Chief Khoisan South Africa and six of his subjects who have been camping in tents on the lawns of the Union Buildings, on and off, since the end of November 2018, are waiting for President Cyril Ramaphosa to respond to their demands.
Barefoot and wearing only buck-skin loincloths, they made the arduous trek of 1200-kilometres from the Eastern Cape to Pretoria just to give President Cyril Ramaphosa their memorandum of demands.
Chief Khoisan SA says:” I can remember that the election of 1994 resulted in a happy feeling for all of us. I remember the long queues, where our people waited to vote because everybody felt that that vote would bring a better life for everybody in South Africa.”
“But we haven’t benefitted. We’re still called “Coloured”. We still haven’t got the recognition we expected. We thought that we’d share in the advantages after 1994. But only black people were advantaged. Job opportunities were created, but not for us. Affirmative action came. Again, we didn’t benefit.”
He says the greatest failure of the government is that they didn’t do what they promised.
“They said it was going to be “a better life for all”.
The government also never recognise the Khoisan people as the first nation of the country.
“The government continued to make us feel miserable, by having us fill in documents to tell everybody who we are. We would have to tick the “Coloured” box. It awakens something inside of us. Something that we thought we’d left behind.”
“My dream for South Africa and future generations is simple: South Africans across the country must acknowledge that the Khoi and the San are the first nation of South Africa. That’s my dream.”
He says the government passes and maintains laws that don’t include all South Africans.
“They’re drafting legislation to expropriate land from people without compensation. At the same time, they don’t realise who really owns the land that they’re expropriating.”
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