King of Abbaqua San Royal House of the Khoisan, Edgar Thomas Brown says they were wrongfully identified as Coloureds against their will by the apartheid government. King Brown was speaking at the launch of the Limpopo cultural chieftaincy of Abbaqua San Royal House in Polokwane on Sunday.  The launch is aimed at bringing together Khoisan descendants.

History shows that the Khoisan were the first people to inhabit Southern Africa. They are found in different provinces, including Limpopo and other neighbouring countries. The royal house of the Khoisan met in Polokwane in Limpopo over the weekend to launch its traditional leadership in the province.

During the launch, King Brown said the Khoisan must now work on regaining their identity.

“Our people need to revive the culture, they need to expose themselves more. We were wrongfully identified against our will. We were never given the opportunity to introduce ourselves by the regimes. They were dictating upon us the awareness of identification by languages, that is a gross violation,” says Brown.

Khoisan Traditional Leadership Act came into effect on April 1:

King Brown says he wants to see all the royal houses in South Africa come together to solve the problems facing the country.

“We want to eradicate division now the time has come I invite all the kings of all the clans and traditions to come home so that we must sort out this problem and do damage control where damage was done. We haven’t got what we were left with our ancestors everything has been ripped in front of us and I want to correct the wrong things that were done,” says Brown.

A member of the Abbaqua San Royal House in Limpopo, Chief Brenda Kok says they want to write their own history because those who wrote their history omitted crucial information about who they are.

“Our forefathers did not have education but they were well respected in the communities. We saying come back home go back to who you are, write your history yourself don’t let somebody write the history for you because there were many secrets they never revealed and somebody else wrote our history they didn’t really know us,” says Kok.

The Abbaqua San Royal House has 180 members countrywide – 10 of whom were inaugurated in Limpopo. Since 2010, there has been a Khoisan activist movement demanding recognition and land rights in the country.

Mixed reaction to Khoisan Leadership Act