There are many untold stories about South Africa, but an exhibition at Constitution Hill is set to reveal those untold stories.

A text and photographic exhibition entitled: “The Forgotten People: Banishment under Apartheid,” will be launched to the public on Thursday at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg.

The exhibition is based on a book by Dr Saleem Badat, vice- chancellor of Rhodes University.

“I think this exhibition is important for a number of reasons but mostly because we have done a lot in terms of public, academic and institutional reform post-apartheid but there are still many people whose life stories remain in the shadows,” Wits University’s Dr Noor Nietagodien said.

Nietagodien added that the exhibition would unearth the hidden history and nature of the experience of banishment.

“Some banishment was for a few months but many were for a number of years, where families had to live in remote parts of the country.

“A group of people were marginalised in apartheid but are now marginalised because they have not been included in the history of the country,” he said.

Nietagodien said in order to build the future there was a need to deal critically and comprehensively with the past.

“The critical thing is that we give a voice to people who have not been heard.”

The exhibition will run from January 24 to February 11 2013.

On the January 31 a walkabout through the exhibition will be arranged for history students from and around Johannesburg to give them an opportunity to engage with some of the material they study in school and also to ask question and get clarity.

The exhibition looks at political banishment in the apartheid era.

Banishment has been used as a form of punishment in South Africa from the early colonial period. Both the Dutch and British colonial administrations banished people who challenged their authority.

When the apartheid government seized power in 1948, it continued to use banishment as a way of silencing its opponents and many people were banished under the Native Administration Act (1927).

Written by: Liezelle Kumalo

• This article was published on The New Age.