r . SAL D R U FAR M LAB 0 U R (C () N FER E N C E SEPTEMBER 1976 Paper No.7 The Independent Fanner of the Richtersveld • E. A. Boozaier Preliminary Draft : No port_ion of this paper may be quoted without permission of Saldru, School of Econanics, University of Cape Town. D I 1 The Richtersveld reserve is situated in th~ Horth Eastern Cape just south of the Orange river. The arid landscape reflects the low and irregular rainfall which the region experiences. The sparse vegetation offers very little prospects for the would-be large land­ owning farmer. However, this area of over 600 000 mor­ een supports nea.rly 100 farmers and their families without there being any individual ol-mer-ship of land. The communally owned land of the reserve falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Coloured Affairs, while it is directly controlled by a 'raad' consisting of tvlelve elected 'raadslede' under the chairmanshin of a 'voorsitter' appointed by the Department. This is one of the few remaining places in South Africa where farming land is available to a whole community of independent farmers. Any farmer registered in the rese,rve is entitled to keep a flock of animals with very little interference from the 'raad'. Farming forms the economic basis of this community of almost 1000 people who live in the three settlements of,Lekkersing, Kuboes and Ek­ steenfontein. Eksteenfontein, formerly known as Stinkfontein, has a population of over 400. It consists largely of Afri­ ,kaans-speaking 'Coloured~'v who came in a group to settle in the town in 1949. peo~e These 'Inkommers', as they later became known, had originally been farmers in the Boesmanland area. This was in the time before strict racial classification, and they could prob~blyhave been described as 'poor whites' who lived and worked among the other vlhites of the re~ion. The worked on very small state-owned farms 'and paid very ,little rent. But as the political scene in South Africa changed, so did the fate of these people. SOIne were classif,ied as white, and some as coloured; ,without there being any real regard for consistency within a family. 2 Consequently thet arbi tfary d~f·ini t i?ns' of racial classifi­ cation often led to a man being classified as coloured, .wh ile his ~rother remained wh'iCte ~ ffhere is' even one case of an old resident of EksteenfQntein who recalls working origina'lly as :awhite" then' as a coloured, then as wh'i te, ,and back again ·to coloured~ .All thfj:s ultimate,ly: m'eant that these 'Rasters', a? they were known, were made to feel very unwelcome "in the ir old community. They were' discriminated) against, not only by their white relatives (who no d'oubt r'~und it air embarrassment to have coloured relatives living· near them), but' also by the ·community·as 'a who,le.This fact, together wi thincrease s in ",the t9:q,ure payab+.e on the . farms and the. ultima.te salfe ,of. tileir'fa;'rins to th'e richer farmers in-the a:rea;allcontributed' to' thetrd"ecision to leave the Boesmari:.larlq. terr±~o,ry ·t~n~masse.' Aft"er r~"andering ar~und for. some' time without finqing any per­ manent place ·to settle, the ir pa~tor .( a Dominee El(steen) obtained p~rmission'from the government· for them to settle in the Richtersveld. They'moved to 'Stinkfontein and Te­ named it after their.dominee. These historica.l roots have had a not.able influence -.:..--" , upon their live"s. lns~ead of retaining feelings of re­ sentmenttowards the E.uropeans, they have chosen to identify with them. Th~y stil~ con~ider themselves io be, :" . essentiallj Afrikaners and will go.to Breat'lensths to trace line~. of d.e~ent from famous Voortrekkers. It'or example, there are at least, five Dirkie Uyses in the community, all apparently d'irect descendants of ~he Dirkie Uys.But their feelings gbdeepet than this. The~ all belong to the Dutch Hefortned church, speak a very pure a.nd good Afrikaans, and fnost".espe?ially the older members of the community, identify ver~ strongly with the governm~nt. They talk about 'Onsregering' and 'OnsEerste r'~inister' "lith gre8.t reverence, and express their thanks for what the government has done for them.Hlulle het ons hier- die grond gegee; hulle betaal die ou mense 'n coeie I . , 1)ensioen; en hulle sorg vir jou as jy siek 1S • 3 'Besides them, ·there~s also a$mall grouy of :f\~aT!la- '\. - "",...1',.. _ .... ~ """'r . speaking "people living in Eksteenfontein. Th,ey are descendents of,the Khoi (Hottentot) and till ,recently ~ #' • led a large.ly nomadic existence ,with their' small flocks of sheep and goats being their m~fn source of livelihood. They moved around with.the,ir flocks and theirv~hole families {;i;~in~ in t'matjiesh'~8et"Thich . ~ '. " could easily be moved. to better graz.ing land s. Th i s . .' . .., .. ". ~ . s¥bsistence farmi,ng was only. interrupted during s~vere . ·4 droughts when the, flocks would' die and they would be - j .' ~ • .,. ~ forced to seek employment in the larr;er centres such ·8.S Port Nolloth, Alexander Bay.and Steinkopf. 