THE HISTORY OF THE OLD LOCATION “OU SKOM”

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GEOGRAPHIC DESIGNATION AND SUBSECTOR DIVISIONS

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The historic settlement known as the Old Location, or "Ou Skom," previously occupied the geographic terrain that forms the modern Heidelberg Industrial Area. The layout of the township was systematically partitioned into two distinct socioeconomic and cultural sectors:

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• Espantsha: Situated within the physical perimeter encompassing the modern Sasol garage and Sheriff Tyres on Schoeman Street.. This sector was densely populated by a diverse community of Indian, Coloured, and Chinese families and merchants.

• Emagogogweni: Occupied the eastern and northern perimeters of the township grid, populated almost entirely by Black African families.

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Apsey Street operated as the central municipal artery connecting these two sectors. It housed the township's primary bus terminals, taxi ranks, and its central public open space, which was anchored by the historic Ishmail Centre and known to residents as "The Square" or "Eskhwereng".

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This central square holds an exceptional position within national liberation history. On 9 August 1956, Eskhwereng functioned as the primary highveld gathering ground for the historic local chapter of the Women’s Resistance March, where hundreds of women mobilised to protest the extension of pass laws.

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Apsey Street also formed the direct physical junction tying the township into the town's primary commercial roadway, Voortrekker Street. This corridor served as a critical national logistics route, linking the interior directly to the main highway bound for Durban in KwaZulu-Natal.

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Voortrekker Street anchored the primary employment and trading houses of the district, including the Ishmail Clothing Shop, the Mafuta Shop, the Eskort Bacon Factory, and the sprawling cigarette assembly plant operated by the Rembrandt Tobacco Manufacturing Company.

 

This manufacturing precinct drastically boosted the regional economy, creating massive lines of industrial employment for township households. The primary thoroughfare routing toward the Rensburg sector was later formally renamed Albert Street.

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DEMOGRAPHICS, POPULATION AND TOWNSHIP AMENITIES

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The total population of Ou Skom during its peak mid-20th-century era was estimated to hover between 8,000 and 9,000 residents, reflecting a vibrant cultural blend of Black African, Indian, Coloured, and Chinese nationalities. The demographic majority consisted of Black families who maintained a resilient community social fabric deeply inspired by mutual sharing, unified care, and deep religious faith. Conversely, the minority Coloured families occupied a slightly more privileged legal tier under the early segregation codes, often identifying themselves as an insular upper-class sector within the location social hierarchy.

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The residential landscape was comprised of expansive, large-scale structures manufactured primarily from corrugated iron (zinc) sheeting. The community's public recreational infrastructure was restricted to two dirt soccer fields, two tennis courts, and a single municipal beer hall that catered to both male and female patrons. Sourcing no commercial entertainment venues, families relied on local sports matches, open-air cinema screenings and home-spun music for recreation.

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Daily life was soundtracked by traditional gramophones playing vinyl discs, which were systematically replaced between 1957 and 1958 by the introduction of the first electronic radiograms. These appliances transformed local communication, enabling households to access real-time news broadcasts and listen to structured community building programmes.

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Due to strict racial prohibitions, very few residents possessed the highly elusive legal permits required to purchase modern liquor from commercial bottle stores, prompting the widespread development of independent, home-brewed sorghum beer circles. In 1958, to insulate impoverished families from financial ruin during times of bereavement, community leaders Mr A. Okker and Mr J. Motsile formally established the township's very first mutual burial club. This mutual aid society was designed to collect micro-subscriptions to ensure that destitute families could afford to bury their loved ones with dignity.

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RECREATION, ARTS, AND BALANCING SPORTS CLUBS

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The internal cultural life of the location generated numerous influential jazz bands, choral societies, and popular dance music groups. Notable musical ensembles that shaped the highveld entertainment circuit included:

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• The Alimo Brothers: A celebrated musical group founded and directed by the late, prominent FM radio presenter Mr George Cindi.

• The Mbaqanga Dance Band: Led by the master showman Mr Boy Ntshingila, pioneering local iterations of the popular rhythmic dance style.

• The Mad Guys and The Vikings: Popular youth bands directed by local musicians, including Tinny Sigasa.

 

The local sports landscape was defined by an intense, passionate soccer rivalry between the township's two premier football clubs: Hot Beans and Happy Hearts. These two teams continuously contested for supreme spectator support, local bragging rights, and civic acknowledgement across the district's dirt fields.

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The township's parallel tennis sporting infrastructure was formally established and managed by the sporting pioneers Mr Steve Mokoena and Mrs Maberesi Moloi, who maintained the two local courts to train local youth.

