Having camped outside the Union Buildings for nearly seven years to protest for the recognition of the Khoisan people and their language, King Khoisan SA says the topic of heritage is a sad one as coloured South Africans don’t seem to want to embrace their Khoisan heritage.
In November 2017, Khoisan SA and his family walked from the Eastern Cape to Pretoria to demand that the president recognise the Khoisan people as the country's first nation, add the language as one of the official languages, return ancestral land and scrap the word ‘coloured’ as the apartheid government imposed it to categorise the Khoisan people.
The group vowed never to leave the Union Buildings until the president addressed them and met their demands.
True to his word, Khoisan SA has established a miniature village right next to the nine-metre-tall Nelson Mandela statue with a population of 20 people and signs of “Original Embassy” and “Aboriginal Embassy” at its entrance.
Dressed in his traditional Khoisan attire with scores of tourists queuing to meet him and chickens loudly clucking in the makeshift homestead, Khoisan SA said September, which is celebrated as heritage month, saddened him as it exposed a loss of identity among the coloured population.
“The sad thing is when you talk to a coloured person, you find they borrowed from other cultures and when you ask ‘who are you?’ it is then they become silent. For us, it is sad because the coloured people are us. It’s just that they found themselves being raised and called coloured and still today, they find it difficult to grab on to their culture and identity.”
He said it was through engagement that people got to learn about a person’s heritage and their culture. However, this seemed to be ignored when it came to the Khoi and the San people.
“Not much is known about us, even our rituals that we perform when you become a young man or lady, or when you get married, and even when you die and when you are born. For us, this time of September is a time we find ourselves where a lot of people are lost in their identity, which was put onto them by the apartheid regime, and they were called coloured.
He said some of his family members and those close to him were born and raised as coloured people but researched their ancestry which led them to identifying as Khoisan.
Some travelled to Namibia and Botswana to live with Khoi and San people to learn about the culture and its language.
“I think it is important that people understand that we went through many phases. Some of us, myself and others have still preserved the ancient way and still live the ancient way. For us, it is important because it shows that we have those who wear jeans and others who have preserved it.
“Heritage Day brings the sadness that no one takes the time and effort to go to the coloured people and the Khoi and the San people and try to bring their heritage to the fore, where everyone in SA would know how to even greet,” Khoisan SA said.
He said he did not expect to wait this long to meet and engage the president. From a few tents erected six years ago, they have evolved into a homestead with several chickens, tents, a kitchen, a vegetable garden and even a goat.
At the entrance of the “Aboriginal Embassy” is a petition book signed by thousands of tourists and locals in support of his cause. Khoisan SA said it was those these people helped sustain his family by buying groceries for them and donating money.
“There are people throughout the whole world that have signed the petition in support of us. The only people who seem not to want to listen or hear us are the government. The locals already know our story and others from other provinces have listened and shown their support.”
He hopes the spot he has occupied at the Union Buildings is turned into a monument to educate people about his cause for Khoisan recognition and his lengthy protest. Some of his family members, including his grandchild, have come to join him over the years.
“For me, heritage means where we come from, about our culture, it means our identity. For me, it is something very important because it tells a story about myself and my ancestors and the story of the people that were here in South Africa long before anyone came.”
While President Cyril Ramaphosa passed into law the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act in 2019, which recognised traditional and Khoisan people, Khoisan SA said it was not enough. The act was set aside by the Constitutional Court last year for failing to reasonably facilitate public participation.
Minister of sport, arts and culture Gayton McKenzie earlier this month called on the Khoi and San leaders to meet in Cape Town to discuss leadership and being represented among other traditional leaders.
Khoisan SA said this would be a chance to bring forward what sort of recognition they want in the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act.
“The type of recognition we want is not to know that we are the Khoi and the San, but the recognition written in grade 5 books — that the first people were the Khoi and the San. We have received six eviction notices already and we told them we are not going anywhere. We are only leaving when our four issues are met.”
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya confirmed that he is not aware of the president having met Khoisan SA. As for removing him and his village, he said the department of public works and infrastructure was the custodian of the Union Buildings.
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