This coloured thing. Shit this coloured thing. This badge of shame, disgrace and ignominy that some want to hang around people like me as they excoriate people in this group for not being fully African, or having feasted on the so-called benefits that apartheid had bestowed on them.
And as these insults rain down on coloureds, it is conveniently forgotten that many of the forefathers of people who have brown skins were the first freedom fighters in this country. In landmark battles, they bravely defended themselves and their land against European invaders in Mossel Bay, as well as Table Bay.
No matter what the twisters and sanitisers of history peddle: they are also South Africas indigenous people. For the record, my lineage goes deep into the Overberg and includes a Khoi kaptein who was deposed by missionaries because he refused to become their vassal. So while I regard myself as indigenous and therefore African I will for the purposes of this opinion piece use the term coloured.
Long before they were conquered in the Eastern Cape, the Khoi also called that part of South Africa home, even if today they are a minority there. Today the descendants of the indigenous people everywhere experience deliberate discrimination according to anecdotal evidence, as well as a recent Human Rights Commission report, which has made certain recommendations to the president.
I did not want to write about this coloured thing. However, sometimes one has to speak up and not hide behind political correctness. The hopelessness and self-hatred, typical of indigenous people that have been invaded and conquered and that comes with being told one is a stepchild in the land of ones ancestors, has reached a tipping point. Ever-diminishing opportunities, Western Cape prisons overcrowded with what can be called the coloured lost generation of males seduced by ruthless gangsterism cannot be ignored anymore. Neither can the nihilism that has taken root.
Then there is the widespread accusation that the Western Cape is not really African. Indeed: this kind of comment is code for actually saying that coloureds are not African; the Western Cape is too coloured and therefore the Western Cape is not African enough. Lets call out claims like this out for what they are: racism. And this must stop.
Coloureds should challenge and reject this deeply flawed narrative, which pushes them to the margins and also slyly wants to impose national demographics on to the Western Cape.
This racism seeps through everywhere: only a few days ago a Sunday newspaper reported about General Jeremy Vearey, who just happens to be coloured, according to old South Africa racial classification categories that conveniently travelled into our new democracy.
The newspaper report, mentioning an unnamed ANC Western Cape source, talked about a coloured cabal backing Vearey. Vearey is a freedom fighter who did not sit in an armchair, nursing an upper-end whisky from the Johnny Walker range, but took up arms and ended up on Robben Island. He was one of the last political prisoners to be freed before, as an MK soldier, he became one of ANC president Nelson Mandelas most trusted bodyguards a person of the utmost integrity.
The Sunday newspaper hatchet job is part of an orchestrated campaign against his bid to become Western Cape Police Commissioner. Many support his candidature because he has a sterling track record of fighting crime. Bringing in allegations of a coloured cabal backing him is simply playing that race card that derides coloureds.
It would seem that now that our joint struggle to end apartheid is over, some of those who once were comrades can be relegated because they are coloured, had had so-called better opportunities and are now only needed at election times. Now that the 2019 elections are becoming a distant memory, it seems like it is time to bring out old resentments about the so-called favouritism that coloureds enjoyed under apartheid.
The National Party government cynically tried to turn different shades of the black community against each other by literally placing them on a ladder of meagre benefits. Those at the bottom were bitter about those at the top.
That resentment can be conveniently used to rally support when the political leadership of parties is decided. It is something that the Western Cape interim political leadership of the ANC has to combat as it sets about rebuilding the party. Promoting true non-racialism and not ethnicity based on discredited racist categories from the old South Africa should drive this process.
Off course, its not only the ANC that has reached out to the majority in the Western Cape for its electoral support. The DA has done it as well. And once they galloped into power on the back of a surge of brown support, the DA relegated this group to the sidelines. Helen Zille was replaced as premier by another white face, and a white male at that, this in a province where whites are in the minority.
A party such as the ANC has found it difficult and almost unbearable to come out and say that employment opportunities in the Western Cape must be based on provincial and not national demographics.
