234 Leslé Jansen and Rayna Sutherland
classified as “Coloured”, coupled with their centuries of land dispossession and
forced removals through both colonialism and apartheid, a sense of unity and
community cohesion in their Indigenous identity was also stolen. As a result,
the negotiations and associated BCP process had to ensure community outreach
and inclusion to overcome this historic legacy of community cultural disruption. In the process, it worked to bring healing, pride and restoration to unity
and community identity, along this journey of seeking recognition and benefits
collectively.
The NKSC had represented, and continued to represent, 30 Khoi communities
in their governance writ large, inclusive of the Nestlé ABS negotiations and
early Rooibos industry negotiations process (Natural Justice & the ABS Capacity
Development Initiative, 2018). However, it became clear that rural farming communities in the Cederberg Mountains, where Rooibos is endemic and grows most
fruitfully, needed to also be included in this process (ibid.). Within this mountain
range are the communities of Wupperthal, Nieuwoudtville and Suid Bokkeveld,
as well as further surrounding farming areas, all of which are regions in which
original Khoikhoi descendants live as Indigenous farming communities, many
of which steward and farm Rooibos (National Khoi and San Council & Cederberg Belt Indigenous Farmers Representatives, 2019). In this collective process
to overcome apartheid cultural erasure, and for many, to shed the imposed classification of “Coloured” and resurge with Indigenous self-identification, it was
important to recognise communities who had been “deliberately unrecognized”
and note their indigeneity, including the indigeneity of the farming community
in the Cederberg (ibid., p. 50).
Joining this process for due recognition of Indigenous farming communities,
in this collective journey of struggle for recognition, was an important process of
healing for these farming communities in their own particular histories and living
legacies of apartheid. Wupperthal, specifically, is a region which hosts the most
densely populated concentrations of wild Rooibos. However, it is also a region
that lives with a stark apartheid legacy in relation to land ownership. Wupperthal, once known as Reitmond and home to the Gouri-Grika (Griqua in English),
was occupied as a mission station during the colonial era (ibid.). However, this
land dispossession was further compounded and systemised as the land was later
registered in the name of the Moravian church rather than ever being returned
to Khoikhoi communities. Presently, the Moravian church still owns 36,000 ha
of Khoikhoi ancestral land around Wupperthal (ibid.). As a result, the Indigenous
farming communities in Wupperthal lease their ancestral land directly from the
church to farm Rooibos (ibid.). Therefore, resurging from persistent landlessness
and systemic discrimination, to recognise their rights as TK holders and affirm
their heritage through the Rooibos ABS process, was a fundamental journey
of restoration for the Wupperthal community. In their own right, the communities of Nieuwoudtville and Suid Bokkeveld, living amidst rich F ynbos
2
and heritage as Khoikhoi descendants, joined in this journey of resurgence to
shed the stigma of their imposed “Coloured” identity and reconnect with fellow
classified as “Coloured”, coupled with their centuries of land dispossession and
forced removals through both colonialism and apartheid, a sense of unity and
community cohesion in their Indigenous identity was also stolen. As a result,
the negotiations and associated BCP process had to ensure community outreach
and inclusion to overcome this historic legacy of community cultural disruption. In the process, it worked to bring healing, pride and restoration to unity
and community identity, along this journey of seeking recognition and benefits
collectively.
The NKSC had represented, and continued to represent, 30 Khoi communities
in their governance writ large, inclusive of the Nestlé ABS negotiations and
early Rooibos industry negotiations process (Natural Justice & the ABS Capacity
Development Initiative, 2018). However, it became clear that rural farming communities in the Cederberg Mountains, where Rooibos is endemic and grows most
fruitfully, needed to also be included in this process (ibid.). Within this mountain
range are the communities of Wupperthal, Nieuwoudtville and Suid Bokkeveld,
as well as further surrounding farming areas, all of which are regions in which
original Khoikhoi descendants live as Indigenous farming communities, many
of which steward and farm Rooibos (National Khoi and San Council & Cederberg Belt Indigenous Farmers Representatives, 2019). In this collective process
to overcome apartheid cultural erasure, and for many, to shed the imposed classification of “Coloured” and resurge with Indigenous self-identification, it was
important to recognise communities who had been “deliberately unrecognized”
and note their indigeneity, including the indigeneity of the farming community
in the Cederberg (ibid., p. 50).
Joining this process for due recognition of Indigenous farming communities,
in this collective journey of struggle for recognition, was an important process of
healing for these farming communities in their own particular histories and living
legacies of apartheid. Wupperthal, specifically, is a region which hosts the most
densely populated concentrations of wild Rooibos. However, it is also a region
that lives with a stark apartheid legacy in relation to land ownership. Wupperthal, once known as Reitmond and home to the Gouri-Grika (Griqua in English),
was occupied as a mission station during the colonial era (ibid.). However, this
land dispossession was further compounded and systemised as the land was later
registered in the name of the Moravian church rather than ever being returned
to Khoikhoi communities. Presently, the Moravian church still owns 36,000 ha
of Khoikhoi ancestral land around Wupperthal (ibid.). As a result, the Indigenous
farming communities in Wupperthal lease their ancestral land directly from the
church to farm Rooibos (ibid.). Therefore, resurging from persistent landlessness
and systemic discrimination, to recognise their rights as TK holders and affirm
their heritage through the Rooibos ABS process, was a fundamental journey
of restoration for the Wupperthal community. In their own right, the communities of Nieuwoudtville and Suid Bokkeveld, living amidst rich F ynbos
2
and heritage as Khoikhoi descendants, joined in this journey of resurgence to
shed the stigma of their imposed “Coloured” identity and reconnect with fellow