Download PDFIn a climate of mounting evictions, austerity, and fragmented resistance, the Defend Public Spaces Campaign plans to meet the City of Joburg (CoJ) on 13 September 2025, at the Workers Museum (WM) in Newtown, to hand over a Petition. The City intends to evict Khanya from the WM Cottages and convert them into administrative offices. The Petition demands, amongst others, an immediate stop to the eviction, and that Khanya College be the ‘guardian’ of the whole WM and Cottages complex, for present and future generations, in the interests of the working class. According to one of the campaigners, “If Khanya leaves the Cottages, they will fall into disrepair once again. Already, the Workers Museum is rundown.”
In early July, the CoJ agreed to Khanya College consulting communities on the planned eviction from the Cottages, and to report back in September. This is Heritage Month, and Khanya College has requested the City to host the meeting with communities on 13th September, when the Petition will be handed over. This is important for transparency and democratic dialogue. Communities also requested that the honourable executive Mayor, Councillor Dada Morero, or a representative of his office, be invited to participate.
According to Architect-urbanist Diana Bogado, “Eviction is not merely the removal of people, but also the erasure of memory”. In response, communities have combined theatre and discussions to send a clear message: “We are still here. And so is our history.”
Since the consultation process began on 19 July, Khanya has been joined by many organisations, individuals, and communities who share a common goal: to preserve the WMC as a public space that enables township-based groups and individuals to accessibly engage with the City and its history. The 13 September meeting provides a basis to strengthen the City’s (and the Mayor’s) connection to working-class communities, and through the live performances, witness firsthand the significance of the Cottages to the working class.
This meeting of representatives from communities and fraternal organisations, will also discuss the need to deepen working class heritage, memory and public spaces. The campaign isn’t just about preserving a building, but about who gets remembered, who gets erased, and who decides.
Far from a symbolic gesture, the event will showcase the cultural life of people from communities at the margins of the City, including Page 2 Stage, Imbumba Young Solutions, Benchmarks and the Casual Workers Advice Office. The day’s plans will include community theatre performances, Speak-outs from displaced and affected communities, and exhibitions and education about working-class histories and heritage.
The campaign’s strength lies in its deep community roots — built on solidarity, creative organising, and a refusal to be silenced. Crucially, community activists are calling for their struggles to be recognised and centred by the City, rather than continually pushed to the margins through spatial planning, budget priorities, and municipal decisions.
“Who gets to define ‘heritage’ in a city built on working-class blood, sweat, and dispossession?” asked one attendee during a meeting to plan the petition handover.
The 13th of September is a declaration: a moment when working class memory must assert itself. This is a space where public struggle reclaims public spaces.
All signatories to the petition and members of the public are invited to join our meeting and activities:
13 September 2025, from 09:00 AM. At the Workers’ Museum Cottages, 52 Rahima Moosa (formerly Jeppe) Street, Newtown, Johannesburg.
Sign the petition. Mobilise. Share. Be there.
We understand that the City will respond to the Petition consistent with the Municipal Systems Act, including a transparent investigation that will include us, together with communities.
Defend Public Spaces, Defend Our Memory
This article was submitted on 04 September 2025. You may republish this article, so long as you credit the authors and Karibu! Online (www.Karibu.org.za), and do not change the text. Please include a link back to the original article.
