Let history not repeat itself
COUNCILLOR Yagyah Adams can find the explanation to “Our political history …” (Cape Argus, Tuesday, June 25) in the book Bastaards or … Humans: the Unspoken Heritage of Coloured People written by Dr Ruben Richards (of Khoisan ancestry).
That the councillor claims
“it started centuries ago … when a Dutchman …” is historically incorrect. Long before the Dutch arrived here (about 1647 and not 1652 as stated in our history books), the Portuguese visited our shores, with Bartholomew Diaz being shipwrecked in Mossel Bay in 1488 not respecting Khoisan cultural protocol.
In 1510, Viceroy De Almeida and his crew were defeated in the Battle of Salt River by the local Khoisan community (Gorinhaiqua). The abuse, rape and plunder that the councillor is referring to has laid the foundation for gangsterism that is still plaguing our country today. Similarly, the exploitation of Khoisan women is still haunting us in the form of Gender-Based Violence (GBV).
The councillor seems to be harsh in saying that most of our political leaders are not ethical or righteous people. All of us have a past and need to repent of our wrongdoings and do what is right as law-abiding citizens. The healing of the generational trauma our people have suffered, cannot be left in the hands of politicians. On April 27, 2024, the Foundation Nation Restoration (an organisation my wife and I started to restore the rights of the Khoisan people) already engaged other organisations to assist our communities in dealing with our past in order to have a brighter future.
Referring to the “genocide of the Palestinians” is a clear indication that the councillor lacks historical knowledge. Our own indigenous people have been subjected to genocide for centuries and this has been acknowledged by former presidents of the Republic.
Former President Thabo Mbeki in his “I am an African” speech in 1996 said that he owed his being to the Khoi and the San who fell victim to the most merciless genocide our native land has ever seen.
Former President Jacob Zuma said in his State of the Nation speech in 2012 that the Khoisan people were the most brutalised by colonialists who tried to make them extinct and that we cannot ignore to correct the past.
To help move the country forward, we need to do first things first:
Acknowledge that the Khoisan were the first people to be brutally dispossessed and should be given back that which was stolen from them.
President Ramaphosa must understand that “charity begins at home” and “Palestine can only be free when the Khoisan is free.”
To rescue this country, those who benefited from apartheid, separate development and racial segregation must pay a restitution tax (which is biblical by the way, Exodus 34:7) CLIVE SOLOMON | Tygerdal