Roeland Street: Change vs Tradition and How They Have Blended Over Time.

By Jamie Benjamin

Street sign showing Roeland Street. Source: Jamie Benjamin

A street can hold an essence that connects people of the present to the past, even without them being aware. Roeland Street, nestled in the heart of Cape Town, South Africa, is one such street. It may simply serve to get people from point A to point B, but the way it’s historical past collides with its vibrant present creates a compelling narrative to explore for the Cape Town native, South African or international visitor. Once highlighting the progression from colonial expansion and the struggle against apartheid, the present takes the remnants of its storied past and blends it with industry, commercial growth, and diversity.  Roeland Street’s journey underscores the tides of change Cape Town and the whole of South Africa has experienced through looking towards the future while preserving the past.

Location of Roeland Street in Cape Town,

South Africa. Source: Google Maps

Historical Overview

To traverse Roeland Street is to walk down a street deeply rooted within a Cape Town-based legacy of colonialism and the Apartheid struggle. This is largely visible through the buildings that exist and has existed on this street. The historical building of the Roeland Street Prison is one such building.

Entrance to the Roeland Street Prison. Source: Roeland Street's Prison to Priceless Provincial

Archive

The prison, having been completed in 1859, saw it fulfil a role that transcended it being just a prison that housed petty criminals and political prisoners. Serving as an impromptu hospital because of a flu epidemic in 1918, executions began to be conducted in 1923 due to overcrowding. With executions there ending in 1932 and Pollsmoor Prison rendering it obsolete in 1975, it shed its skin and adopted the new role of becoming the Western Cape Archive and Records Service. The contrast between these two facilities symbolises the past and present of Roeland Street.

Sign and entrance to the Western Cape Archives and Records Services. Source: Jamie Benjamin.

While a large component of the historical significance of Roeland Street, The Western Cape Archives and Records Services endures. Serving as a means for the public to access government records and private collections older than 20 years, it breaks away from its predecessor the prison as it replaced a building symbolising confinement and oftentimes unwarranted cruelty. It stands as an embodiment of the democratic ideal of free access to information, an ideal fully realised as a constitutional right within the transition from Apartheid South Africa to democratic South Africa in the 1990's.

In the historical overview of Roeland Street, we see not only the transition and destruction of buildings, but a strong narrative of power, resistance, and democratic change.

Present Day

Within the present day context of Roeland Street, the numerous landmarks and buildings of both the past and the present represent the democratic principles that previous generations of South African fought for and voted for in 1994(South Africa's first democratic elections). None exemplifies this more than the House of Parliament that houses the National Assembly.

The building for the National Assembly and House of Parliament on Roeland Street with the statue of Louis Botha in front of it. Source: Jamie Benjamin

The House of Parliament, within democratic South Africa, now stands to represent equal and fair representation on all levels within South Africa. This arises largely because of the country and its people's efforts to overcome the racial inequality that festered during Apartheid.

The statue of Louis Botha, sitting proudly and stately on horseback in front of the House of Parliament, seems oddly ironic within present Roeland Street and South Africa. Serving as South Africa's first Prime Minister in 1910, his role as a Boer War veteran saw him largely promote the interests of Afrikaners and the facilitation of white minority rule. The modern Parliament's ideals of equality and non-racialism contrast these early ideals of Botha. With this irony comes the constant reminder of South Africa's turbulent history and the transition that turned the nation into a most interesting case study.

St. Mark's Anglican Church(adjacent to Roeland Street). Source: Jamie Benjamin

Despite not being situated directly on Roeland Street, its historical significance to the street itself is strong, nonetheless. Originally built in 1867, it served as a site that fostered activism and community during Apartheid. The democratic ideals that can be interpreted by this landmark is the significance of civil society and religion's role in social justice and human rights advocacy.

The independent bookstore The Book Lounge on Roeland Street. Source: Jamie Benjamin

Coupled with the archive's symbolism as a hub for the nation's collective memory and access to information, The Book Lounge's symbolism of freedom of thought and expression are strong democratic ideals that can be noticed. This is done through the store promoting reading, discussion, the free exchange of ideas through events and its general business goal. An informed citizen is a democratic citizen.

The Central Fire Station Located on Roeland Street. Sources: Jamie Benjamin

Upon reflection, Roeland Street has existed and taken on the themes of pivotal eras within South Africa's history and has achieved an image that reflects democratic South Africa while keeping vestiges of the old Roeland Street as if to symbolise that whoever walks through Roeland Street walks through South Africa's history itself, and hopefully learns from it.

One passer-by claims they notice the difference daily. They said, "I find it weird how we walk down Roeland every day and never notice how the past is mixed in with the now."

In the end, whether you're a native Capetonian, South African or international visitor, Roeland Street's significance within the past, present, and future speaks through its history, landmarks, and symbolism.

Word count: 849