The "coloured people" is the official South African term for the country's mixed descent inhabitants. They are the third largest population group in the country and today number just over three million. The Coloureds (as they are commonly called) live primarily in the Western Cape. Subcultures exist within the broad grouping: Cape Coloureds, Griquas and Cape Malays.
The coloured community has diverse origins. The Dutch colonials began importing slaves from as early as 1658. They came from elsewhere in Africa and from some of the islands of the Indian and Atlantic oceans. It was inevitable that admixtures were to follow. The Khoikhoi, Xhosa and white man added their own progeny over the decades. The Cape Malay has Indian, Arab, Malagasy, Chinese and Malay blood. These people are held together by their religion. They live mostly in Cape Town. The Griquas, who have a strong sense of identity, live in the Northern Cape. They are descended from Khoikhoi and white ancestors who met 200 years ago.
Coloureds were traditionally fishermen, farm labourers and servants. Today, many still live on farms, as farm labourers and in rural settlements. However, a large number of this community has begun to take their rightful places in politics, commerce, industry, education and the arts. Coloured folklore and music has become an integral part of the cultural scene in South Africa
In general and in cultural terms, there is very little to distinguish the coloured people from South Africans of European origin. Formal race classification seem to be unjust. Some 87% of coloured people are Christian; they are mostly bilingual, although Afrikaans is their first language.
The coloured people were rather closely integrated into the Cape community. But in the 1950's they were removed from the voters' roll. Their residential areas became legally delineated in terms of the Group Areas Act.
New, soulless towns were built for the natural increase in population, such as Mitchell's Plain and the Cape Flats. In the 1970's the famed District Six, the heart of the coloured community in Cape Town was sadly demolished.
Today all suburbs are effectively multiracial, but the racial lines still remain
I think the whole racial concept that South Africans had or have is ridiculous. Simply disgusting that people are segregated because of skin tone. What a bunch of nonsense.
Posted by: LEILA
There is a new documentary film out in the USA called I'm Not Black, I'm Coloured - Identity Crisis at the Cape of Good Hope. This film explores the legacy of Apartheid from the viewpoint of the Cape Coloured. Accurate history dating back to 1600's up to today. Released 2009.
Posted by: Mara
As a Cape coloured myself people in other countries fail to see that for most people in the Cape whether coloured or white we are mostly Afrikaans speaking Christians who have a language that formed due to the intermarrying between white protestant indentured servants (slaves who could buy their freedom), Khoi (indigenous Southern Africans), and slaves mostly from Malay/Indonesia, India, and some blacks too.
On a day to day basis even under apartheid most white and coloured people could relate culturally and linguistically. The black Xhosa people who were moved en masse to the Western Cape in the early 90's by the ANC, and even before that a century ago under British rule, had completely different agricultural, cultural and linguistic history. The Afrikaans speaking peoples (coloureds and whites) of the Western Cape and Northern Cape are more indigenous to these provinces than the black peoples of the rest of South Africa.
They were forced together into one nation in 1910 by the British. Most foreigners don't know that we were in the Cape first.
Posted by: Jack
I am a 26 year old coloured in Cape Town. And am proud of who and what I am does not matter how coloureds started. I've experienced that coloureds are often being mocked about not knowing what they really are - but that is not true as others don't want to accept our heritage.
But at the end of the day what's going to make you a better and bigger person is not going to be based on the colour of your skin - but what type of human being you are. So basically what makes us black, white, coloured , is not the colour on the outside but the perception we have about ourselves.
It is difficult to look beyond the colour of the skin but at the end of the day there is more to life, especially in todays world.
Posted by: Malika
In my opinion, we coloureds are just another type of Afrikaner for the most part. I know of so many coloureds in the Northern Cape and rural Western Cape who are very proud of speaking and preserving their language--Afrikaans. I know that white and coloured Afrikaans speaking people date each other fairly easily and are more or less similar culturally and historically.
Posted by: Bob
I have written a book So-Called Coloured and African. I hope it will help with this issue.
Posted by: Simon Seekoei
We need to stop using the term 'African' as a word to describe the Bantu (black) ethnic groups of the eastern part of the country. African means you are from a part of the African continent. An Afrikaans-speaking (white or coloured) person is more African in the Western or Northern Cape than a black would be there because they lived there first. Caucasian Berbers are more African in North Africa than a black. An Afrikaans-speaking person is more African than anyone else when in the Cape and a Zulu is more African than anyone else when in Kwa-Zulu. The term African cannot denote blacks only. Coloureds are more Southern African In the western third of this country through into southern Namibia - not blacks. Stop the British talk of using African for black.
