232 Leslé Jansen and Rayna Sutherland
still obscured under the imposed classification of “Coloured”. In their BCP, the
communities express this as living as a “landless proletariat and de-Africanised,
with no access to [their] resources, no communal land, stripped of [their] cultural and collective identity” (National Khoi and San Council & Cederberg Belt
Indigenous Farmers Representatives, 2019, p. 39). While the Rooibos industry
grew from the misappropriation of their knowledge, the “legacy and demeaning stigma” of the racial classification of “Coloured” continued to “effect the
image of Rooibos Indigenous farming communities as being poor ‘Coloured’
labourers, as opposed to traditional knowledge holders central to the growth and
development of the Rooibos industry” (ibid., p. 54). One Indigenous farming
community leader, Alida Afrika (as cited in National Khoi and San Council &
Cederberg Belt Indigenous Farmers Representatives, 2019), expressed that the
compounding challenges of the “Coloured” stigma and lack of land ownership
lead to a lack of freedom for self-governance and determination to shape their
own community development. In this way, they are hindered in their capacity to
offer their youth prosperous futures in their home communities and within their
knowledge systems and livelihoods. It is expressed that this challenge leads many
youths to desire to leave their communities and farming practices to migrate
to urban settings. In this vein, cultural continuity in terms of opportunities to
intergenerationally pass down TK as well as confer feelings of pride in one’s valuable Indigenous knowledge, identity and community is significantly hindered.
Challenges of community farming are compounded in the ongoing absence
of support from the state. Specifically, the absence of support is felt in terms
of means to mitigate and overcome the challenges of the dry, drought-prone
area, exacerbated by climate change-driven higher temperatures, droughts and
extreme rainfalls (National Khoi and San Council & Cederberg Belt Indigenous
Farmers Representatives, 2019). Moreover, communities which so long stewarded these lands sustainably are now disproportionately left to face the brunt of
climate change. It was expressed by one Indigenous farming community member, Alida Afrika, that, “[t]hrough [their] cooperative, [they] try to develop systems to help [their] members to expand their existing traditional knowledge to
improve their organic practices, but it remains a challenge without sufficient
funds available” (National Khoi and San Council & Cederberg Belt Indigenous
Farmers Representatives, 2019, p. 55).
As landless peoples with little avenue for redress, given the limits to land
restitution, access to land as well as plant, marine and wildlife resources is “near
impossible” (ibid., p.32). The Khoikhoi continue to face challenges in that their
customary law dictates that they are well within their rights to hunt, fish and
gather for their subsistence needs and yet, they face barriers such as having to
pay “expensive rentals to commercial farmers and municipalities to harvest these
species that [they] consider [their] ancestral resources” (ibid., p. 32). In other
cases, communities face criminalisation for accessing resources as per their subsistence needs. Amidst the challenges of COVID-19 in the Northern Cape, a lack
of infrastructure such as economic centres in close proximity to the Khomani
still obscured under the imposed classification of “Coloured”. In their BCP, the
communities express this as living as a “landless proletariat and de-Africanised,
with no access to [their] resources, no communal land, stripped of [their] cultural and collective identity” (National Khoi and San Council & Cederberg Belt
Indigenous Farmers Representatives, 2019, p. 39). While the Rooibos industry
grew from the misappropriation of their knowledge, the “legacy and demeaning stigma” of the racial classification of “Coloured” continued to “effect the
image of Rooibos Indigenous farming communities as being poor ‘Coloured’
labourers, as opposed to traditional knowledge holders central to the growth and
development of the Rooibos industry” (ibid., p. 54). One Indigenous farming
community leader, Alida Afrika (as cited in National Khoi and San Council &
Cederberg Belt Indigenous Farmers Representatives, 2019), expressed that the
compounding challenges of the “Coloured” stigma and lack of land ownership
lead to a lack of freedom for self-governance and determination to shape their
own community development. In this way, they are hindered in their capacity to
offer their youth prosperous futures in their home communities and within their
knowledge systems and livelihoods. It is expressed that this challenge leads many
youths to desire to leave their communities and farming practices to migrate
to urban settings. In this vein, cultural continuity in terms of opportunities to
intergenerationally pass down TK as well as confer feelings of pride in one’s valuable Indigenous knowledge, identity and community is significantly hindered.
Challenges of community farming are compounded in the ongoing absence
of support from the state. Specifically, the absence of support is felt in terms
of means to mitigate and overcome the challenges of the dry, drought-prone
area, exacerbated by climate change-driven higher temperatures, droughts and
extreme rainfalls (National Khoi and San Council & Cederberg Belt Indigenous
Farmers Representatives, 2019). Moreover, communities which so long stewarded these lands sustainably are now disproportionately left to face the brunt of
climate change. It was expressed by one Indigenous farming community member, Alida Afrika, that, “[t]hrough [their] cooperative, [they] try to develop systems to help [their] members to expand their existing traditional knowledge to
improve their organic practices, but it remains a challenge without sufficient
funds available” (National Khoi and San Council & Cederberg Belt Indigenous
Farmers Representatives, 2019, p. 55).
As landless peoples with little avenue for redress, given the limits to land
restitution, access to land as well as plant, marine and wildlife resources is “near
impossible” (ibid., p.32). The Khoikhoi continue to face challenges in that their
customary law dictates that they are well within their rights to hunt, fish and
gather for their subsistence needs and yet, they face barriers such as having to
pay “expensive rentals to commercial farmers and municipalities to harvest these
species that [they] consider [their] ancestral resources” (ibid., p. 32). In other
cases, communities face criminalisation for accessing resources as per their subsistence needs. Amidst the challenges of COVID-19 in the Northern Cape, a lack
of infrastructure such as economic centres in close proximity to the Khomani