Annie Bam, of District Six, celebrated her 100th birthday on Saturday.
Ms Bam, or “Queen Anne” as she is known by her family, had a birthday party with family and neighbours at her Roger Street home.
She grew up in Wight Street and later moved to Constitution Street with her husband, Sydney Bam, a soldier who died from pneumonia at 45.
The couple had eight children: Norma Solomons, Mabel Fernandes, Adeline Arendse, Edmund Bam, David Bam, Annette Arendse, Harry Bam and Yvonne Bam. Yvonne died as an infant and Annette Arendse and Harry died at 70 and 73 respectively.
Mabel said her mother had been a talented singer and musician in her younger days.
“She would sing and march with the Cape Minstrels; she would play guitar. she was so talented that she could play the piano and the harp as well.”
Mabel said her mother sang at the Star Bioscope in Caledon Street and the Avalon Cinema in Cowley Street, and, over the years, she had held down more than 20 jobs, although she had spent most of her working life as a receptionist at the Peninsula Maternity Hospital in District Six and as a housekeeper at the Nico Malan Nursing College, which is now the Western Cape Nursing College.
In the 1960s, Ms Bam, who by then was a widow with seven children, was among those forced out of District Six as apartheid tore the community apart.
“It was very painful for my mother to move out as she had all her children and she didn’t want to move. It was the police that told her to leave,” said Mabel.
Ms Bam ended up in Manenberg with her family and later moved to Rocklands, Mitchell’s Plain.
In 2005, she returned to District Six and her current home in Roger Street, where she lives with her son, Edmund, and his two daughters, Nakita and Firdous.
“She was so excited to move back, she was in all the papers and even the tourists were coming to those houses,” said Mabel.
While Ms Bam is now very frail, her family are thrilled that she has made it to 100.
“We were waiting for this day; we believed that she would make 100, and despite all her sickness she made it to this day,” said Mabel.
Rachel Petersen, 61, Ms Bam’s granddaughter, said was an honour to have had a grandmother for so long.
“Growing up, she took us to church a lot and taught us important family values.”
Ms Bam’s other granddaughter, Bridgette Thompson, 60, has fond memories of the concerts her grandmother put on for them when they were growing up.
“She would teach us how to dance and sing, and she taught us from a young age the value of prayer.”
Ms Bam has 25 grandchildren, 70 great-grandchildren and 50 great-great grandchildren. Her younger sister, Catherine Pfeiffer, died in 2020 at the age of 95.
District Six Civic Association committee member, Fairuz Bassardien, said, “Ms Bam was always very supportive at our community events as well as our community meetings, and we always honoured her as an elder to open up our meetings with a prayer, which she always happily accepted.”