Posted by: Reegan
We need to stop using the term 'African' as a word to describe the Bantu(black) ethnic groups of the eastern part of the country. African means you are from a part of the African continent. An Afrikaans-speaking(white or coloured) person is more African in the Western or Northern Cape than a black would be there because they lived there first. caucasian Berbers are more African in North Africa than a black. An Afrikaans-speaking person is more African than anyone else when in the Cape and a Zulu is more African than anyone else when in Kwa-Zulu. THE TERM AFRICAN CANNOT DENOTE BLACKS ONLY. COLOUREDS ARE MORE SOUTHERN AFRICAN IN THE WESTERN THIRD OF THIS COUNTRY THROUGH INTO SOUTHERN NAMIBIA NOT BLACKS. STOP THE BRITISH TALK OF USING AFRICAN FOR BLACK.
Posted by: Reegan
I always hear many Coloureds say that they hate the whites that came and settled in South Africa so many years ago... But then I think to myself, if they had not done that, then the Coloured community would not exist. It is the mixture of the white person and the black person that created the Coloured community. So you why not accept where you come from and stop hating either black or white - because you are the sum of that, and just be a human being. As a once great man said, "Don't judge a person by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character." Look at what a person does, not what they look like. We all have one thing in common that cannot separate or segregate - we are all human beings.
Posted by: Norm
I agree with Norm. We must remember that the company rulers of the VOC (Dutch East India Company) were always based out of Europe and it enriched the trade between Europe and the East, but the white "employees" (indentured servants A.K.A slaves who could buy their freedom), were brought to the Cape and from the earliest records of the Cape they were looked down on by the Dutch colonial rulers and were oppressed too. Only a 35 to 40 percent of the whites brought to the Cape as indentured servants were of Dutch/Flemish origin. The rest were educated French Huguenots escaping persecution as well as German protestants. Many white people in the early days of the Cape intermarried with the Khoi, Malays, Indians, etc... The Griquas were actually the first independent Afrikaans-speaking nation that came into existence by white trekboers who paid for their freedom and joined the Khoi Gourinqua people, later known as Griquas. The white farm labourers and Khoi peoples easily integrated into the first Afrikaans speaking peoples because there were similar agricultural traditions such as the house being in the center of the cattle lands. Clan leadership (die Raad) based on a leader they respected as opposed to the Bantu tradition of loyalty to a chief who simply inherited his role. It was 60 years after the founding of Cape Town that there became more of a distinction between mixed Afrikaans speakers and white ones. Either groups; however, were discriminated against on the basis of language by first the VOC and then the British colonial government.
Posted by: Kobus
According to my history knowledge the coloured was a mixture between white and so called Bushman or Khoisan and not really between black and white.
But nobody can really say or claim with authority that there were no black/African people in the Western Cape as when Jan the man came to Cape Town. He spend his time in the coastal side as for him to travel to places outside the Cape and visits could have taken months.
Mean while black/African people could've lived happily in places as slaves /workers or travelers without any knowledge that Jan has arrived and he is chasing the Khoisan woman on Camps Bay and also the fact that the most important thing to them was to survive in a hostile area on a day to day basis.
Posted by: Laurel Andrews
There were a few true black slaves from the earliest records of the VOC. They were bought from Portuguese in West Africa. They were sent to the Cape and intermarried with the Malays, whites and Khoisan that they didn't have an impact on the Afrikaans language or foods.
These black slaves were by far the minority of slaves in comparison to the large Malay and Indian components. They did leave their trace in the genes of some very dark coloureds.
In any case even black tribes in Zululand, Transkei, Venda, etc.., had their respective lands and only after the Boer war did the British bring large scale numbers of Nguni to the Transvaal to work in the mines. Namibia south of Windhoek and South western Botswana were also home to the KhoiSan. There was a recent court battle in Botswana about San's claim to land.
In any case, the Khoisan and whites did so much interbreeding / intermarrying that the Afrikaans language can definitely be at it's earliest period due to this fact.
Posted by: Kurt
The Europeans brainwashed a lot of people. I wish that the way of thinking of Apartheid may diminish from most of the Cape Town People. An African is a person of African Origin. If I can go to Europe, I will still tell my kids that they are Africans, that they must never feel better than the Africans cause that is what defines them. Even if they mix with European blood in the future on present.
