Welcome to the ‘Aweh Bushie’ Blog page brought to you by the Taaibosch Koranna Royal House. This is where we will be discussing issues our communities encounter daily. The issues we’ll tackle are our Identity, Heritage, our culture including languages, food we eat, and other socio-economic struggles.

We’re also going to talk about actions being taken to restore our indigenous people’s dignity, their ownership of land and basic needs which are:

· Lack of housing- in particular, non-provision……. lack of and exclusion

· Lack of development in our communities, especially of our youth who are excluded from further education and tertiary education

· Lack of business opportunities and employment

However, this, our second blog, is about an interesting experience at the first-ever event of The Pan African Cultural Experience, #TPACE, which was held over three days: 11, 12 & 13 December 2019. We, the Taaibosch Koranna Royal House, were invited to this first-ever Pan African Cultural Experience, which was held at the Freedom Park Heritage site in Pretoria where we attended the first and second day.

Day One, 11 December 2019, was the inaugural launch of TPACE, an event that will be held annually in different countries of our continent, meaning each country will be afforded a turn to host this cultural experience. This 3-day event was structured into exhibitions of, food, language, indigenous plants, cultural parades, and fashion shows as well as research and dialogue demonstrated by a panel of experts including Keith Duarte representing the Khoisan.

On arrival at the Freedom Park Heritage site we met with multi-coloured exhibits and displays from the different African countries. Our senses were heightened by the smells of these different indigenous foods that were displayed as well as the scent of medicinal plants and burning incense.

In this instance the Khoi indigenous plants and herbs took pride of place spread over three tables. The tables also displayed Impala skins, used for clothing, paintings done by the Khoisan and beads which are specially made to a person’s specifications, particularly that a story is told by the dots burnt into each bead.

Day one was also the Opening Ceremony which commenced with the introduction of the different cultural groups in Africa as a whole. The Khoisan were given a special welcome because the intention was to focus on introducing an indigenous cultural group that hadn’t received any recognition and acknowledgment in a long time, as Paramount Chief Glen Taaibosch intimated in his speech. There were various dances performed by the Swazis and then the Khoisan and the group Umoja also entertained guests with their outstanding moves of flips, splits and headstands.

The Paramount Chief, of the Taaibosch Koranna Royal House, was one of the keynote speakers. His focus speech was about origins, DNA and current race classifications. He pleaded with Africans to stop calling us coloured, to stop the xenophobia, since the term coloured is derogatory- meaning we are nothing. He admitted that we are brown in colour, but that we are not coloured. Rather, he said, he would prefer to be called boesman.

The Paramount Chief’s punchline was that the classification of indigenous cultural groups should be stopped. He further used an analogy by comparing a black leather bag and a white sheet of paper to the colour of a human being’s skin. He said a white person could be called pink but not white and there is no person with black skin like the black leather bag, but rather, really dark brown.

He emphasised his point about race classification when he played a recording on his phone, where the speaker said that the Ngunis refer to the Zimbabweans, Malawians and any Sub-Saharan nation as ‘Makwerekweres’, (foreigners), when in fact, the Ngunis are the ‘Makwerekweres’, because they are not indigenous to South Africa.

The speaker further said that the Khoi and the San were found here and welcomed foreign groups and even inter-married with them and are therefore the oldest and first indigenous cultural group in South Africa.

The Paramount Chief added that, the so-called coloureds, especially in Eldorado Park, have been fighting for housing, because with all the RDP developments that have been built over the past 25 years, not even one was built in Eldorado Park.

The point the Paramount Chief was driving is, if we are the first indigenous nation of South Africa, why are we so marginalized! At the end of his speech, the Paramount Chief politely excused himself because he had to catch a flight to attend a scheduled Khoisan Summit in Genadendal.

Some of the highlights of day one was the various types of indigenous foods that people displayed. Among the foods were mopane worms, edible insects and strange-looking miniature fish as well as fufu, which is a staple food common in many countries in West Africa and Central Africa.

Fufu is believed to have originated in modern-day Ghana and is commonly made by pounding starchy food crops such as cassava, yam, plantain and others with hot water. These were all free for tasting and sampling, but the most popular of the foods were the fruit juices such as ginger beer laced with lemongrass and freshly squeezed mulberry juice and rice pancakes, fried in a self-made wok pan with individual cups.

On day two and three, there were exhibitions of the attire of different cultural groups, including a fashion parade and show. Over the three days, the research and dialogue panels were held daily, to discuss language and culture and to find out how the different indigenous groups have adapted to modern day life and how it has changed the way we speak, eat and dress.

The entire 3-day TPACE experience was an eye-opener, that we, as the first indigenous nation must claim our legal rightful position in South Africa, must acknowledge our unique identity because we need to stand together in solidarity and unity. We must take pride in our origins which is right here in South Africa. It made us aware that we have the human right to be accepted and given complete recognition.

Written by: Annette Dippenaar & Bobbie

Photography: Katherine Muick