kagablog

Picture a society where men, women and children were bought, mortgaged, sold, transferred, bequeathed, or rented out as commodities. Such was the situation at the Cape in the early 1800s for those that were born into bondage or captured to become slaves.

In the 1820s a Cape Town newspaper called the South African Chronicle and Mercantile Advertiser carried English and Dutch adver¬tisements for items as diverse as ponies, properties, casks of butter, flannel shirts, tallow candles, hymn books - and slaves. The columns for 1825 and 1826 provide a taste of what it was like to be a human chattel.

Adverts.JPG

Mrs Sleigh informs the public that among her slaves who are to be sold, she can recommend to any genteel English or Dutch family, two African female slaves: one named Martha (good tempered), aged 23, who is a capital nurse[maid], milliner, lady’s maid, pleats and irons well, and can do housework in general; the other, named Lea (good tempered, and perfectly white), who is a wet nurse, with three fine children, the eldest seven years old. She is also a capital nurse[maid], lady’s maid, milliner, laundress, and can do house work in general; both are cooks. They have excellent characters, and having served Mrs Sleigh attentively and obediently, it is hoped they may be disposed of to a genteel and kind family.

For private sale, some clever baker boys; also a clever gardener and coachman -ot parted with on account of any fault, but because their master has no further employment for them.’

Ran away, about 14 days ago, an old Malay slave named April, about sixty ears of age, and turns his large toes inwards. Whoever apprehends said slave, and will lodge him in the Tronk, shall receive 15 Rixdollars reward. Those harbouring him will be prosecuted.’

Wanted to hire, a slave girl of good character, who understands plain needle¬work and getting up linen.’
Ran away, from the house No 58, Loop-street, a male slave, dressed in a blue jersey jacket, nankeen trowsers, and had a red hand-kerchief round his head. It is supposed he may have gone to the country with a false pass, which he has done twice before.’

To let, a healthy wet nurse. Apply to JJ Steytler, Green Point.’

For sale, a clever housemaid, with her three male children, the eldest of whom is about 15, one 11, the other 9 years old. The first has been employed for welve months as a mason.’

Sale by the Sequestrator to this Government … the slaves July, Fytje of Mozambique, Sabina, Rosina, Fytje, Delia, Rachel, and Fortuin of the Cape … Said slaves, comprising one family, will first be put up separately, and afterwards as one lot, when in the event of their yielding more at the separate bidding, the persons making that offer will become the purchasers.’

Jek of Mosambique, aged about 27 years, is for sale, owing to his disobedience: a farmer will have the preference.’

For sale, the slave maid Regina of the Cape … She is an excellent washer, ironer, cook, and housemaid, and would be found very useful on a farm. The purchase money may remain 3 years on interest if required.’

A Mozambique slave boy, about 30 years of age, well worthy of the attention of any gentleman requiring a very fine wholesome young man, in perfect good health, will be sold at Mr Reeve’s Commission Sales… He is a plain cook and a house servant, and a complete master of all agricultural business.

Prior to the opening of the first savings bank at the Cape in 1837, people with modest amounts of capital often lived off their investment in human bondage. Elderly people and widows would hire slaves out to other people by the month and use the money to buy the necessities of life. Artisans and wet nurses commanded good wages and were always in demand, but girls of 14 were sent out to care for children and do plain needlework, and slave children were farmed out to save their owners the expense of maintaining them.

Quotations from Echoes of Slavery by Jackie Loos - David Philip publishers 2004

this article first appeared here

DISTRICT SIX MUSEUM - Buitenkant Street, Cape Town SAT 6 JUNE 2009 @ 6pm

Khoi Khonnexion (Jethro Louw - poetry, Glen Arendse and Garth Erasmus - indigenous instruments) has been performing in Cape Town for ten years, during which time they have risen to the forefront of the First Nation arts movement in South Africa. Their live performances feature trance-inducing improvisations on homemade instruments inspired by indigenous models, and dramatic recitations of original poetry by “The Ghetto Poet,” Jethro Louw.

In their workshops, they have worked with at-risk youth and adults from all backgrounds to find a source of healing in the musical heritage of Southern Africa. Now, with their first full-length album release, Kalahari Waits, they explore new creative territory while raising funds for the Basarwa San in the Kalahari Desert, who were trampled and pushed aside when diamonds were found in their government-sanctioned homeland in Botswana.

The self-released album, a collaboration with American producer Nate May, follows the sun across the sky with indigenous sounds, loops, field recordings, and poetry that wrestles with Khoisan identity in the modern world.

The release party, on Saturday, 6 June at 18h00 in the District Six Museum in Cape Town, will feature a performance by the group and a guest artist. CDs will be on sale [R100], as will handmade T-Shirts by the prominent visual artist and Khoi Khonnexion member Garth Erasmus.

Many runaway slaves, known as Drosters, were given refuge by San, Khoi, and Xhosa communities. Research shows that the San and Khoi had familial unions with the Xhosa, Europeans, Slaves and other African peoples, of which children were born, and thus have had an indelible affect on us all. Most particularly Coloured and Xhosa people have a strong relationship and shared bloodlines with the San and the Khoi which ought to be celebrated. Many Coloured people and Xhosa people are a strong part San and Khoi.