Africa is their home and identity. If you do not speak one African Language, how do you even start to argue when you ask yourself in the mirror "Am I African?".
One day I am greeting someone who looks more African and his lady replied "I do not understand what you are speaking, can't you see I am coloured?". That came as a shock to me. I told her she must learn, and she replied she do not want to learn any "black language" meaning African language.
Even this term used here is very questionable! In South Africa you say you are "not black" Why don't you say you are not "white"? .....
Posted by: Brad
You know, I think that the coloureds in our country are still trying to find their identity, there are a lot of stereotypes on coloureds, read all your comments, some of you expect coloureds to be a certain way. Blacks expect us to speak their languages. Black and whites have always sought to use us as a medium - we're in the middle of the queue, but the world is changing. There are a large number of coloureds in actual fact all across the globe, most speak different languages have different beliefs, how will you define us when that day comes. One things for sure, racial stereotypes will be put to question. You'd have to judge a man by the content of his character because skin colour won't matter then.
Posted by: Elly
All this talk about coloureds and where its we come from or rather how the coloured race was "created" (the white master and his black servant). There are so many theories. Being a coloured myself I say we have evidence about our heritage & or culture, lets act on it because its true many coloured people do have an identity crisis. So we - the entire coloured community - remain stagnant, cause some of us aren't sure were we belong or are happy with the mundane & stereotypical view points others make about us.
The colour of your skin does not determine your place in society, it's you yourself, your mind set & the ambition you have that determines how others view you and which social, economical, financial circles you want to be part of.
Posted by: Sherwin
Sou almal in China Engels moet begin praat...sal daar nog 'n China oor wees in 200 jaar?
Ek praat die way ek praat, leef die way ek leef, gaan kerk, drink bier/braai/, is mal om Tafelberg vanaf die see te aanskou (en daar's baie Capetonians wat nog nooit daai beleef het nie ).
Djy kan my ma noem wat djy wil!
EK'S PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN!
.. en as jy wil colour he....gaan kry vir jou 'n blikke paint!!
Posted by: Deon
I would like to say where do I belong? I don't even think children on the Cape Flats knows from where they are coming from. I'm living in Belhar and they think its a sin to live there. I am an Coloured and proud to be 1! Where did Kobus and Norm get their information from? Don't they know their history? Lauren Andrews I totally agree with you, we don't come from blacks and whites.
Posted by: JANENE DOOLING
It is good that there are a coloured people in South Africa. And it is ok that they are still call coloured, as long as themselves wanted too. The coloured people are a mixed-race people. And there are many mixed-race people around the world. There is nothing new under the sun! There are also now growing up many mix races in Europe. So I believe it is the people for the future. Let's be thankful for what God have blessed us with! Sandra (mixed-race woman in Norway)
Posted by: Sandra
I cannot speak a word of Afrikaans. I'm born from a white and a Zulu, therefore I cannot be labeled as a Griqua, cape Malay or a cape coloured. I do not come from the cape, but I am coloured.
Posted by: graham
Hi guys, I've read all your comments, interesting! I might add. I agree with some of you. Being coloured myself I have only this to say. You define who You are; no one else! I find it frustrating that my people have no respect for themselves and respect for others. We are wonderful people and the most beautiful. Don't you know that you have what no other group of people in this world have: you are of mixed race! Glorious aint it. No-one can define you or druk jou in 'n hoekie nie. Because you are bold, fabulous and Coloured!! Say it with me: I am Coloured and fabulous!!!! God define who I am, what I am and how He wants me to be. God bless!
Posted by: Angelene
The decription of the coloured community in the lead article which describes the community as traditionaly fisherman and servants, leaves a bad impression and should be re-written. The government and various state bodies quite freely refer to the coloured people as coloured. I acknowledge that we are part of the black community and have no problem with this description, having been a political activist myself.
Over the past few years since democracy our communities, youth, schools and job opportunities have systematically neglected and opportunities kept away from us. Included in this is the ongoing description that coloured communities are gangster and drug riddin, is not true. It is no different in white, indian and black working class communities.
What I see today of how my ANC government is letting our communities slip into uncontrolled lawlessness is no different to what the Nats did to all of our areas.
May I just add that the book written by a lady from western does not record all the great people that has emerged from western. The area produced more doctors, lawyers, detist than many more previlaged areas has, so please lets not knock ourselves. we must always always ensure that we comtextualise our statements.
