Biocultural Rights Journey with Rooibos 225
Along this history of roaming and stewarding the lands of Southern Africa, the
Khoikhoi faced enduring forces of colonialism beginning in 1652. Genocidal
wars, widespread land dispossession and civilising mission’s intent on cultural
erasure were layers of violence which not only physically harmed the Khoikhoi,
but sought to strip them of their freedom, dignity and means of living their
land-based cultures, governance systems and identities as Indigenous peoples.
This historical period was seen as the onset of what would become 300 years of
systematic oppression seeking to relegate the Khoikhoi’s Indigenous beliefs, ways
of life, systems and overarching cosmologies “to that of mere savagery” (National
Khoi and San Council & Cederberg Belt Indigenous Farmers Representatives,
2019, p. 28). The colonial era further systematically oppressed the Khoikhoi
through several colonial government Codes. The Hottentots Code of 1809 (also
known as the Caledon Code) as well as the Masters and Servants Act of 1856 were
among a series of laws which legalised the restriction of the Khoikhoi’s movement and further bound their livelihoods to that of commercial farm labourers
(ibid.). In this way, they were fixed to commercial farms or mission stations
as a “place of abode” to ensure commercial labour following the abolishment
of slavery in that era. In addition, any and all movements beyond this abode
had to be legitimised with a pass from their master or local official (ibid.). In
this way, the Khoikhoi’s traditional livelihoods of roaming nomadic pastoralists and land-based peoples were not only restricted in their landless state, but
criminalised. The Khoikhoi state this as “legal and moral justification for the
colonial dispossession of [their] sovereign indigenous people from their lands and
resources” (ibid., p. 30). Community cohesion and cultural continuity were further hindered with the Apprentice Act of 1812 which legalised the forced removal
of Khoikhoi children from their parents to serve as farm labourers with little
regard for their freedom from servitude as they aged into adults (ibid.). With this
Act, Khoikhoi children were removed from their communities, subject to the
trauma of servitude and stripped of their right to grow up learning their culture,
language and TK. On these farms, trauma was further inflicted, and dignity further denied through the “dop system” (drink system), prevalent in the Western
Cape, in which menial wages were offset by giving farm labourers cheap wine
as a “fringe benefit” (ibid.). In the context of the extent of physical violence as
well as violence in the form of stolen freedom and resources and denigration of
identity, culture, livelihoods and cosmologies, this system further exacerbated
trauma to incite and encourage substance abuse.
In the apartheid era (1948–1990), the Khoikhoi’s resilient ties to land and
identity were further eroded. With the Race Classification and Population Registration
Act of 1950, racial categories of (i) White, (ii) African, (iii) Indian and (iv)
Coloured were created and systematised. The Khoikhoi were forcibly classified as
“Coloured” along with several other communities, obscured under this homogenising racial category. For the Khoikhoi, this imposed classification under this
label “further dispossessed [them] from [their] African beingness by severing the
last connections to [their] customary resources and knowledge” (National Khoi
Along this history of roaming and stewarding the lands of Southern Africa, the
Khoikhoi faced enduring forces of colonialism beginning in 1652. Genocidal
wars, widespread land dispossession and civilising mission’s intent on cultural
erasure were layers of violence which not only physically harmed the Khoikhoi,
but sought to strip them of their freedom, dignity and means of living their
land-based cultures, governance systems and identities as Indigenous peoples.
This historical period was seen as the onset of what would become 300 years of
systematic oppression seeking to relegate the Khoikhoi’s Indigenous beliefs, ways
of life, systems and overarching cosmologies “to that of mere savagery” (National
Khoi and San Council & Cederberg Belt Indigenous Farmers Representatives,
2019, p. 28). The colonial era further systematically oppressed the Khoikhoi
through several colonial government Codes. The Hottentots Code of 1809 (also
known as the Caledon Code) as well as the Masters and Servants Act of 1856 were
among a series of laws which legalised the restriction of the Khoikhoi’s movement and further bound their livelihoods to that of commercial farm labourers
(ibid.). In this way, they were fixed to commercial farms or mission stations
as a “place of abode” to ensure commercial labour following the abolishment
of slavery in that era. In addition, any and all movements beyond this abode
had to be legitimised with a pass from their master or local official (ibid.). In
this way, the Khoikhoi’s traditional livelihoods of roaming nomadic pastoralists and land-based peoples were not only restricted in their landless state, but
criminalised. The Khoikhoi state this as “legal and moral justification for the
colonial dispossession of [their] sovereign indigenous people from their lands and
resources” (ibid., p. 30). Community cohesion and cultural continuity were further hindered with the Apprentice Act of 1812 which legalised the forced removal
of Khoikhoi children from their parents to serve as farm labourers with little
regard for their freedom from servitude as they aged into adults (ibid.). With this
Act, Khoikhoi children were removed from their communities, subject to the
trauma of servitude and stripped of their right to grow up learning their culture,
language and TK. On these farms, trauma was further inflicted, and dignity further denied through the “dop system” (drink system), prevalent in the Western
Cape, in which menial wages were offset by giving farm labourers cheap wine
as a “fringe benefit” (ibid.). In the context of the extent of physical violence as
well as violence in the form of stolen freedom and resources and denigration of
identity, culture, livelihoods and cosmologies, this system further exacerbated
trauma to incite and encourage substance abuse.
In the apartheid era (1948–1990), the Khoikhoi’s resilient ties to land and
identity were further eroded. With the Race Classification and Population Registration
Act of 1950, racial categories of (i) White, (ii) African, (iii) Indian and (iv)
Coloured were created and systematised. The Khoikhoi were forcibly classified as
“Coloured” along with several other communities, obscured under this homogenising racial category. For the Khoikhoi, this imposed classification under this
label “further dispossessed [them] from [their] African beingness by severing the
last connections to [their] customary resources and knowledge” (National Khoi