Cape Town has formally added two towering cultural figures to its highest civic roll, recognising the enduring impact of music, storytelling and memory on the city’s identity.
It comes after Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis bestowed the Freedom of the City on musician and playwright David Kramer and the late composer Taliep Petersen during a Special Council sitting at City Hall on Tuesday, 20 January.
Kramer accepted the honour in person, while Petersen’s posthumous award was received by his daughters, Jawaahier, Fatiema and Aeesha Petersen, as indicated by the City of Cape Town.
The ceremony marked more than a formal civic moment. It was a reflection on how culture shapes belonging, preserves history and bridges division, themes that have long defined the work of both artists.
The Special Council sitting featured a dedicated musical and video tribute, tracing Kramer and Petersen’s creative journeys and their collaborative legacy.
Their acclaimed productions, including District Six: The Musical and Kat and the Kings, were central to the programme, underscoring how their work captured lived experience during some of the country’s most difficult chapters.
By conferring the Freedom of the City, Cape Town acknowledged the artists as more than entertainers. As highlighted by the City, the honour recognises them as ‘custodians of the city’s soul’.
In his address, Mayor Hill-Lewis highlighted how their work deepened collective understanding of identity and place. Quoting from District Six: The Musical, he said: ‘Dis nie myne nie, dis nie joune nie. This place lives in us.’
The Mayor also placed Kramer and Petersen alongside previous Freedom of the City recipients such as Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Tutu and Dr Christiaan Barnard, noting that their inclusion affirms that ‘culture, creativity and storytelling are as vital to a city as political leadership or scientific innovation’.
Beyond their technical mastery as composers, songwriters and playwrights, the Mayor described their work as emotionally resonant and morally grounded.
He pointed to pieces such as Welcome to Cape Town, often regarded as the city’s unofficial theme song, while stressing that their broader body of work carried messages that ‘touched lives and became the soundtrack of generations’.
Importantly, the City noted that their collaborations played a unifying role during a period defined by enforced separation.
According to Mayor Hill-Lewis, their work ‘dissolved the artificial boundaries that were erected between our people’, ensuring that stories of forced removals and displaced communities were neither sanitised nor forgotten.
As Cape Town marks the 60th anniversary of the District Six forced removals this year, the Mayor said the legacy of Kramer and Petersen remains especially significant. Their work, he noted, helped ensure that ‘a place bulldozed from the map would never be erased from memory’.
The Freedom of the City awards form part of a broader Civic Honours programme revived by the Mayor in 2023 after a 12-year pause.
The honours are now conferred every two years, following a public nominations process, Council approval and formal acceptance by recipients.
In addition to the Freedom of the City, the programme includes the Civic Honours Book and the Mayor’s Medal, recognising individuals and organisations for exceptional service, personal sacrifice and contributions to the city and nation.
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