When youth are told at job interviews , sorry no coloureds "ons soek 'n darkie", then please do not blame anyone but the system for this new racism. When our kids are told at university that bursaries must go to blacks because coloured and indians did no suffer under apartheid, who is to blame for the genesis of the new racism.
What is needed is for the coloured community, is the recording of the history, cultural habits, food preferences such as potjie kos, blatjangs, etc. Most importantly our language Afrikaans that has been hijacked by the boer community.The Koran that has been written in Afrikaans etc. This history is not taught in schools, why not?
We must now stop hagling about coloured etc, we need to have the conversation, write and correct the history books to include it in its rightful place.
And lets us remember it was not just Mandela and his small group of friends that fought for liberation.
Posted by: Zietgeist
I visited Cape Town in 2001/2002 and the people I met who some may call Cape Coloureds, Bruinmense, etc.. are in my opinion just the hidden Afrikaner. Hidden because most people in the world don't know that Afrikaans was created by Dutch intermarrying with Khoisan and Malay. Cape Coloureds I know are proudly Afrikaans for the most part. All Afrikaners are actually mixed. "Coloured" doesn't refer to language or tradition. A lot of confusion would be solved if you just referred to yourselves as Afrikaners. I stayed in white and coloured Afrikaans speaking homes and experienced the same hospitality, language, and cuisine. What's the difference?
Posted by: Chris
Zietgeist; I have to disagree with you saying the Boer community hijacked our language. This is not so. First form of Afrikaans was reffered to as bastard Dutch, deriving from Dutch but a lesser form which the "white" inhabitants (boere mense) of South Africa started forming or speaking & which is the Afrikaans that is spoken today, by the boer community.
And we as coloured people can today attribute Afrikaans has part of our culture.
I do however agree with you on the fact that wasn't just Mandela & his small group that fought for liberation, or defeated the apartheid regime as some like to believe.
But end of the day in my opinion the coloured people are long way from knowing our own history & heritage, mainly because a lot of us are lazy & just fence sitters easily swayed by what the majority says. But in the same breath we are unique & a beautiful race of people & many of us are hard working & have accomplished a lot for ourselves (top businesmen & women,) our respective communities (community centres & out reach programs) & this country (host country for 2010 world cup).
Posted by: Sherwin
To Chris, I am not at all like an Afrikaner. Just because they took our language (Khoi) and gave us their Dutch does not mean I am an Afrikaner. I am Proudly Coloured that is born from the loins of the Khoi, San people. We, as "coloured" people need to stop being ashamed, we rather want to identify with the white in us, then the Khoi and San.
I am sick and tired of Anglo-Saxon, Western Imperialistic Ideologies that want to study my people, and then tell us what we about. I agree with Zietgeist, Mandala and the now super famous people are not the only one who fought for this countries liberation. What about people like Cissy Gool, Adam Small.... We are taking our identity back, and not black or white people will tell me who I am... Our time to rise and shine has come, we have amazing gifts, we can sing, dance, act, we have the most colourful personalities of all the races in SA.
The Khoi and San are the First Nations of South Africa. Let's know our History and pass it on. My children will know their heritage, and Will not be ashamed. It is disgusting that only in 1998, The Bushmen were recognised as the First Nations of this country by the United Nations. Let's Educate ourselves as Coloured, know your roots. We are not defined by what the media reports about us.
Posted by: Jojo
I am disgusted at some of the remarks that I have just read, as a so called labeled coloured person have to agree and disagree with some of the comments made by some of you. I remember growing up in the best country amongst the best people. We did not question our grandparents or parents as to why we had blue eyes. Why some of us were fairer than others. Just put 2and 2 together and you'll get the answer.
We are the result of a white mans lust for a coloured woman over time I would suggest from about 400 years ago who cares? All I know is that I am ever sorry that I helped bring down apartheid - want to know why? When I hear how my people in Cape Town are suffering by the hands of the black man in a city that was and is rightfully ours ( mixed race/ coloured ) than African race.
Stop the carnage - we helped fight yet now we are the ones who are suffering. I say kick the intruders out. The Africans who want to argue that Cape Town is theirs. They do not belong there & we want Cape Town back. I helped fight for their freedom and now I am sorry I did. My beautiful people from the Cape flats and all the suburbs of Cape Town with our great culture gone to the dogs. We were and are the heart of the land.
