What is “oral history”?
Oral history means that the people who have lived through an experience such as forced removals can tell about their experiences in their own words. “We look back to move forward.”
The Cato Manor Oral History Project believes that you can help in the gathering of oral history. We are inviting you to partner with us to be aware of this history project, and to help us to find people to interview.
The idea of this project is for people to learn about ‘Mkhumbane’, as it used to be called, in terms of the daily lives of the people who lived there, and also about the role of the community in the struggle against apartheid.
We will be looking at the community in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, before residents were forcibly removed to Durban’s townships of KwaMashu and Umlazi.

What this project is about
The idea of this project is for people to learn about the old days of Cato Manor through the eyes and ears of those who experienced it.

Who are we looking for?
We are looking for people who were residents of Cato Manor any time from the 1940s to the 1960s so that they can be interviewed on audio and videotape for this project. We are hoping that you can help us to find people to interview – people who you feel have stories that are interesting and exciting.
It has been many decades since ‘Mkhumbane’ was in its heyday, so the people you speak to may find that just talking to you brings back memories for them. Some people may become sad and others excited or angry when they think back to the old Cato Manor and how people were removed from that place they loved. When you suggest people for interviews, you can explain why you feel that their interview would be a valuable contribution to this Oral History Project.
We hope that you will find it stimulating to explore the oral history of the place where you now live. If you do not live in Cato Manor but your relatives once did, this may also prove to be interesting for you.

Vuleka Productions is an empowerment media company that focuses on social issues, and is well known for its work on TV and radio programmes such as Takalani Sesame, Khululeka and radio dramas on Ukhozi-FM. Vuleka Productions will be recording the stories of ordinary people – from home owners to shack dwellers, from professionals to hawkers, from famous musicians to the women who used to brew beer.

Tourism and the Oral History Project
There is a slogan about oral history: “We look back to move forward.” Tourists will visit the Cato Manor community and want to hear these stories, and we know that tourism can bring jobs.
Therefore this project can help to lay the ground for the growth of future tourism products that can benefit the present-day Cato Manor community.

How you can participate?

• Do you know of someone who grew up or lived in ‘Mkhumbane’ in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s?
• Do you know a family that was forcibly removed from Cato Manor?
• Do you know anyone who was involved in the struggle against apartheid in Cato Manor?
• Perhaps you have saved something – a document or even something from your old home as a memento from the early days of Cato Manor that you would like to donate to this project.

Even if you yourself have only lived in Cato Manor in the 1980s, 1990s through the present, you may know of people who lived in Mkhumbane before the forced removals. These are the kinds of people who you can find and tell us about. Please contact us.
There will be a Community Partnership meeting in January 2002 at the Westridge Stadium to which residents of Cato Manor will be invited. At this meeting we will be discussing the Cato Manor Oral History Project. For more details contact Vuleka on 261 9650.