Khoisan dig in as they fight to have voice heard
KHOISAN community activists led by Eastern Cape MPL and former social development MEC Christian Martin have been camping outside the ANC conference in Nasrec for five days demanding to be recognised as the first indigenous group in South Africa.
Activists walked for 18 days from Port Elizabeth to Tshwane and also camped outside the Union Buildings for 12 days.
Martin has been alternating between Nasrec and Tshwane.
At Nasrec, the group requested the ear of Gwede Mantashe and Jessie Duarte, but neither came to hear their cries.
Anthony Williams, the national coordinator of the Khoisan Liberation Mass Movement, said they would continue fighting on until the ANC government took them seriously.
Williams said they were rejecting the Traditional and Khoisan Leadership Bill, which he described as fraudulent.
“We are rejecting that piece of legislation because it does not even begin to recognise the Khoisan people. What it seeks to do is to recognise the leaders of the Khoisan but it does not say anything about the Khoi people as a community,” he said.
Williams said Mantashe had sent someone to tell them that they should request a meeting at Luthuli House after the conference. Mantashe had said they could not miss out on the “intense” deliberations taking place inside, said Williams.
But Williams said they decided on the Nasrec sit-in because they wanted to influence the conference to take a resolution on the matter.
He said their fight would carry on until someone listened and actively did something. —