Lets get together and fight for what is rightfully ours. If any white south Africans want to join us, they are more than welcome so can some Africans who would by now be mad to vote those evils in and if any intruder want to know why I am saying this is because I have been living overseas for 33 years and have seen my city ( Cape Town) going from the best and safest city in the world to the most dangerous. And all because of the Africans greed which he has now obtained and stolen from us and that is my beef. I want my city back let them take the rest. Anyone interested?
Posted by: Marge
Do you think we should put it to a vote, we do have strong claims to do just that, don't we? Any other takers? Cape Town after all has for a long time been known to house a majority of mixed raced people. So why aren't they in power? Is it because nobody cared to ask who those beautiful multicultural people, with the beautiful smiles on there faces were, and who were now out of jobs and being treated like third class citizens by the black man of South Africa, can you see the stupidity in all of this.
Do they know that the very people who are helping with are coloured people (Opera Winfrey) for one what will they say to her. Sorry Opera you are of mixed race so could you please keep those dollars to yourself. Zimbabwe went to the dogs and if we don't do something soon the same will happen to Cape Town. We have to act fast to bring back the law and order; the tramway and golden arrow bus service to put people back in jobs; get rid of the unroadworthy cars that call them self taxis. Any comments would be most welcome.
Posted by: Maxine
The reality is this, coloured people (my people) are as much a part of South Africa as any other group of people. The other reality is that whether you are black, coloured, purple, white, pink (some white people are) or blue, we are a united South Africa, whether we like it or not, let's stop fighting it.
I wasn't old enough to understand what Apartheid felt like and mainly because my parents shielded me from that but I thank everyone and anyone who had any part to play in crushing that cruel system. Today, everyone has the right to live how they want, where they want and achieve whatever they want, I'm living proof of that.
To the person named Marge, you have been living overseas for 33 years, you are no longer South African in my eyes. You have forsaken our country when we needed you the most. You don't have the right to call Cape Town yours, you left when great coloured people like Ashley Kriel, Anton Fransch and the Gugulethu 7 gave up their lives to pave a bright future for myself and my future kids.
What I do believe is that we need to come together as a nation and continue to fight this struggle. The struggle hasn't stopped, the easy part is done, now to rebuild our identities, rebuild what was taken away from us. Many people has said this and in my opinion is the greatest thing ever said, Apartheid wasn't a physical segregation, it was a mental segregation.
If we can rebuild the damage it done to us mentally, South Africa will be unstoppable. I am coloured, yes I am in a racialist society and I live my life according to coloured customs, but I have South African blood running through my veins in a truly free society.
Posted by: Morne
My eyes are blue and light as my mother and grandmother, but I am not white or coloured. My uncle is coloured while my mother is black/african and I am more lighter than most coloureds I have seen in Brackenfell and Upington.
I had the opportunity of asking my grandmother about this things and funny enough most mothers became mothers unwillingly. I also had an opportunity to be part of Bonteheuwel Military Wing and operated in Nyanga east to Paarl.My mother choose to be black than to be a second class citizen during apartheid and I was among those who were prefaring to be the third class citizens than to think I am white while I am not. If you want lead you can lead, Trevor Manuel,Allan Boesak ect came from the Western Cape and Elected by the people of the Western Cape from Khayelitsha to Goerge. All we need is to renforce the liberation movement and ensure our voices are heared.
Posted by: Maxwell
I am coloured and proud, irrespective of what other ethnicities say or do. I am the sum total of showing the world that their hiding behind ethnicity is nothing but fear of the unknown and being rejected by a certain group believe.
Posted by: Ghunther Helmuth Bezuidenhoudt
To all - We the coloureds are quite diverse in "description of a coloured" some are from white and black, coloured & black, Indian & black, coloured & coloured - who is to say "what are you or who are you". We coloureds tend to cause division amongst ourselves by looking at a dark skinned coloured with coarse hair and thinking that they are not coloured.
We are a mixed race...that's why we are coloured....Look at the greatest achievement....we rule the world today (Obama Barak) and will continue forever more 'because we are the future generation we have the potential...Let's unite and not divide...that we may be heard and seen....Unity is power!!!! Our communities stay the same 'because we too interested in "what kind of hair thread she got....is she fair or dark..." who cares...she is still coloured!!! Let's get with the program and start doing BIG things...
