VIDEO: Fight over extinction continues at Union Building – one year later

A small group of Khoisan protesters has been camping outside the Union Buildings for a year now, calling on the government to heed their demands, Rekord East reports.

“We are fighting for our very existence here,” said the group’s leader, Chief Khoisan SA.

“We will only leave if President Cyril Ramaphosa himself comes to talk to us. The only other way I would leave is if I die here,” he said.

Camping at the Union Buildings for a year, with the authorities reportedly paying them little attention, has only made them “more determined” than before, he said.

Chief Khoisan SA wants the government to recognise the Khoisan people as the country’s “first indigenous nation”.

The group is demanding that the Khoisan no longer be classified as “coloured”, which presents a danger to the future of their culture.

They also want the government “to acknowledge and teach our dances, rituals and telling our story to other indigenous people”.

“This Saturday it will be a year since we came here. Until now, we have not received any feedback from anyone in government regarding the issues put to them,” he told the media.

Chief Khoisan SA may be more determined than before, but he admits that some people in the group lost hope and gave up on the protest to go back home.

“In the beginning, we had a lot of energy; however, due to politics and rumours on social media a lot of members abandoned ship.”

He said, however, a conference planned for 2020 might catch the government’s attention.

“We must decide what pressure we will apply and how we are going to resolve issues regarding our demands,” said the chief.

“We must start being harsh with the government and push them for results.”

The chief said they had witnessed “a speck” of progress recently when a Khoisan praise singer was chosen to welcome the president during the opening of parliament in the Khoi Khoi Khoekhoegowab language.

“It showed our language to South Africans and across the world. This also showed that the Khoisan people were not just something from textbooks, but that they are very much alive.”

The group of Khoisan men and women have had an “unpleasant” year at the Union Buildings.

The group said they had to endure sleeping in ripped rickety tents facing extreme weather they were unaccustomed to.

“The weather we encountered was very bad, especially the thunder and lightning.”

He claimed that during their stay at the buildings, public works department employees tried to subtly pressure them into leaving.

“Taps we would normally use to get water would be cut off – that sort of thing,” he claimed.

The group also faced problems with funding for food and other everyday basic needs.

However, good Samaritans would visit them from time to time and offer to help them.

Their demands include that the label “coloured” be removed from all official papers and be replaced with “Khoisan”.

Kwadi-Khoe must also be listed as an official language in South Africa.

They also wanted the Khoisan to be given land and resources to continue their culture and traditions.

The protest came after they rejected the traditional Khoisan and Leadership Amendment Bill, which was passed in the National Council of Provinces in January.

“The bill does not put the emphasis on land. As the first nation the land belongs to us,” said Chief Khoisan SA.