‘Coconut’ or just hip?

HE is a young, black businessman who leads a cosmopolitan lifestyle. He enjoys listening to Afrikaans music, dates white women and has a circle of friends of all races. Is he a coconut? Theo Klaas, 25, hates the term, even though it is something he has become accustomed to.

Raised by a traditional Xhosa family on a farm in Rocklands and later attending so-called “township schools”, Theo said his family was at first surprised to meet some of his friends and hear him converse in English.

“I took some of my white friends to a traditional ceremony at home because I wanted to teach them that not all black people are out there to get them.” But he says people are not always happy to see him hanging out with his friends, whether it is at a nightclub, concert or over dinner.

“Other black people frown on us. I’ve been called a coconut a few times already. It doesn’t make me angry – only sad.”

Klaas also recalled that “there have been times when I saw friends I lost touch with years ago who, when they see my new friends, want to know why I’m friends with white people.

“There are black people who feel they need to be racist towards white people, but I think people across all races still need more time to heal.”

Although he has been called the K-word, he does not allow that to deter his view about the future.

“We have a chance to build our country and take it forward.”