This stance has not alienated what the ANC would call its traditional African base but this has cost the ANC coloured support, dented its credibility and has made it far less attractive than the DA. Many of those coloureds that have voted DA had seen that party as one that would protect their interests against Africans.
As another municipal election is approaching, coloured leaders in the ANC will be forced to say publicly where they stand. Keeping quiet about the clear marginalisation of coloureds will again have radical consequences at the polls if the 2019 general election is anything to go by.
As for the country and its ANC government, non-racialism will be given a crucial impetus once coloureds are recognised as being just as African and intrinsically belonging to this continent as Zulus, Xhosas or any of the lands other black tribes. Those who have had the door that leads to opportunities slammed in their face because they are allegedly not African will turn their back on non-racialism and cynically say that the much-talked-about new dawn is not meant for them. They will continue to say, as theyre doing now, that they were not white enough during the apartheid years and now theyre not African.
We should also be recognised for who we are: the indigenous people of South Africa. That is the national question: how to admit that South Africa had indeed experienced different forms of early conquest, one that saw the indigenous people being dispossessed by other Africans and also Europeans, with both groups laying claim to a country which wasnt initially theirs.
Failing to deal with these cardinal issues will only feed the self-destruction, rage, impotence and disenchantment with the new South Africa present in many coloured communities.
Yet self-destructive rage is short-sighted. All over the world, indigenous people are standing up, claiming their inheritance. We should do the same while vigorously also promoting non-racialism and equality. Our country demands it of us. DM
Dennis Cruywagen was ANC Western Cape spokesperson during the 2019 general election.
Please note you must be a Maverick Insider to comment. Sign up here or if you are already an Insider.
Read more here:
Coloureds are Africans: We are the indigenous people of South Africa - Daily Maverick
- Nihilism Wikipedia [Last Updated On: December 8th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 8th, 2016]
- Nihilism | Meaningness [Last Updated On: December 10th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 10th, 2016]
- Nihilist movement - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: December 22nd, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 22nd, 2016]
- Therapeutic nihilism - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: December 22nd, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 22nd, 2016]
- Nietzsches Analysis of Nihilism | The World Is On Fire [Last Updated On: December 26th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 26th, 2016]
- Moral nihilism - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: December 26th, 2016] [Originally Added On: December 26th, 2016]
- Nihilism @ American Nihilist Underground Society (ANUS) [Last Updated On: January 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: January 14th, 2017]
- Nihilism Nihilism [Last Updated On: January 25th, 2017] [Originally Added On: January 25th, 2017]
- The boredom of nihilism - The Tablet [Last Updated On: February 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 7th, 2017]
- The Chinese Ford Raptor Website Is Profound And Crazy At The Same Time - Jalopnik [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- 'Fatal,' by John Lescroart - San Francisco Chronicle [Last Updated On: February 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 9th, 2017]
- Troy Reimink: 'This Land Is Your Land' doesn't mean what most people think - Traverse City Record Eagle [Last Updated On: February 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 10th, 2017]
- Brendan Kelly on politics, nihilism, and the benefit of intimate shows - BeatRoute Magazine [Last Updated On: February 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 11th, 2017]
- Sampha's Process Review: Drifting Through Space - The Picket [Last Updated On: February 12th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 12th, 2017]
- Nihilist KMOX Reporter Discusses Existential Horror of February in St. Louis - Riverfront Times (blog) [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Why the White House's nihilism is so troubling - Los Angeles Times [Last Updated On: February 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 13th, 2017]
- Teen Nihilism Erupts in LA Premiere of Fierce, Funny PUNK ROCK by Simon Stephens - Broadway World [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Faking It: The Rise of Political Nihilism - Study Breaks Magazine - Study Breaks [Last Updated On: February 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 15th, 2017]