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MISSION SCHOOLS AND THE NEW ACADEMIC PRECINCT

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Prior to the mid-20th century, the state provided no formal educational facilities or dedicated school buildings for the children of Ou Skom. To bridge the academic void, local religious bodies established primitive mission schools, conducting daily classes directly inside the combined church halls of the amalgamated Roman Catholic and Anglican churches.

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The religious landscape of the location was extensive, housing 19 informally constructed churches that served as makeshift classrooms by day and spaces for spiritual worship by night. The mission schools drew students from vast distances across the rural farming districts, including large student contingents traveling from Emmasdal and Driemanskap.

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The curriculum matrix was restricted, offering classes from Sub A (Standard 1) through to Grade 7 (Standard 5). Students wishing to advance their secondary education were forced to travel to Grade 9 (Standard 7) classes hosted in Nigel.

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Tragically, due to a severe lack of financial resources among working-class parents, the overwhelming majority of local students were forced to permanently abandon their schooling after completing the primary tiers. This structural lack of accessible educational infrastructure left the overall literacy and higher education rate within the location relatively low. Within this pioneer system, teachers were traditionally revered as a child’s foundational primary parents, while biological parents operated as the secondary guardians.

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The educational landscape modernized significantly with the construction of the district's first dedicated, standalone school facilities:

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• Tswinyane Senior Primary School

• Binyane Primary School

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To maximize the limited classroom space, dedicated teachers initiated lessons at 06:00 and maintained continuous instruction until 15:00 daily. This rigorous, multi-shift academic calendar was sustained entirely by the high commitment, personal sacrifice, and vocational dedication of the local teaching staff.

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COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE AND WORK-STAGE LOGISTICS

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The economic life of Ou Skom was heavily dependent on external external labor markets, with the majority of adult men commuting long distances via rail to perform heavy manual work inside the industrial factories of Germiston, Boksburg, Johannesburg, and Alberton. Localized employment opportunities within the immediate Heidelberg district were limited to the town abattoirs, agricultural farm labor, the teacher's training college, the South African Railways freight yards, and the Transvaal Road Agency.

 

Domestic laundry and house-cleaning jobs inside white urban households provided the primary source of income for local women.

The township housed only one formal manufacturing firm - a specialized carpentry workshop operating from Marshall Street that employed a small team of local artisans. A minor economic expansion occurred when a private white businessman, Mr Greyling, established a local steel fabrication factory that absorbed a small contingent of township laborers.

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Faced with limited formal jobs, the women of Ou Skom pioneered an active entrepreneurial sector. They harvested local river reeds and grass to hand-craft traditional grass baskets and woven utility mats, known as izimantji. The women traveled vast distances to bring these popular hand-crafts to commercial markets, retailing their wares as far afield as the Orange Free State.

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The internal retail trade of the location was anchored by several prominent independent shopkeepers and self-employed artisans:

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• The KwaMagomazi Store: A landmark general dealer shop serving the Emagogogweni sector. The historic brick building survives intact today, anchoring the modern entrance gateway leading into the Rensburg township.

• Mr Sikhonde: Operated a specialized, self-taught watch and timepiece repair workshop from his home.

• Mr Mabina: Directed a vital local fuel business, sourcing and selling firewood across the location.

• Mr Tshabalala: Provided essential footwear maintenance, operating a busy shoe repair stall.

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All local commerce and daily household trade were conducted utilizing the pre-decimal British currency system, consisting of physical pennies, half-pennies, shillings, and pounds.

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INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORTATION, AND SANITATION GRIEVANCES

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The township lacked all conventional internal municipal infrastructure. Sourcing no internal household water connections or indoor taps, residents were forced to carry heavy water containers over long distances to fetch water from shared communal standalone taps.

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Due to severe municipal neglect and an aging, unmaintained pipe grid, the water pressure was routinely reduced to a slow, frustrating drip. This infrastructure failure forced local women and children to endure long hours waiting in massive queues simply to fill their domestic buckets.

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The state of local sanitation represented a severe, systematic grievance that was entirely ignored by the ruling municipal authorities. The location relied on a primitive, unhygienic night-bucket system that routinely compromised public health and directly undermined basic human dignity.

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The daily transport needs of the community were managed by a small fleet of private transport entrepreneurs. Local transit was directed by the Lala Bus Transport company, a single-vehicle bus operation owned by a local Indian businessman that provided the primary transit link around the location grid.

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This service was augmented by a small group of private taxi operators, including vehicles owned by Mr Nhlapo, Mr Tshabalala, Mr Msiza, Mr Motsile, and Mr Radebe. The informal taxi rank was situated on the open ground immediately adjacent to the Old NZASM Railway Station (which subsequently housed the Heidelberg Motor Museum and modern Heidelberg Heritage Museum).

