Sites

This area, originally called “Die Duine”, (the Dunes) was mainly used for grazing until in the 1970’s. There were a few farms as well as a German church at the intersection of Sheffield and Neu Eisleben Road. The church was built early in 1900’s and enlarged in 1947. The history of the townships to the east of Philippi horticultural area, like most black South African townships, is linked to a myriad of apartheid policies. It is linked to the ‘homelands’ which were seen as labour reserves and the joblessness and poverty that existed there. Most people in Philippi townships came from the former Ciskei and Transkei homelands and settled in places like Nyanga, Langa, Gugulethu. Due to political conflict and violence within these communities, Philippi increasingly became a place of refuge. The farmers started to leave and by the 1990’s all had left their farms. The church no longer functions but the Lutheran Pastor has set up an Aids assistance centre there. The old German graveyard located opposite the church had most of the graves exhumed early in the 1990’s. The area is now densely occupied with informal shacks.