- Descartes, Nihilist - First Things (blog) [Last Updated On: February 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 16th, 2017]
- Still Waking Up - First Things (blog) [Last Updated On: February 18th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 18th, 2017]
- [ American Nihilist Underground Society (ANUS) :: Nihilism ... [Last Updated On: February 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 20th, 2017]
- Pissed Jeans Why Love Now review: 'nihilism and cynicism' - Evening Standard [Last Updated On: February 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 24th, 2017]
- Editorial | By any means necessary including dancehall - Jamaica Gleaner [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- Reader E-Mailbag: Pussy Hats vs Asshats, How to Save Obamacare, Nihilism in the White House - TheStranger.com [Last Updated On: February 28th, 2017] [Originally Added On: February 28th, 2017]
- The fight between Nigel Farage and Douglas Carswell is the definition of political nihilism - The Independent [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- Eye in the Sky: Where Nihilism and Hegemony Coincide - Antiwar.com (blog) [Last Updated On: March 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 1st, 2017]
- NieR: Automata Starts With Nihilism and Futility at the Installation Screen - Geek [Last Updated On: March 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 8th, 2017]
- I used to love the working-class nihilism of Sleaford Mods no longer - Spectator.co.uk [Last Updated On: March 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 9th, 2017]
- Mereological nihilism - Wikipedia [Last Updated On: March 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: March 11th, 2017]
- Chinese Academy of Social Sciences' Four Big Critiques - China Digital Times [Last Updated On: April 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 8th, 2017]
- What Colony Gets Right About Living in an Apocalypse - Gizmodo [Last Updated On: April 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 8th, 2017]
- We're all political nihilists now - Washington Post [Last Updated On: April 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 8th, 2017]
- Love, Western Nihilism and Revolutionary Optimism | Global ... - Center for Research on Globalization [Last Updated On: April 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 8th, 2017]
- Occupy Wall Street: Nihilism And Communism - The Liberty Conservative [Last Updated On: April 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 8th, 2017]
- What Is Nihilism? History, Profile, Philosophy and ... [Last Updated On: April 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: April 8th, 2017]
- Changing This Bumbling Narcissist Impossible, So We Must Depose Him - Common Dreams [Last Updated On: June 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 6th, 2017]
- A Defense for Moral Absence - Daily Utah Chronicle [Last Updated On: June 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 6th, 2017]
- Withdrawing from the Paris Accord: Trump is behaving like a nihilist, not a nationalist - Los Angeles Times [Last Updated On: June 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 6th, 2017]
- China bans 'Soft Burial', a novel about deadly consequences of land reform - Business Standard [Last Updated On: June 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 8th, 2017]
- Former Grateful Dead Tour Manager Chimes in on Long Strange Trip Documentary - Relix (blog) [Last Updated On: June 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 8th, 2017]
- 'It Comes at Night' Review - Washington Free Beacon [Last Updated On: June 9th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 9th, 2017]
- China's Latest Book Ban: An Award-Winning Novel About the Deadly Consequences of Land Reform - The News Lens International (press release) [Last Updated On: June 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 10th, 2017]
- How Carmen Ejogo Helped Build a Personal Apocalypse in It Comes at Night - Den of Geek US [Last Updated On: June 10th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 10th, 2017]
- SMOKERS' CORNER: DEATH CULTS - DAWN.com [Last Updated On: June 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 11th, 2017]
- Jim Dey: Another fatal shooting raises the same question why? - Champaign/Urbana News-Gazette [Last Updated On: June 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 11th, 2017]
- Why Millennials Love 'Rick and Morty' - Study Breaks Magazine - Study Breaks [Last Updated On: June 13th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 13th, 2017]
- Searching for the Last Sincere Festival Experience at Download 2017 - Noisey [Last Updated On: June 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 14th, 2017]
- The book Christians should read instead of 'The Benedict Option' - America Magazine [Last Updated On: June 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 14th, 2017]