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The nearby railway junction operated as a major transit artery; passenger trains departing from Johannesburg passed through the station to connect with Balfour, before splitting into regional rail corridors branching toward Kraal, Villiers, Grootvlei, and Bethlehem, or continuing south to the Natal coast.

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HOME-MADE COFFINS AND HOUNERED BURIAL TRADITIONS

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Sourcing no commercial mortuary services or professional undertakers due to extreme financial scarcity, the families of Ou Skom managed their own funeral arrangements. When a resident passed away, family members hand-built and lined a custom wooden coffin directly inside the home.

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The local cemetery was situated within short walking distance of the residential perimeter. Sourcing no motorized hearses, the completed coffin was reverently carried by hand by rows of pallbearers from the front door of the home directly to the grave site.

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Despite the pervasive poverty of the location, funeral processions were uniquely honoured, revered, and respected by the entire population. Whenever a hand-carried funeral procession moved down the dusty streets, all passing pedestrians would immediately halt, remove their hats, and bow their heads in silent tribute until the mourners had passed.

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VOLUNTARY HEALTH RESISTANCE AND THE TENT HOSPITALS

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The location possessed no state clinics, public health centers, or resident medical practitioners, leaving the community vulnerable to health crises. Daily medical care was managed by a fragile nucleus of health-experienced elder women who functioned as traditional midwives, volunteering to manage difficult labors and deliver children inside the zinc houses.

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The few certified nursing sisters residing in the township treated their profession as a sacred spiritual calling, working grueling 24-hour voluntary shifts to treat ailing neighbors without financial compensation.

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The structural lack of healthcare infrastructure was exposed when a fatal, highly contagious medical epidemic swept through the location. The rapid accumulation of infected patients completely overwhelmed the local homes, prompting emergency teams to erect a network of large canvas medical tents on the grounds surrounding the community administration offices to serve as a makeshift isolation hospital. Sourcing no state doctors, the local school teachers and volunteers from the Red Cross stepped forward to staff the tent wards, providing unceasing nursing care to save the affected families.

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UNDERGROUND POLITICS, PASSPORT BURNING, AND THE DISPLACEMENT (1956 - 1958)

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The political life of Ou Skom was systematically suppressed by the state, forcing all liberation activities to be conducted strictly underground. The local South African Police force operated with extreme brutality, conducting themselves aggressively against the population and being widely regarded by the community as direct state enemies.

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Under strict influx control regulations, any outside visitors wishing to visit family members inside the location were legally required to apply for a formal state permit before entering the perimeter. Police units routinely launched unannounced, aggressive midnight spot-checks, raiding homes to verify permits and enforce the despised "lodger's fee" - a mandatory state tax levied on adult children who continued to reside inside their parents' homes. Failure to produce the necessary tax receipts resulted in immediate arrest and incarceration.

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Any gathering of local citizens was closely monitored by police intelligence; consequently, political organizers routinely disguised their underground liberation meetings in the form of standard Christian church services. Residents discovered to be participating in political resistance faced immediate summary dismissal from their jobs. A prominent victim of this corporate blacklisting was Mr Morgan Sibaya, whose formal employment was instantly terminated by his managers after he was spotted publicly wearing an African National Congress (ANC) uniform.

The local political resistance exploded when the community organized a massive public march to openly resist the mandatory carrying of the Dom Pas (the restrictive apartheid identity document). Hundreds of residents marched to Eskhwereng square, where they formed a massive bonfire and publicly burned their official identity documents in open defiance of the regime.

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This political action was followed by a coordinated regional strike, where local workers unionized to demand a minimum wage of one pound a day. Sourcing an end to the continuous political resistance and clearing valuable land for industrial zoning, the apartheid state enforced a total relocation order between 1956 and 1958. The entire population of Ou Skom was forcefully evicted and relocated to the newly established, segregated township of Ratanda.

 

Every single zinc house, schoolroom, and mission hall within the old location was systematically demolished by state bulldozers, leaving only the memory of the pioneer community buried beneath the modern factories.

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SOURCES AND CREDITS

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• Primary Historiography: Derived from an extensive, anonymous historical manuscript and oral history register titled "The History of the Old Location 'Ou Skom'" preserved within the digital archives of the Heidelberg Heritage Association [1].

• Archival Reference: Cross-referenced with the 1905 Heidelberg municipal township maps, the Group Areas Displacement Registers (1956 - 1958), and the master installation indexes of the Heidelberg Heritage Association curated by Tony Burisch [1].