Posted by: Geraldine Van Rooyen
Sometimes I am proud to be coloured and sometimes not. There is still the stigma that most coloureds are wild or they're gangsters. Why does whites or blacks always want to greet a person with "Aweh my broe! Hoesit"? For the record, not all coloured people speak in slang or as they call it Capie.We are English or Afrikaans.The lingo you will mostly find in the Cape Flats. And not all coloureds are from there.
Yes and I agree that many coloureds are gangsters.In the apartheid years it was a sense of belonging and a way to get food into your stomach because the whites took everything away from us. But that time is over. So please my coloured people stop with the "Hosh","Naai my broe"and the all time classic" Jou ma ..." Let us show everyone that we are good people that can be trusted.
And I am sorry to say that as long as we are minstrels, the perception of us will stay. We are free now. Not just for one day to show off our passion gaps.
And to the ones with the identity crisis - Don't just come with your "I have German blood" if you are fair. All coloureds have some white blood. And to the coloureds that converted to Islam. You are NOT Malay. Please, most Moslems are coloured in Cape Town.
Seems that most coloureds want to be anything but coloured.
Time for us to stand up and embrace what we are and not run away from it. Be a proud coloured - English or Afrikaans. Something to think about...If all the world start mixing, what do you think the world race would be then? COLOURED of course. Think about this: We are the last step in human evolution. We are so special and we do not even know it. Our time will come.
Posted by: hilton
There is quite a lot of nonsense projected about Coloured identity in the Cape. I personally believe that we need to move away from the race silos of Black, White, Coloured and acknowledge that we are all African, whether Indigene African, Creole African, Euro-African or Indo-African and how we see ourselves should be by personal definition. I personally see myself as South African, African and Cape Creole without there being any contradiction. I use the SEVEN STEPS of District Six as a symbolic tool for understanding Cape identity.
District Six became Cape Town's own Harlem. This Cape African Creole district on the edge of the city had its roots as one of the first settlements of freed urban slaves after emancipation. It was also the first home of African dock workers from the Eastern Cape, sailors who jumped ship and poor European immigrants. The district grew over the years and became the cultural heart and soul of Coloured people. Some 40 000 people were living there. In 1966 the Apartheid regime began a forced removals process after declaring the colourful district as a "whites only" part of the city. The forced removals, accompanied by wholesale demolitions saw the dwellings of the entire district raised to the ground. First Africans and then Coloured people were moved to the Cape Flats. The forced removals finally ended in 1986 when the last of the people were moved out. To add fuel to the fire, the district was renamed Zonnebloem - sunflower.
In the heart of District Six stood the seven stone steps which became one of those symbols of District Six that lives in the hearts of all who lived, loved, played and worked in the "District". The seven steps became a powerful representation of popular memory.
The seven steps is a powerful symbol of the heritage of Cape Town. The Seven Steps also speaks of the Seven Roots of identity in the Cape. The Coloured community in particular shares all of these roots of identity. (While some are comfortable with the term "Coloured" many do not accept the term and feel uncomfortable with it, but no universally accepted term for people of mixed origins has ever emerged to find acceptance. I personally do not like the term and express myself as having a Cape Creole African identity as a South African, but I also do not shy away from using the term Coloured as it is more generally understood and used. Creole simply means "new creation" or "locally born").
Cape Creole or Coloured identity is also far more complex than saying Coloured people are a result of Black and White mixing.
Most people of the Cape from all population groups share two or more of the Seven roots. There is at least one of these roots in everyone and even the most recent to join us in this city and province has a place in these Seven Steps. Everyone had a place in old District Six and the Seven Steps stands out as a powerful symbol of diversity and inclusivity in the Cape. In applying the symbolism of the Seven Steps to our heritage, each STEP represents a root tributary to Cape identity as follows:
STEP 1: Represents the tributary of the INDIGENES. The people of the Cape have strong African roots. The San, Khoe and amaXhosa in the Cape and the baSotho and baTswana in western and northern reaches of the old demarcated Cape Colony are the first tributary of Cape identity. The Coloured people of the Cape have deep African roots with a number of traditional African communities, sharing ancestors and many elements of cultural heritage. History also shows us that communities such as the amaXhosa of today, share San, Khoe, Asian and European ancestors with Coloured communities. There is a strong cousin-connection across ethno-social boundaries in the Cape. People who deny this are just ignorant of these historical ties. DNA tests show that around 30% of people classified as Coloured people have KhoeSan roots, 17% of people classified as Black have KhoeSan roots, 8% of those classified as White have KhoeSan roots and around 16% of those classified as Indian have KhoeSan roots. No group in South Africa can claim exclusively that they are the only descendents of the KhoeSan. Interestingly 32% of those classified as Coloured have Sub-Saharan African or Bantu roots.
