Tiervlei-Ravensmead community seeks heritage status for old Hardekraaltjie Cemetery

The community of Tiervlei--Ravensmead have made an application to Heritage Western Cape (HWC) to have a piece of land on the medical campus of Stellenbosch University declared a hertage site.

The community  said the application is an attempt to reclaim the erased histories and restore dignity to forgotten ancestors. Chefferino Fortuin said he nominated the Old Hardekraaltjie Cemetery and its buffer area for Provincial Heritage Status (PHS) with HWC.

"The historic cemetery and burial ground is on the Tygerberg site of Stellenbosch University (SU). It was erased by the university, which funded and requested the removal of this sacred space tied to Khoi, San, slave, coloured, and African lineages."

"The Old Hardekraaltjie Cemetery represents a painful chapter of colonial and apartheid-era forced removals and urban erasure in Cape Town's northern suburbs. It was a resting place for Khoi, San, Coloured and African families from Tiervlei and surrounding communities.

"Our people came from  as far as Swellendam and settled in Tiervlei.There were also Khoi people, ex-slaves from the Wuppertal mission station."

Fortuin said the cemetery was levelled to make way for a university sportsfield, erasing graves without adequate commemoration and consultation.

"I believe this PHS declaration will validate that all cemeteries are sacred footprints in removed landscapes. The NHRA empowers HWC to protect marginalised heritage accurately, inclusively, and ethically. I believe as we struggle with our layered pasts, this nomination highlights the NHRA's role in amplifying silenced voices."

Fortuin said the nomination, submitted under Section 27(3) of the National Heritage Resources Act (NHRA), celebrates the cemetery as an associative cultural landscape where living memory, people, and place intersect.

"There is also a memorialisation process, which we as the community agree with in principle but rejects SU's limited proposal of four notice boards and a wall that ignores the full history of the cemetery and its troubled relationship with the university. In addition, we called for the end to the sports activities on the adjacent field, which desecrates the remains of the deceased. We don't believe the University should segregate the deceased into who deserves to be included in the memorialisation and who are not worthy to be included.

Fortuin said the university was on board from the beginning, but wants to exclude a piece of land that is currently used as a sportsfield. He said the tests were done on the soil which indicated that there might have  been burials.

Dr Therese Fish, Vice-Dean: Clinical Services & Social Impact, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences said  Stellenbosch University (SU) initiated an application process in terms of Section 36 of the National Heritage Resources Act (NHRA) for the memorialisation of the Hardekraaltjie Cemetery.

"This is a formal process conducted by a heritage professional team on behalf of SU which commenced at the start of 2024 and entailed numerous rounds of public and authority participation to date. To determine the extent of the memorialisation area, that SU is committed to memorialising, an investigation was undertaken on the land areas in control of the SU (Erf 15349, Erf 18228 and Erf 24602). Ground Penetrating Radar scans were conducted on Erf 15349 & Erf 18228 and within the 50m buffer zone on Erf 24602.

"The SU Tygerberg Medical Campus falls on Erf 24602 and the portion falling within the 50m buffer zone is utilised by SU mostly for recreational/ sport activities.  GPR Scanning undertaken within the buffer zone (Erf 24602), which is outside the original cemetery erf (Erf 15349), identified 6 targets that were considered the most likely potential grave targets. 

"In accordance with the Permit issued by Heritage Western Cape (HWC) these potential grave targets were ground-truthed in January 2026. Ground-truthing, in the form of test excavations, were conducted by an experienced archaeologist in the presence of community members and while the test excavations failed to provide positive results in terms of locating any graves, they have been fruitful in helping to understand the original topography of the site and surrounds indicating that the cemetery location is as per its current/ original extent.

"The outcome of the investigations confirmed expert opinion, that it is highly unlikely that burials occurred outside of the known historical Hardekraaltjie Cemetery (Erf 15349) and therefore it is recommended that Erf 24602, on which the sport fields are located, should not be considered as potentially being part of the historic cemetery.

Fish said SU relied on a rigorous and scientific process to determine the extent of the proposed memorial area (approx. 2 ha in size).  

"It is therefore not a matter of “giving up the land”.  SU showed its commitment to a process informed by specialists in the field, to determine the extent of burials on the SU property."

Fortuin said the community wants a place that they can come and show their children, a place that tells the full story of what happened, but said the university is only interested in few boards and a memorial wall.

Prof. Fish rejected Fortuin's assertion of a few boards and a wall.

"The Tiervlei-Ravensmead community have from the start of the process indicated that they do not wish for the Memorialised Space to be romanticized and it is on this basis that a way forward was determined.  The proposed Memorialisation is by no means merely about a wall and boards, it relates to a carefully thought-out landscaped community space (approx. 2 hectares) in which respect to those buried in the Cemetery and their descents is a priority."

Fortuin said the university has the academic expertise and resources to do much more.

Prof. Fish said much has been done since the initial meetings were started five years ago.

"In 2019, the SU Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences Dean’s Advisory Committee on Transformation proposed the formation of a Visual Redress Task Team, which was then tasked to take responsibility for managing a restorative process linked to Hardekraaltjie and the era of memorialisation began.

"Numerous public engagements and heritage studies were conducted and the formal process commenced at the start of 2024.  As such the SU has committed and invested in this process for over five years in order to assist the community in realising their dream of Memorialisation.

A book was published in 2024 with SU funding, in which the Oral History of the community was captured called Landscapes of dispossession: Stories of the Hardekraaltjie Cemetery: Told by people from Tiervlei-Ravensmead. 

" A historical timeline banner was designed and compiled in consultation with the community and historical archives available which was donated to the community and was on display at the Ravensmead Public Library.

"This was simultaneously undertaken along with the appointment of a Heritage Professional team who took the lead in terms of community/stakeholder engagements and public meetings, compilation of reports, appointment of specialists (additional GPR Scanning, Archaeologists etc.), engagement with HWC and numerous other tasks to ensure that the memorialisation is realised. 

"Furthermore, it is the intent of SU to implement the Memorialisation Plan, should it be approved, which is considered to involve significant funding from the university."

Fortuin said after their presentation to Heritage Western Cape, it will now  take 30-60  days in which a public participation process will commence .

"They must also get input from landowners such as Stellenbosch University and Transnet."

Weekend Argus