Claiming Cape Town Ethnographic Interpretations of Khoisan Activism and Land Claims
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Claiming Cape Town Ethnographic interpretations of Khoisan activism and land claims Rafael Verbuyst (s1275445) Master Thesis - Research Master African Studies Leiden University/African Studies Centre (2013-2015) Supervisors: Prof. Dr. Harry Wels (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam/African Studies Centre Leiden) Prof. Dr. Kees van der Waal (Stellenbosch University) “These weak people, the most helpless, and in their present condition perhaps the most wretched of the human race, duped out of their possessions, their country, and finally out of their liberty, have entailed upon their miserable offspring a state of existence to which that of slavery might bear the comparison of happiness… The name Hottentots will be forgotten or remembered only as that of a deceased person of little note.” - Sir John Barrow, 1801 Cover picture: Aletta Gardner/EWN (http://ewn.co.za/2012/06/28/Khoisan-renames-Cape-Town, accessed 20 July 2015). 2 Table of Contents Abbreviations ...................................................................................................................... 6 List of figures....................................................................................................................... 7 Preface ................................................................................................................................. 9 Introduction ........................................................................................................................10 1. Reflexive fieldwork in an elusive context. Methodological choices, theoretical inspiration, and practical considerations .........................................................................15 1.1 The merits and limits of a critical approach. Theoretical inspiration and the choice for ethnography ......................................................................................................................16 1.1.1 Social-constructivism, agency, and the politics of land and identity ......................17 1.1.2 Beyond strategic essentialism and the trap of primordialism? ...............................20 1.1.3 Critical ethnography as method and attitude .........................................................23 1.2 Navigating and examining the ‘unknown world’ of Khoisan activism in Cape Town .....25 1.2.1 Getting started. Defining and exploring the field ...................................................26 1.2.2 Participatory observation, interviewing, and ‘being there:’ examining the field ......30 1.2.3 Final reflections. Activism, rapport, and the issue of access .................................34 2. From dispossession and decimation to restitution and revival. The Khoisan and the state in a historical perspective ........................................................................................38 2.1 ‘Where the bomb of colonialism fell.’ A brief history of the Khoisan at the Cape until 1994 .................................................................................................................................39 2.1.1 Before 1652. Geography and political organization ...............................................39 2.1.2 The arrival of Jan van Riebeeck and the conquest of the Khoisan ........................41 2.1.3 Colonisation, integration and segregation .............................................................45 2.2 Restoring indigenous rights in South Africa? Land, traditional authority, and the political accommodation of the Khoisan revival ..............................................................................48 3 2.2.1 South African indigeneity, Khoisan political structures, and the National Traditional Affairs Bill ......................................................................................................................49 2.2.2 Khoisan land claims and the Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act .............55 3. Strategic Khoisan essentialism and land claims: a means to an end? ......................63 3.1 Some preliminary remarks on Khoisan strategic essentialism .....................................64 3.2 ‘First nation, first victims.’ The bid for Khoisan indigenous authenticity ........................66 3.2.1 Appropriating indigenous rights. Problematic definitions and powerful claims .......67 3.2.2 ‘Cultural genocide’ and disproving the lack of indigeneity .....................................72 3.3 The Cochoqua land claim in Mamre ............................................................................78 3.3.1 The importance of Moravian mission settlements for present-day Khoisan land claims. A brief historical introduction to Mamre ..............................................................79 3.3.2 Louwskloof and construction of the Cochoqua claim ............................................82 3.3.3 An intermediate analysis and some unanswered questions ..................................86 4. Claiming land or identity? Case studies in Khoisan land activism .............................92 4.1 Claiming Cape Town. from the Castle of Good Hope to Oude Molen ..........................93 4.2 The South African Cape Corps, ‘the Battle of Hout Bay,’ and the ‘c-concept’ ..............99 4.3 Mamre revisited. From Louwskloof to the West Coast ...............................................106 4.4 Unpacking Khoisan land claims. Land as a metaphor for exclusion .......................... 110 5. The challenges of intra-Khoisan politics. Disunity and infighting examined ........... 117 5.1 The politics of exclusion and the power of ‘authenticity.’ Bloodline, tribalism, and opportunism ....................................................................................................................119 5.2 Challenging the state. Compromises, tactics, and alliances ......................................124 5.3 Engaging with the state. Representation and leadership ...........................................129 5.4 The irony of ‘!ke e: ǀxarra ǁke’ and the state of policy ................................................132 Summary and conclusions ..............................................................................................137 Bibliography .....................................................................................................................146 4 a. Primary sources ..........................................................................................................146 Interviews ....................................................................................................................146 Eerste Nasie Nuus (ENN) ............................................................................................ 148 Legislative sources ......................................................................................................148 b. Secondary sources .....................................................................................................149 c. Internet sources (accessed 20 July 2015) ...................................................................170 5 Abbreviations ANC African National Congress p. 12 CPA Communal Property Association p. 81 DRDLR Department of Rural Development and Land Reform p. 57 DTA Department of Traditional Affairs p. 54 FNR Foundation Nation Restoration p. 94 ILO 169 International Labour Organization Convention 169 of 1989 p. 49 IRASA Institute for the Restoration of the Aborigines of South Africa p. 70 KSAAG Khoi and San Active Awareness Group p. 75 KSK Khoisan Kingdom p. 77 NKC National Khoisan Council p. 50 NTAB National Traditional Affairs Bill p. 53 RIA Regulatory Impact Assessment (Report) p. 59 SACC South African Cape Corps p. 100 SAHRC South African Human Rights Commission p. 69 UNDRIP United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People p. 56 6 List of figures Figure 1 Khoisan elder preparing a ceremony at District Six, Cape Town p. 27 Figure 2 Speaker at the 2014 ‘Foundation Nation Restoration Convocation’ in p. 28 Pinelands, Cape Town Figure 3 Inauguration of Cochoqua chiefs at a traditional !Nau ceremony in p. 31 Atlantis, Cape Town Figure 4 Symbolic burial ceremony in Athlone, Cape Town p. 32 Figure 5 Mamre mission settlement p. 36 Figure 6 “Approximate locations of Khoikhoi before contact with Whites (in the p. 40 Southwest Cape ca. 1650; In the Southeast Cape and along the Orange River ca. 1750)” Figure 7 The first freeburgher land-grants and van Riebeeck’s almond hedge p. 42 Figure 8 1672 land ‘sale’ p. 43 Figure 9 Khoisan political developments (1994-2014) p. 58 Figure 10 Engraving depicting ‘Groenekloof settlement’ (Mamre) in 1818 p. 78 Figure 11 Louwskloof p. 82 Figure 12 Khoisan and Moravian missionaries p. 88 7 Figure 13 “Tawedes ||Hui !Gaeb ||Ga. Welcome to Cape Town” p. 93 Figure 14 ”Celebrating the Khoi battle of Gorinhaiqua” p. 98 Figure 15 South African Cape Corps building, Athlone p. 100 Figure 16 “Khoisan Rights Now!” p. 102 Figure 17 Pamphlet distributed at the inauguration of Cochoqua chiefs p. 108 Figure 18 !Nau Botrivier p. 118 Figure 19 “Recognition + restitution + restoration = dignity” p. 126 Figure 20 First Nation Liberation Alliance p. 127 Figure 21 “VF Plus - the only voice for minorities in South Africa” p. 127 8 Preface The topic for this thesis took a long time to take its final shape. Looking back, it is interesting how an initial interest in South Africa, land claims, activism, history, and anthropology led me to Cape Town to conduct fieldwork among Khoisan activists for seven months. When I arrived in South Africa to start my fieldwork, however, the