- Film Review: 'All Eyez on Me' - Variety [Last Updated On: June 16th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 16th, 2017]
- The Pendulum is Swinging Back Toward Liberal Forward Momentum - HuffPost [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2017]
- Death cults - The Statesman [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2017]
- 5 reasons why 'Wonder Woman' is the superhero movie America needs right now - LGBTQ Nation [Last Updated On: June 17th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 17th, 2017]
- Review: Prodigy HNIC - SPIN [Last Updated On: June 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 20th, 2017]
- The Nihilism of Julian Assange - The New York Review of Books [Last Updated On: June 20th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 20th, 2017]
- Atlanta's Videodrome is the Last and Greatest Video Rental Store - Geek [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2017]
- Why Prodigy Was A Once-In-A-Generation Rapper - Complex [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2017]
- Prufrock: How Brainwashing Works, Julian Assange's Nihilism, and Emily Dickinson's Hope - The Weekly Standard [Last Updated On: June 21st, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 21st, 2017]
- Samantha Bee Mourns the Death of Language - New York Times [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2017]
- Trump's bluff on White House tapes wasn't just dishonest it was also a failure - Washington Post [Last Updated On: June 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 22nd, 2017]
- In the Almost-Great Baby Driver, Hollywood Goes Asperger's - National Review [Last Updated On: June 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 23rd, 2017]
- Against Nihilism - MTV.com [Last Updated On: June 23rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 23rd, 2017]
- Can Robert Mueller be trusted? - Fox News [Last Updated On: June 24th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 24th, 2017]
- Opinion: Gingrich admitted Trump was being dishonest - Holmes County Times Advertiser [Last Updated On: June 26th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 26th, 2017]
- A Reply to Rod Dreher on Worldview - Patheos (blog) [Last Updated On: June 27th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 27th, 2017]
- Vince Staples burns through nihilism and house beats on 'Big Fish ... - Mic [Last Updated On: June 29th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 29th, 2017]
- Islamic Terrorists Aren't Nihilists, They're Firm Believers In Evil - The Federalist [Last Updated On: June 29th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 29th, 2017]
- On Religion: Wrestling again with the gospel according to Bob Dylan - Herald and News [Last Updated On: June 30th, 2017] [Originally Added On: June 30th, 2017]
- Wrestling again with the Gospel according to Bob Dylan | Features ... - Bristol Herald Courier (press release) (blog) [Last Updated On: July 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 1st, 2017]
- Praying for Hemingway | America Magazine - America Magazine [Last Updated On: July 1st, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 1st, 2017]
- Human Exceptionalism: We Understand Significance - National Review [Last Updated On: July 2nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 2nd, 2017]
- Politics podcast: Anna Krien on the climate wars - The Conversation AU [Last Updated On: July 3rd, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 3rd, 2017]
- Omnipotence at the price of nihilism - Patheos (blog) [Last Updated On: July 6th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 6th, 2017]
- The Philosophy of the Coen Brothers - Film School Rejects - Film School Rejects [Last Updated On: July 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 7th, 2017]
- Alternative rock comes to Grass Valley - Auburn Journal [Last Updated On: July 7th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 7th, 2017]
- Data SheetSaturday, July 8, 2017 - Fortune [Last Updated On: July 8th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 8th, 2017]
- Altstadt Echo - Reposed In Nihilism - Resident Advisor [Last Updated On: July 11th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 11th, 2017]
- I'd Be A Nihilist If I Weren't A Hedonist - Patheos (blog) [Last Updated On: July 14th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 14th, 2017]
- Review: 21 Savage Hits the Limits of Nihilism on Issa Album | SPIN - SPIN [Last Updated On: July 15th, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 15th, 2017]
- 'Rick and Morty' Creators Explain Why The Show is Horrifying - Inverse [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2017]
- Ill Behaviour, review: the chuckles are broad but the grisly nihilism is rather unpalatable - Telegraph.co.uk [Last Updated On: July 22nd, 2017] [Originally Added On: July 22nd, 2017]