11ell before 1949 however, ,some Namas had begun settling in Kuboes, Lekkersing and Stinkfontein. Round about this time . some outsiders• • J!Ohad • • entered the area.... and settled, ..mainly in Lekkersing. Kuboes and Stinkfonte in remaine.d ... ,pre- . • • r- . dominantly Nama settlements. When the., t Inkommer~' (Afrikaans-speakers from.. Boes- • manland) came to st inkfonte in" in 1949,. the !Tamas did' not le,ave, but were forced into a minority position. The few die-hards who cam. still remember this episode .in their history, have strong feelings.<?f ho.stility toward s the .' Inkomm~I:s'. They ~eel that the .land has been taken away from' them and cannot. forgive. the nevI resid~ents of Ekste.enfontein. ... '. -, The Richtersveld is a communal farm;ng area and j;he private ownersttip of land (other than the. 'erfs' in the centres wher.e houses are owned) is not possibie. - .- . ppon their arrival:the 'Inkommers' farmed with~Gnccp and goats and attempted,to clfltivate some qf the land. Cultivation failed because'the farmers were eritirely reliant upon the. inadequate and irregular rainf8,1J. of the region, and because it was diffic\1lt to obtain, permiss.ion to f~nce~ff thes~ lands (the. ,fines payg.ble by t1'fe, owners of sh,eepand ,goats "Thich< strayed into the cultivated fields was inadequate). All that re­ mains of this noble attempt are. a few rusty Dloughs, 4 solitary deJ,.a:pidated houses an4 the remnants of old 'dorsvI6ere'. But not all the farmers are satisfied with this state of affairs. There are a few who believe that cultivation might be a viable proposition. They feel that the 'raad' has not given the venture its full support and that, with its help, the venture might, have been . successful. It. is clear that the 'raad' is doing nothing to encourageculti­ vat ion. This might be be,cause it is felt that. the' issuing of Drivate land might destroy the basic communal nature of the reserve. AlSO, there is'not enough level ground in this hilly region to satis:fy the needs of all the farmers. Consequently, they might feel that they do not want to favour some and deprive 'others. As a result sheep and, goats are the only real source of livelihood and there are 'approximately 39 000 of these animals in the reserve. Sheep and goats are the only animals which Clm. comfortably survive in the region, but ,there is only .one farmeri~ho farms only ",ith one (goats) ., Both, sheep and goats have their relative merits and d~merits and most farmers keep both in order to ensure that chance factors are less likely to affect their entire herd at once. This requ,ires some expla\nation. The &0ats are more prolific, more intelli{?;ent, and less su~ePtible to . eating poisonous plants than are the sheep. However, their kids need a lot of human attention (more than :one herder during the lambing season is . j essential)~' and they need to be kept for at least three , years before they cari fetch a good price (between R20 ' and R30). Sheep, on the other hand,' do not multiply a~3 (quickly as do the goats and are more prone to illnesr:~. But they are better economic propositions, since the skins of nei<Tly-born lambsfet ch between R1 5 and R20, wool is sold twice' per year', and the adults can be sold at an earlier age( from 10 months). When, the 'Inkommers' arrived in St,inkfontein with 5 their herds, they experienced great hardships before they "rere able to adapt to the ne'w terrain. Both the farmers and the animals were unfamiliar with the vege­ tation, and it took some time before the herds vlere 8.ble to distinguish between the poisonous and non-poisonous. plants. There are many reports of farmers ,\.,ho entered . the Riclltersveld with hundreds of sheep and goats, only to find that their entire herds were lost through eatin'S poisonous plants. or through drouGhtG Fortunes "Tere by no means stabIe, but most of the farmers who suffered . these severs. setbacksw'ere gradually able to reverse the process, and today own sizeable herds. Out of a total o.f approximately 70 adult malee mc:des . working,\in Eksteeniontein; there are over thirty in- dependent farmers. Half crffohe remaining fo~ty work in the reserve (as 'draadspanners', teachers, builders and water-carriers), while the rest are migrant labourers working in Port Holloth, Okiep, Beauvallon and Vioolsdrif •.