STEP2: Represents the tributary of the SLAVES. We are the descendents of Slaves from other parts of Africa and Madagascar, from India and from the Indonesian Islands. Over the period 1653 – 1808 over 63 000 slaves were brought to the Cape from these areas. Around 32 500 of these slaves came from Africa and Madagascar, 19 000 from India, and 11 500 from the Indonesian islands. Between 1808 – 1856 a further 8000 mainly African slaves were brought to the Cape as "Prize Negro" slaves captured from slaver vessels by the Royal Navy. The locally born children and successive grandchildren of these slaves were all to lead lives of slavery until emancipation in 1836. For many "Prize Slaves" emancipation only came in dribs and drabs right through to 1870 and the last slaves arrived in 1890.
STEP 3: Represents the tributary of the FREE BLACKS. We are descendents of the Free Blacks of the Cape – a category of people that once were poised to be a socio-economic group to be reckoned with in early Cape development, but later for a number of reasons became powerless. Early Mardijkers soldiers from Ambonya in the employ of the VOC, Free Black travellers, soldiers and sailors, the manumitted slaves, and freed black convicts all became part of those referred to as Free Blacks.
STEP 4: Represents the tributary of the EUROPEANS. We are descendents of a range of Europeans who intermarried with, or who had children with Indigenes, Slaves and Free Blacks. In the early founding years of the Cape Settlement the mainly German, Dutch, Swiss, Portuguese, French and Scandanavians were mainly male and took black partners. Many Europeans were also transient and never settled in the colony but left children behind. There were always Europeans, across the centuries, who had children with black partners and this carried on when the English, Irish and Scots arrived in South Africa. The Europeans settled and made their homes in Africa as a local people, but their bloodlines can also be found amongst indigene groups and Coloured communities, as much as indigene and Coloured bloodlines can be found in the descendent European communities.
STEP 5: Represents the tributary of the MAROONS. We are descendents of runaway slaves, Free Black rebels, mixed "Baster" descendents of indigenes and slaves, non-conformists Europeans, escaped convicts, and eccentric missionaries. They became the freedom-trekkers who moved as far away from the reaches of the colonial government, long before the Boer Great Trek, to the long wild territory along the Garieb river in the north west, and to the amaXhosa territory in the east. Here these Drosters or Maroons mixed with Khoe, San, Xhosa and other indigenes and formed new groups such as the Orlams Afrikaners, the Bergenaar Basters, the Springboks, and the Griquas. Others joined the Xhosa armies and resisted both the Boers and later the British.
STEP 6: Represents the tributary of the EXILES & REFUGEES: We are the descendents of outspoken fighters and political leaders who challenged the Dutch, Portuguese, and Spanish in various territories in Indonesia and Polynesia. Indonesian Muslim resistance leaders were tried and banished into exile at the Cape; Peranakan Chinese from the Chinese resistance after the massacres of Chinese by the Dutch in Batavia; and Philippine refugees from the Phillipine Revolution - the Manillas, landed up at different times in the Cape and integrated into what was later called the Coloured population. In later years, to this day, new exile and refugee groups would continue to trickle into the Cape, make this place their home and integrate with other communities.
STEP 7: Represents the tributary of the INDENTURES & MIGRANTS: We are descendents of a range of people who were brought to the Cape as indentured labourers or who were economic migrants. After slavery was formally ended at the Cape, first the "Prize Boys" were forced to accept indentureship as labourers, then farmers began importing indentured labour from the Congo, Malawi, Botswana and Mozambique. Most of these "Indentures" were settled in the Drakenstein and integrated with both the Coloured communities and the amaXhosa who were working in the district since the late 1700s.
Already many of the freed slaves in the Drakenstein were those from East Africa known locally as the Mosbiekers. The Mosbieker pool grew as indentureship was continually extended over the 19th century.
From the 1840s and increasing in the 1870s right through to 1910 and beyond, large groups of people were brought in as indentured servants from St Helena. The Saints as they were known were also descendents of slaves, Chinese and British settlers on the island of St Helena.
In 1890 the Ormoro North African slaves (Somalia) seized from a slaver ship were brought to the Cape and these also integrated into Coloured and amaXhosa communities.
