Let's discover Roeland Street
Roeland street is one of the long stretch of roads situated in the Western Cape, Cape town which is few minutes away from town in the Eastern side. It’s an extraordinary, beautiful street filled with stores, studios, have schools and carries history with historical buildings.
Figure 2: The Burnt National Assembly and vandalised statue of the hero of the Boer war. Taken by Qaqamba Matundu
The street starts right in front of the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa which was set alight earlier this year on the 2nd of January. The suspect, a 49-year-old man was allegedly arrested.
One of the oldest fire stations in South Africa, the Central Fire Station & Sentrale Brandweerstasie is found at the top of the street. It was opened in 1932 and its crew was there in the parliament within few minutes when it was on fire. It was honored by the Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, Cape town Meyer Gerdin Hill-Lewis and National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
It's clear that the dark cloud is still hanging around that area. At the entrance of the parliament there is a statue of Louis Botha, the ‘hero’ of the Boer war on a horse. This statue was vandalized not so long ago this year March, sprayed with red paint by EFF protesters who got arrested, 2 men and a lady.
Figure 3: St Mary’s Cathedral (1840) Parish of Our Lady Flight to Egypt. Photo: Qaqamba Matundu
Moving from the parliament going up on the right-hand side, there is St Mary’s Cathedral building that was started in August 1840 and was finished in 1851. Perceives report as “This known as Parish of Our Lady Flight to Egypt. The German architect, Carl Otto Hager was the designer. He also did numerous of religious buildings including the Dutch Reformed Church in Stellenbosch Cathedral Church was dedicated by bishop Griffiths on the 28th April 1851, the day before the feast day of Our Lady of the Flight into Egypt (The reason behind Parish name) .’’ (SAHO,2021).
Figure 4: The Book Lounge, best library in town. Photo: Qaqamba Matundu
Roeland street is full of surprises and one of them is the Book Lounge which is opposite the Kimberly hotel that is sited on the corner of Buitenkant and Roeland Street. The Book Lounge which was opened by the founder and owner Mervyn Sloman. It is one of the tourist attractions found in Roeland Street. The lounge stuff member said “We have never experienced tragic events; we have some incredible events in the store and we also run the Open Book Festival which we have seen some great authors attend. We have excellent and eclectic range of books which you wouldn’t necessarily find elsewhere and we pride ourselves on our customers services, book knowledge and enthusiasm.”
Figure 5: Kimberly hotel, Roeland’s oldest historic landmark. Photo: Qaqamba Matundu
The historic landmark Kimberly Hotel was built in 1895 and it was a point where first settlers, miners that were using transport as horses from Cape town to Kimberly diamonds mines. This hotel is the oldest historic pubs and carries history which one of them is so tragic. It was so unfortunate for a 21-year-old lady that was a Theatre and Performing Arts student at UCT to pass away as she fell from first floor of the hotel balcony.
Figure 6: Home of the homeless. Photo: Qaqamba Matundu
Homeless people found home in Roeland street. On rainy days they sleep outside, others have built plastic shelters just to put their heads under something, of course there are no bathrooms around so they do everything at this place and you would smell a not so good smell as you pass there and its not safe because those people are hungry and can do whatever to put food on their stomach. As you walk down you will be welcomed by the South African Heritage Resources Agency (SAHRA) which is there to protect heritage resources in South Africa.
Figure 7: An unpack of Roeland Street view. Video: Qaqamba Matundu
Cape Peninsula University of Technology has about 6 campuses and 4 services which one of them is in Roeland Street that used to be home of the Faculty of Informatics and Design but not anymore. They moved to the main campus.
Figure 8: Western Cape Archives and Records Services and South Africans Heritage. Photo: Qaqamba Matundu
The Western Cape Archives and Records Service building used to be prison. An engineer called George Pikington was the one who established the building. Historical events took place there. In 1918 there was a disease; influenza that was attacking not only prisoners but also the wardens and death took place. To accommodate the sick the building became hospital. This fantastic monument is worth a visit because it has lots of historical records. You can find Jan Van Riebeek’s original signature, wills and early maps. Jan Van is the Founder of Cape town (1652).
Roeland street looks normal like any other street but when you discover it and take take a great look at it, surely you may know how rich and attractive the street is.
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