Heritage however, is not just about bloodlines, the past or ancient. It is also about the here and now. We cannot fully celebrate our Khoi and San heritage if we do not open our ears to the direct voice of the surviving San and Khoi people free of the array of interpreters. We also need to take cognisance of the painful history of the San and Khoi. History clearly demonstrates that the San and the Khoi were persecuted, exploited and raped by every other group in South Africa and this has had a devastating effect on the direct descendant clans who are part of our South African nation-in-the-making today. We need to set aside the mythologies that we labour under and the filters through which we see the San and Khoi. We need to recognise and respect the role of indigenous knowledge passed on by the San and Khoi. For those of us who have amongst our forbears, San and Khoi, though not part of the surviving clans, we ought to show pride of recognition.

Much has been written about the San and the Khoi (Quena) from the perspectives of archaeology, anthropology, ethnology and museology. In recent years some of these external perspectives have shifted in emphasis to the spirituality and shamanism of the San in particular.

The general tendency of all of these external approaches over the years, conservative and liberal, has been to create overlays on San and Khoi culture based on European understanding and processing of information. Regardless of intentions this has resulted in a tendency to impose interpretation, objectify, antiquate, ridicule, and at other times to romanticise, make exotic and create a curiosity out of this important South African ancestral heritage. The San and Khoi are artificially separated from other African peoples almost as if they were alien to the latter simply because of different histories and modes of living. Historically the halls of learning placed emphasis on the aggression shown to the San and Khoi by other African peoples, to bolster arguments of white possession of the land on the Southern tip of Africa. This also in a perverted manner allowed the papering over of a number of periods of wanton genocide by settler militias and the great scourge of smallpox introduced by European ships.

It is important that all South Africans, black and white, acknowledge all of our historic interactions with each other including roles in the violence meted out against the San and Khoi. We also need to recognise that there has been little mention or exploration of eras of successful coexistence and integration between the San, Khoi and other African peoples. For many South Africans the San and the Khoi should occupy pride of place as our most respected heritage line, and for this to occur, we all need to be able to reconnect.

In popular discourse the San are often thought of as a Cape-based people or amongst others they are thought of as having just been a people that lived in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. However hundreds of sites of San habitation can be found as far as northern Angola in the West, Kenya in the East and throughout Southern Africa. The San or abaThwa and the Khoi or Quena, also referred to as Bushmen and Hottentots, have many wonderful clan names that most South Africans do not know. The names that we use are those given to the San and Khoi by others. There is so much to discover about this ancestral heritage that many of us share. There is also much pain that can be uncovered that continues to be visited upon the direct surviving descendant clans of the San and Khoi today. Spread over a number of Southern African countries the San component now number less than 100,000 people many of whom have emerged from a long state of ‘living underground’ within other communities.Perhaps the greatest thing that we can do is open our ears and hearts to listen to their tales.

There are those who question the ‘purity’ of such clans. To them I say that concepts of ‘purity’ are utter tripe. San group survival passed through many fires and assimilation into other groups was one of these fires, yet the identity was kept alive and it is the right of all descendants to express their identity preference and the cultural activity they hold dear. Some will express that San and Khoi identity is part of their identity and others will express that it is their whole identity. Those who have expressed themselves in the latter have continued to have a distinct experience which in modern times is still hallmarked by abuse and pain inflicted by others. Today these communities are standing up and saying that they refuse to accept continued victimisation nor to be defined simply in terms of victimisation or external curiosity.

The pain of the past and present calls on us all to give attention to the required healing, which could start by celebrating the ‘ties that bind us’. This means that we need to look at the San and Khoi through different eyes. Much of what we know, comes to us from European and academic voices, some opinionated and others facilitative and interpretative. The oral histories of black South Africa and most particularly of the direct descendants of the San and Khoi should also be heard as these will make a major impact on our perspectives of the past and present. There is now a new generation of literatures that amplifies these voices and the many untold stories which expose us to the links that we have with each other. More importantly is the voices of the San and Khoi clans who are still crying out to be heard.

What then are the Xhosa bonds with the San and Khoi?

The san and Khoi have a special place in Xhosa heritage for the Xhosa are part San and Khoi themselves. The name Xhosa is the name ‘//kosa’ meaning ‘angry men’ given originally to a small Nguni clan by the San some time in the 1500s. From the lineage of Mnguni and Xhosa came King Cirha who was overthrown by Tshawe. In the time of King Tshawe a process was set in motion whereby the amaTshawe would spread the Xhosa kingdom by bringing San, Khoi and other independent Nguni clans under a loose confederal Tshawe authority.

In this process the clicks of the Khoi languages were introduced into the Xhosa language and many inter-marriages took place. The Xhosa word for the Christian God, uThixo is a Khoi word which originates from a folk hero of the Namaquas who was said to have extraordinary powers. Intermarriage and a sharing of cultures with the San and Khoi were widespread amongst the Xhosa with many Royals intermarrying. The Gonaqua, Damaqua and Hoengiqua Khoi were not displaced from their ancient homes but simply were incorporated into ‘Xhosadom’ with full rights. Together with the Xhosa, the Khoi and San fought colonial expansion during the frontier wars. Their efforts were joined by runaway slaves and even a few non-conformist European settlers who assimilated into Xhosa society.

History books were silent on the non-conformist Boers, Free Slaves and Khoi clans who fought on the side of the Xhosa during the Frontier Wars which raged for over a century.

patric tariq mellet

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