Summary edit

DescriptionPort Elizabeth Pier St mosque through arch of St Peters.JPG	English: Proposed heritage site: St Peter’s Church, St Mary’s graveyard, Pier Street Mosque and the isolated Muslim graves along lower Valley Road, South End, Port Elizabeth. This media shows a South African Protected Site with SAHRA file reference 000000000000000000000.
Date	21 April 2007, 06:30:21
Source	Own work
Author	Suzi-k

My reasons for proposing this complex are as follows:

History: South End was a unique area in early Port Elizabeth. It grew into a racially mixed and close-knit community where Christian, Muslim and Hindu co-existed happily with places of worship for each group in close proximity.

                                                              i.      St Peters Anglican church was started in 1871, as a daughter church of St Mary’s, in temporary premises. The church obtained part of the St Mary’s cemetery land and built a permanent church building in 1975.  It was designed and built by Rev George Smith, who became the first minister. It was inaugurated in 1877, and served the culturally mixed community who resided in South End. The church also housed a school for coloured and Malay children, as they had no school of their own. St Peters was the first school in South End to educate up to the maximum level available for coloureds at that time, standard 6. Thereafter they had to go to Dower College in Uitenhage to train as teachers if they wanted further education, as no other tertiary education was available for them.  During the 1960s, the apartheid Government decreed that South End was to be declared a white area and the existing residents were forcibly removed to make way for new townhouse developments. The Government decreed that churches, mosques and schools would be spared the demolitions, so initially St Peters church survived, but by 1970, when most of the congregants had been forced to leave the area and was finally deconsecrated in 1972. The empty building was vandalised, the ruined remains have stood amidst the newer developments as a relic of those forced removals ever since. (source of information “South End as We Knew it” by Yusef Agherdien, Ambrose C George and Shaheed Hendricks, published in 1997, ISBN 0-620-20415-X, “Port Elizabeth” by Margaret Harradine, published 1996, ISBN 0-620-19004-3)

                                                            ii.      The graveyard also serves as a fascinating reminder of the racially divided yet integrated culture that prevailed in the past. Most of the graves in St Marys graveyard are very old historic ones, many of the first settlers to the city were buried here. On the verge outside the main graveyard are Muslim graves, and this highlights the integrated yet seperate nature of the original south End Community, where each had the freedom to worship in their own way alongside their neighbours.

                                                           iii.      The Pier Street Mosque (Masjied Ul Aziz) was opened in 1901. When the apartheid Government decreed that South End was to be declared a white area, there was initially talk of demolishing the mosques and the Malay community had to go as far as appealing to the UN, who declared that the mosque could never be demolished. However it came under threat again when the Settlers freeway was being built, and the mosque was in its path, so it was decided to build it right over the mosque. The dome was ordered to be removed, as it was too high. The ensuing outcry prevented the building of the freeway over the mosque but it was too late to save the original dome. The freeway has split the mosque from the other surviving relics of old South End and it stands isolated on the harbour side of the freeway, but is still in use today. 

  (source of information “South End as We Knew it” by Yusef Agherdien, Ambrose C George and Shaheed Hendricks, published in 1997, ISBN 0-620-20415-X)

Current status: Recently an attempt was made to build around St Peter’s Church, and when its demolition was refused, to incorporate it into a closed complex to be built right up to it. This has been stopped for now, but the future of this ruin needs to be secured by giving it protected national Monument status. It is therefore an extremely important icon that serves as a reminder of the injustices of our past, and needs to be preserved in its current ruined state, while being protected from further demolition or vandalism, as a sort of “lest we forget” for our nation.

The graveyard is falling into disrepair and many of the historic gravestones of early settlers are vandalised, and metal thieves have removed many of the original cast iron railings surrounding the graves.

Even though the mosque is protected from demolition, it stands as an emblem of insensitive racist beurocratic decision making and deserves to be granted national monument status in recognition of this.

Proposal: that these relics of South End be proclaimed as a unit or complex, to reinforce the fact that prior to the apartheid Governments intervention and demolition, the suburb housed a diverse yet integrated community. The Hindu Temple in Upper valley road has already been declared a monument, and perhaps, if possible, this complex could be added to that declaration.

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