Also amongst the migrants were West Africans of the Kru tribe who had been employed by the Royal Navy in Simonstown for almost a century (1830 – 1930). These Kroomen as they were locally known also integrated into the Coloured community. Their grave markers can still be seen in Simonstown today. In the late 1800s the Royal Navy began recruiting Siddis and Zanzibaris from displkaced African communities scattered along the African and Indian coasts. Siddis and Zanzibaris like the Kru also integratyed into Cape society.
Migrants and other infusions into the Cape society carry on to this day. Through our sea ports relationships have produced children with Chinese and other seaman of many nations. Economic migrants and refugees from other African countries still arrive daily and take their place among us as they always have. District Six was a key centre that became a microcosm manifestation of the coming together of all of these tributaries and the creolisation of cultures that gave us the rich and diverse locally born Cape African heritage that we celebrate today. It is high time that we start to learn more about who we are. This will be less confusing to others trying to get to know South Africa. In the process maybe we should explain our roots rather than use racist terminology handed down from colonial and Apartheid authorities. We have a rich history and rich inter-relationships with each other.
Posted by: Zinto
I would rather be a proud coloured then a proud South African. Because I feel that this country do nothing for us as coloureds. I truly feel like I don't belong here us as coloureds have to dig deeper to find our true heritage. I was taught in school that when Jan van Riebeeck landed on our soil Harry die strandloper was the 1st person he spoke to. But in today's history its like we are born from white and black and that is so untrue - come on all my coloured brothers and sisters stand up and fight for what is yours. Because we were here when the Dutch spotted this country; but today it sure doesn't look like it or will our time still come?
Posted by: Edwina
Be a proud coloured people!!
When you are a powerful Coloured (USA president; former miss SA) you are called the 1st black until a black African gets the position then said it is the 1st black person to hold that position. Rest my case. Black African (I speak Zulu) are just as racist as most whites, always assuming on the colour of you skin what language you speak. Wonder If I spoke Chinese will the shape of my eyes change to show it.
I have worked with a black lady for ten years without her knowing I understood what she said. Imagine the surprise (after I made her aware that I understand and speak the lingu). I mean she said terrible and nasty things assuming I don't understand.
Posted by: Moses
Just because people recognize each others ethnicity does not mean that colour is an issue. I think it is beautiful and wonderful that we as a human race are so diverse, why pretend that we don't see colour. I see the skin colours of everyone in South Africa and it warms my heart, I see the beauty and respect the cultures that goes with it. As for what we call Coloured people in South Africa, to me they are absolutely gorgeous, as an Afrikaans speaking person I view them as part of my culture because most of them share the same language as Afrikaners.
I have a very soft spot for them because they have suffered more than anyone else has in this country, the majority black people and white people have fought over whose country this is, this country belongs to every South African, but it one had to choose, it would actually belong to the Coloured people! The San and the Khoi were the first inhabitants, and the rest of the coloured people are offspring from both white and black. I sincerely hope and pray that the Coloured people will always stay true to who they are and to their heritage, that they will be utmost proud of themselves.
So by the way, I have wondered many times why we have eleven official languages, but why not the Khoisan language? It is so ridiculous that it isn't included, for heavens sake, this was their ancestral land!
Posted by: Alyssa du Toit
We live in a crazy world and we are obsessed with appearance. I am black /Zimbabwean and white / British. my features and hair are more African than Euro but am proud of how i look. I married a South African coloured here in the UK and when we first met our views on what a coloured is couldn't have been more different. I laughed a lot when he said coloured is a pure race because he comes from 2 coloured parents which makes me different from him because I have 1 black 1 white parent. Later I sensed that it was a case of his community not accepting the black heritage in them. Now that he has seen a wider view of his heritage he has come to accept what coloured really is which is a mixed race. When I fell pregnant a fellow Cape coloured family we know assumed our child would look more black I shook my head and thought these people actually think we are so different because I'm a first generation mix .
What is also strange people assume because you look more black you can't possibly produce a child with Euro features - why the hell not if you carry white genes. How a person looks is down to genes isn't that so? In the end my fellow South Africans came to see our baby who has light brown afro hair with blonde highlights, piercing blues eyes and has very fair skin. I soon fell pregnant again and said oh I'm sure this baby wont be like the first because this doesn't happen often .Well guess what guys; it did and this one is blonde too. My point is mixed is mixed call it what you like no matter how many generations ago it took place. Most importantly God made us all lets love one another and focus on similarities rather than differences.
