Athlone’s heritage, resistance & art

Monuments, memories and community – this neighbourhood is only 15 minutes from the centre of Cape Town. But few have visited.

Anthony Hartman, our guide,  grew up here during Apartheid and now lives close by.

Main themes of the tour are resistance and resilience. Anthony shows, through his own experience and research, how history shaped Cape Town and shaped Africa’s first democratic Constitution, hailed by some as one of the best in the world.

A qualified tourist guide, Anthony has led private tours in Athlone for both Capetonians and international visitors. He knows a lot of people living and working here.

We meet at the monument to Coline Williams and Robbie Waterwitch, uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) activists who died at this spot when a bomb they were handling exploded accidentally, near the Police Station. The lifesize sculpture (pictured below) is situated at:

Athlone Magistrates Court

Old Klipfontein Road

Athlone, Cape Town, 7764

We walk to the fish shop and cafe, the birthplace of the Gatsby sandwich/roll. (Athlone’s Gatsbys featured in Netflix’s popular travel series, Somebody Feed Phil.)

Car pooling/driving, we visit the house where Anthony grew up – he remembers vividly coming home from school to army tanks and burning tyres on this road.

Next is the small Trojan Horse Memorial where three anti-apartheid protesters were killed and 15 wounded by a police ambush in 1985.

At Kromboom Park, we stop at the wall with the simple clergy memorial, March 1985. Close by is our last stop, Soni Art – a small gallery and studio of contemporary and traditional Islamic art. It is run by Shaheen and Achmat Soni.

Afterwards we hope you’ll join us for a lunch of vegetarian curry, then carrot cake with tea, at his caterer friend Tasneem’s house, (one of her clients is Zeitz MOCAA); cost tbc.

Saturday 5 April 2025

10am to noon

To book on this tour, or have your own private one:

kate@cultureconnectsa.com || +27 (0)72 377 8014 (WhatsApp or phone)

Cost: R400 or R300 paying pre 26 March

Once know as West London, Athlone is named after Alexander Cambridge, the Earl of Athlone. He was Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief of the Union of South Africa 1924 – 1931. He was a great-grandson of King George III and brother of Queen Mary.

Athlone, in the centre of the Cape Flats, was one of the areas where Black people were relocated after being forcibly removed from ‘White Only’ areas, following the Group Areas Act, 1950. Migrant labourers were housed here. And sub economic townships surround it. Some called it ”The Dumping Ground” (source SA History).

Community bonds have weakened. Anthony remembers streets would have sports teams eg soccer, and play against each. Seeing kids playing in the street now is rare. High walls and security systems are more common.

Suggested reading: Voices from the Underground: 18 life stories from Umkhonto we Sizwe’s Ashley Kriel Detachment, edited by Shirley Gunn and Shanil Haricharan, published by Penguin Random House, 2019

Images thanks to: Hasan and Husain Essops’ Athlone Superette, 2014. The rest are by Erin Goodman, the photographer for Anthony’s tour for Jive soft drinks, October 2024.