VIDEO: Plans for more Khoisan to camp at Union Buildings in motion
"We intend to put more pressure on government as we intend to have a mass movement right here in this yard.”
Khoisan activists camped at the Union Buildings for more than seven months will not go anywhere and are determined to multiply in numbers.
Leader Chief Khoisan SA told Rekord on Tuesday that the group “intend to put more pressure on government as we intend to have a mass movement right here in this yard”.
He said it seemed that the government did not want to engage them hence pressure had to be applied.
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He said a date for the new arrivals had yet to be determined but the year would not end without them.
“We are looking to have a mass movement in September heading towards November,” he said.
Chief Khoisan SA said he wanted his people to gather up the funds for transport costs to Pretoria.
He said people would come from all areas of South Africa to camp at the buildings until they were heard.
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This comes after the chief did not accept the Traditional Khoisan and Leadership Amendment Bill, which was passed in the National Council of Provinces on Thursday 10 January as it did not recognise the Khoisan as the first nation of South Africa.
The chief and a group of men walked from Port Elizabeth in Eastern Cape and have camped at the Union Buildings near the Nelson Mandela statue since 30 November demanding an audience with President Cyril Ramaphosa to discuss a memorandum they submitted to the government last year.
Ramaphosa promised to respond to their grievances when he received the memorandum almost a year ago, but to date, has not met with them.
The Khoisan community said they wanted formal recognition of their language and be declared the first people in South Africa.
“The bill does not put the emphasis on land and we are saying as the first nation the land belongs to us,” he said.
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“The bill also does not talk about the issues that we brought forward when we first came in 2017. The issue of first nation status, our language that we want to be official.”
They also object to being called coloured.
“We are not coloured, we are all South Africans,” said Chief Khoisan SA.
“The bill does not talk about coloured identity, although we are called Khoi Khoi or San. But still, in government documents, we are called coloureds.”
He said the bill needed to be scrapped.
“The traditional house has been engaging with the Khoisan leaders for years now because they also want to be part to be of the traditional house but we are saying to them we are not traditional leaders we are indigenous leaders,” he said.
“The bill stipulates that there is a five-year period where the chiefs can then be chiefs so we are saying this is not politics. This is indigenous.”
They said they were not going anywhere even if it meant they had to stay at the Union Buildings for 1 000 years until matters were resolved.
The group has been sleeping in tents but admitted to battling the cold since their blankets had been damaged.
The chief has asked good Samaritans to donate food and especially blankets to them.
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