Page 146 - Bulletin 21

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Gert van Blerk, Styf en sterk, Gou by die bak, maar lui om te werk.

Meaning: Gert van Blerk, upright and strong, Quick to dish up, but lazy to work.”

His brother, Johannes (Jan) Petrus Stegman van Blerk had many financial interests and listed

himself as a property developer in some directories. He was a member of the Village

Management Board and was a Councillor in the first Municipality. From the website:

“Jan van Blerk ….. in the early 1900’s he built about 20 wooden fisherman’s cottages
on his section, which he hired to the fisher folk who had previously had no accommo-

dation, some of whom had lived in the many caves on the mountain. He also built a
shop nearby, which was run by his wife. There were also other buildings such as

houses, cowsheds and stables. His son John said he was a good landlord and never
charged the fisher-folk rent when times were bad due to bad weather or when fish

were scarce. The cottages were eventually demolished after the existing blocks of flats

were built for the fishermen by the Council in the 1940’s.”

The numerous properties in Die Land owned by the van Blerks are described below.

The Graveyards

In 1893 Jan van Blerk bought George Powell’s erf (89936) and subdivided it. A portion was

sold in 1904 to Abdol Joseph, the Deed of Transfer specifying it would be used ‘as a Malay
graveyard’. This was immediately behind the Fishermen’s Union housing off Barton Road.

(Figs. 4.31 & 4.32.) It remained a graveyard for more than 30 years. Abdol Joseph and the
Muslim community, probably alarmed by rumours regarding land expropriation for the Flats,

signed the graveyard into a Trust in 1937 ‘to the Malay community of Kalk Bay to continue to
be used by that community as a burial ground.’ The Trustees were Gamdool Slamdien,

Gamat Salie and Casiem Salie. But the respite was short lived. In 1940 Abdol Joseph and the

Trustees were told that the land was being acquired under the Slums Act. Obviously this was
very disturbing for the Muslim community. They were offered payment but refused,

accepting only £50 towards the cost of exhumation and transfer to Muizenberg Cemetery.

The agreement was signed by Abdol Joseph and the Trustees Imam Gamat Salie, Hasiem