My heritage is a complex and difficult matter to nail down. On the one hand, I am a product of war, while being a member of the first generation of my family never to fight in a war. When I was born, my dad was in Angola fighting in the bush war. Some of the earliest pictures of me as a little boy show me dressed in a camouflage suit I received as a birthday gift, or dressed in some of my dad's old army uniforms.
Our politicians and media at the time, as well as films and TV shows of pop culture, portrayed national service to the point where every little boy wanted to be a soldier. Today I am a committed pacifist. I see no victory in war. In 2022 I travelled to Eastern Europe to interview Ukrainian refugees as they got off trains and busses entering Warsaw. What I saw there convinced me war is a form of chess played by the global elite using citizens as pawns.
On the other hand, I am the grandson of a man who spent his live savings opposing work reservation for white people in the dark ages of the previous century. My grandfather Hendrik Hancke (I am the oldest son of his oldest son and proudly carry his name) was a member of the South African Party when he returned from fighting the Germans in World War 2. He travelled the in the former Transvaal and Free State provinces making speeches and campaigning against work reservation.
I am a proud South African. I have 90 stamps on my passport and come back to this horrible, wonderful and unique country every time. Being South African is more than just coming from the southern tip of Africa. It is a feeling, a meeting of minds and a cultural weapon when facing the soft underbelly of the sporting arena. To braai is part of my heritage. But so is having beers with friends from all over Africa in my Melville watering hole.
My earliest memory is of my father letting me taste a piece of raw boerewors before he put it on the braai [is my idea of my heritage food]. But braais where I was the only white guy also form part of my favourite memories. Milk tart made by my mother from a recipe handed down for generations is my favourite heritage snack. I do not have a heritage outfit. I do not own a khaki shirt and never will.
I do not see myself as part of the khaki-wearing Afrikaner community but rather as part of the inclusive green and gold-wearing fraternity.
I am still on the fence when it comes to cultural appropriation. I have always loved it when different cultures share the best parts of their heritage. It irritates me if someone profits by using something taken from another's culture. The strength of this country lies in our diversity and it should, no, it must, be celebrated. There is a reason the Springbok side has won two back-to-back World Cups.
1. What is your heritage?
I am a Xhosa man.
2. Do you think heritage is static or an evolving concept?
A bit of both depending on who benefits the most. I look at my culture and how colonialism affected how men approach circumcision. I look at how 20th century men have used those new customs to benefit themselves. I look at today's society grappling with how to relate to culture, with those who do not benefit from it looking to question and dismantle how it works but also those who benefit from the systems in place and how it allows them to navigate society with ease.
Of all the holidays we have I appreciate it the most because you get to truly embrace what this day means. It allows people to wear clothing from their different cultures and encourages the same for children. It also brings lots of debate among coloured folk and Afrikaners who either can't embrace distinct garb or have to face questions about their controversial history.
3. Do you have a heritage meal? Outfit? Idea of fun?
I'm a big fan of the modern cultures we have. I celebrate reimagined ideas seen in how to wear traditional garb in queer communities. Our families are chosen, meaning that you have close relationships with people who have different backgrounds. Each culture is embraced in unique and different ways while still finding ways to modernise our individual cultures.
4. What do you love about South Africa?
That we are all starting to embrace Sign Language and its culture.
1. What is your heritage?
I am a white woman, born in Zimbabwe and arrived in South Africa as a child in the 1980s. We settled in conservative Roodepoort for the first few years and it took me a long time to adapt to the change. I was not used to a “whites only” school and didn't understand Afrikaans in a government school where most of my teachers were first-language Afrikaans and their English wasn't great. Now that I have spent most of my life in South Africa, I regard myself as an average middle-class South African.
2. Are you proudly South African? What does this mean to you?
It's a colloquial term used generally to offend South Africans who leave the country and gets thrown in the faces of those who moan about the country. I am not sure I would define myself as “proudly South African” because though there's so much to be proud of (go Bokke!), there is so much more that makes me ashamed, disappointed and angry.
3. Do you subscribe to the introduced trend that Heritage Day is Braai Day?
Braai Day for me is a marketing concept — used by retailers to advertise specials on meat, beer and charcoal, characterised by images of diverse groups of happy people standing around cuts of meat and boerewors on a fire while boozing — as opposed to a different kind of cultural experience, perhaps involving traditions such as the slaughtering of animals. Heritage Day is something I see as more inclusive and all-encompassing and does not need to involve a braai.
4. What is your heritage meal?
I have no idea how to answer this question as I am hesitant to blurt out a stereotypical response. Bobotie, potjiekos, chakalaka and pap, Cape Malay curry, bunny chow, amagwinya, smilies and walkie-talkies — I don't particularly like or eat any of these frequently. I feel both foreign and extremely ordinary.
5. What is your heritage outfit?
Jeans and a Bokke T-shirt. Only I don't own a Bok shirt, so make it a Mandela T-shirt.
6. What do you understand by cultural appropriation?
Defining yourself by a country — usually where your ancestors come from — and involves that country's traditional attire. A physical, outward expression that carries a lot of emotion and stigma and can be used to divide or unite. Think proud displays of Zulu warrior gear and stadiums full of screaming fans in bok jerseys with flags painted on their faces. And then you have the contrasting deep pains triggered by “black face”, the white-sheeted Ku Klux Klan and Nazi uniforms.
7. What do you think of the rich diversity in South Africa?
It is what makes South Africa great. I love it. We have a great constitution that guarantees freedom and fairness for everyone. We all have the same rights — at least on paper if not in practice.
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