mrs Alzinah Mlokothi, an elderly woman who lives in a dakka [mud] home on a slope of one of the many hills. On my first visit to her home, I had difficulty finding the home, abandoning the car when the road had become impassable for an ordinary vehicle. On arriving at the homestead, I was immediately struck by the well laid out garden filled with a variety of blooms (the significance of this fact was later to become very apparent to me). Mrs Mlokothi was diffident and overawed by my presence. She called her son Mr John Mlokothi to assist her.
Together they recounted the story of their lives before moving to their home in Sweetwaters in 1960. The following narrative is a reconstructed account of their story.
Mrs Alizinah Mlokothi together with her husband, lived and worked on a flower farm owned by a mhlungu [white person] for seventeen years. Her job was to plant, nurture, and pick the flowers ready for delivery across the country. Mr Mlokothi earned £3 a month, Mrs
Mlokothi earned 20p, and John a child at the time, earned 5p. Hours were long with little time off. Attendance at church could not be regular because more often than not, Sunday was a working day. Even on Christmas day, work had to come first. As a child, John was forced to work on the farm. The farmer’s wife refused to allow him to go to school. Finally, at the age of eleven years, after Mrs Mlokothi pleaded unceasingly, permission was granted - at least for a limited period. When Mr Mlokothi fell ill, John was forced to leave school for six months while his father recovered, in order to ensure the flowers got to Winterskloof station for delivery as usual. Once John married, he had to leave the farm and seek alternative accommodation. He then moved to Sweetwaters. The farmer died, followed by his wife in
1960. The farm was sold and Mrs Alzinah Mlokothi and her husband were forced to leave.
Shortly thereafter they discovered that the farmers’ daughters were not only dismissing them from the farm, but they were being forced to leave after seventeen years of service without pension or compensation. The farm was Glengarth, owned by the Schofield family.