Khoisan pair in ‘anti-coloured’ walk
KHOISAN activists have given Statistics South Africa 60 days to abolish the term “coloured”, saying it was derogatory, inhumane and not created by God.
Chief Khoisan SA, a staunch activist, walked from Port Elizabeth to East London with Shane Plaatjies to hand over their memorandum of demands to the Stats SA provincial offices in Quigney.
Clad in Khoisan traditional regalia made out of animal skin, Chief Khoisan SA and Plaatjies started their journey from Port Elizabeth last Wednesday, resting along the way, and arrived in East London on Sunday afternoon.
The pair, accompanied by members of the Khoisan Royal Council, after a night’s rest walked from the East London City Hall yesterday to the Stats SA offices in Quigney.
“We are still facing ourselves being labelled as coloureds in the new democracy even though this label was abolished long before our new dispensation, and we are asking ourselves why this is being done to us,” Chief Khoisan SA said.
“We do not want other people to decide for us what we want to be called.”
Khoi activists have for years been campaigning for the abolishment of the term, likening it to the “Kword”, which if used is now punishable by law.
They have in recent years also staged protests outside ANC elective conferences, trying to convince the ruling party to lead the campaign for the abolishment of the term “coloured”.
Last year, Chief Khoisan SA and Plaatjies were among four activists who walked from Port Elizabeth to the Union Buildings in Tshwane to hand over a memorandum to former president Jacob Zuma.
The group wanted government to officially recognise their community as the first citizens in South Africa.
They demanded that their language, which is featured on the country’s codes of arms, be made official, and also that the Land Act be scrapped or amended, as they say it has held them back from owning land.
The group started their walk from Port Elizabeth on November 13 and arrived in Tshwane on November 30.
Their memorandum of demands was received by then deputy president and now President Cyril Ramaphosa after 24 days of a live-in protest and hunger strike outside the Union Buildings.
Chief Khoisan SA said they were still waiting for a response from the president.
The provincial acting Stats SA head, Ziyanda Ntlebi, said they would engage with their head office in Tshwane for direction on how to move forward with the recent demand from the activists. —