Upon walking into the Neelsie, one can start to picture what everyday life for a Matie student must entail. This is because of the frantic first year students rushing to get to a lecture with 10 books in hand, the too-cool-for-school second year students with their uncaged long hair and the third years or honours students who are not always seen in the Neelsie but have a sense of familiarity.
“The Neelsie is one of my favourite things in the world, it is a place where students can go to study, to eat, to see their friends, to grab a coffee. It is the centre of campus and it is a an absolute establishment, both in the sphere of Stellenbosch University (SU) and in my heart.” Michael Wright (22), a third year Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) student, spends most of his free time at the Neelsie, but he has no idea why it is called that. An elaborate answer which was ultimately completely made up ensued.
“The Neelsie is the social heartbeat and the main commercial hub of the Stellenbosch campus. Students are typically great customers: decent, vocal, interesting and appreciative. The constant changing of the dynamic of the student corps also makes working in the Neelsie an evolving experience,” explains the owner of the Pulp Cinema, Werner De Swart (40).
Then: The Rooplein entrance of Die Neelsie/The Langenhoven Student center (1975). Photo: SU Archives
Now: The Rooplein entrance of Die Neelsie/The Langenhoven Student center (2018). Photo: Jeremy Ryall
Another student, Roelof Coertze (22), describes the Neelsie as [a place] “where all the students come together. I think it is too many people but I think it is just a congregation of all the students in Stellenbosch to be honest”, the BCom Management Sciences student says.
2018 is SU’s centenary year, therefore it is only fitting that this story of how the Neelsie came about starts 100 years ago. In 1918, the inception of SU – The Ou Hoofgebou was essentially the university with minimal venues for students to take a break from their lecture halls.
his lack of space culminated in 1920 with students participating in a national fundraising campaign, singing songs and dances which Dr Wessel Visser, a senior history lecturer at the University, calls the Stellenbos Boerorkes. “C.J. [Cornelis Jacobus] Langenhoven, was a senator when the country still had a senate. He was one of the instigators of getting Afrikaans declared as an official language.
1973 is the year construction began on the now Langenhoven Student centre, with its completion in 1975. “It was built to 1970s architecture, what you guys [current students] would not know is what that centre spot was called, it was the ‘Groot Gat’ and was designed as a dancing venue with wooden plank floors,” Visser says.
Visser, who arrived at Stellenbosch during the Groot Gat’s prime, describes it as a dark, eerie and spooky place, when not lit up on a Friday. “They had a typical cafeteria that was the in thing in the 1970s, like a state-run cafeteria. The only thing nice about it was quantity not quality, you could buy a plate of chips for 50 cents or something like that,” Visser explains.
Then: Basement/’Die Groot gat’ of Die Neelsie/ The Langenhoven Student center (1975). Photo: SU Archives
Now: Basement/Food court area of Die Neelsie/The Langenhoven student center (2018). Photo: Jeremy Ryall
More interesting, however was the University run restaurant, which was located on the Rooiplein side of the Neelsie today. “There on the eastern side, there was the Loeloeraai restaurant. It was named after one of Langenhoven’s books, which was an adventurous kind of imaginative journey to the moon. Loeloeraai was the craft they used to get to the moon.” Visser says Loeloeraai was easy for the students as it catered to student prices and was run like a residence before privatisation. The idea was that students should only eat there as it was subsidised by the University and that lasted until about 1991.
This sentiment is shared with current manager of the Buzz cafe located at the bottom of the Neelsie, Butch Prain (68): “It means business, speed, students and food hopefully!”
It was or is the longest Stellenbosch construction project that Visser could determine, almost intimating at the lengthy process or battle the students faced with the University’s planning processes which took 55 years from 1920 to 1975. “The place was old and dirty, the service is typical like civil servants, as there was no incentive and the quality was not good, the choices were becoming worse and worse each year. The university decided to completely revamp,” Visser explains.
As a result, a R13 million upgrade and privatisation was completed in 1995 and this is the Neelsie we now know today. There is currently massive construction taking place on the mountain side of the Neelsie and Michael Israel (47), who owns the small corner shop, Amaboko, says: “It has had a bit of an effect on the walkthrough of the students but otherwise it will be great when it is completed. It has been harder to get into the Neelsie but everyone seems positive that it is a move that is good for the future.”
One thing here to stay is the name, Neelsie. From Langehoven himself, according to Visser. Langenhoven’s nickname was Neelsie, deriving from his first name Cornelis