Page 88 - Bulletin 7 2003

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usually enforced, and it was necessary to go back and forth to the Council for
clarification and review, but the industry kept going. Possibly fish hawkers and Cape

fishermen allied together to sell their fish, thus avoiding the middle-men. Carts could
be hired at 3d a time for the purpose of hawking fish directly to the housewife. The

carts were not large and were easily pulled. The hawkers had a distinctive horn to

help people know fish was available.

Snoek was so plentiful that the fish was gutted not flecked. Head and tail were cut off
and the body cut into rings of 7,5 – 10cm and heavily salted, put into barrels and

cured. (Fig. 3.4) These were known as moetjies and sold in shops. When used they
were soaked for a few days in clean water and then boiled to remove the salt and

turned into that delicious dish called smoorsnoek – a chilli was sometimes added to

give it bite. The moetjies were made by women who very adept at this work. The roe
was also in demand.

In Cape Town the fishermen lived adjacent the area we called the Docks. (Fig. 3.5).
Some of the residential streets were Prestwich Street, Cardiff Street, Bennett Street,

Battery Street, Amsterdam Street, and Ebenezer Road. Later on, as that old part of
the city became industrialised, they all left the area and moved off to Green Point – a

better area but still near the sea.

The disintegration of the Italian Community

Who knows if all the Italians continued to stay in Cape Town because, at places like

Langebaan and Velddrif – Laaiplek, there are several families with Italian names but
who do not speak Italian. They are probably second and third generation descendents

of the original families.

As a youth I went to school with some of them. As there were no schools there for

them to attend they came to Cape Town for their educations and went back to their
homes for holidays. Nazareth House and the Salesian Institute were the places where