Biocultural Rights Journey with Rooibos 239
movement and regarded themselves as Black African. That was the basis on which
the anti-apartheid struggle was fought; they were united in their cause. Yet, when
the new South Africa was designed, these communities were told, “Sorry, you’re
not African”. It forced this collective to go deep within themselves to find out,
then, who exactly they are. The result was a resurgence with an indigeneity that
held a great amount of wealth, stewarded the environment and its natural resources,
and held genetic markers linking them to people, over 200,000 years prior, at the
tip of Africa. Thirty years into South Africa’s dispensation, these communities’
resurgence movement is forcing cracks into the modern-day development space to
find their place at the South Africa table. Rooibos lit the torch to help make those
linkages. One of the knowledge holders, Oom Barend, said, “You don’t have to
teach them, just dust the peoples’ memory a little and they will remember”. And
remember they did. The Rooibos BCP process facilitated a shift which forced
them to relook at their traditional institutions and what they needed to do to
respond to benefit-sharing amidst this complicated context.
It was as if Rooibos gave a clarion call, to these communities, about all their
other resources. Rooibos shed light on the lie of biotrade. It forced South Africa
to have a different conversation on their high value plant species. It now has to
speak about TK.
Notes
1 https://www.wipo.int/tk/en/tk/. *All URLs retrieved on 1 September 2021.
2 Fynbos is a small belt of distinctive, heather-like tree and shrub vegetation endemic
to the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces in South Africa.
References
Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture. (2019). Final Report of the Presidential
Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture. Republic of South Africa. https://www.
gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201907/panelreportlandreform_0.pdf
Alexander, M. C. (2018, July 9). South Africa’s Population. South Africa Gateway. https://
southafrica-info.com/people/south-africa-population/
Boezak, W. (2017). The Cultural Heritage of South Africa’s Khoisan. In A. Xanthaki, S.
Valkonen, L. Heinämäki, & P. K. Nuorgam (Eds.), Indigenous Peoples’ Cultural Heritage
(pp. 253–272). Brill | Nijhoff. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004342194_013
DEA. (2014). Traditional Knowledge Associated with Rooibos and Honeybush Species in South
Africa. Siyanda Samahlubi Consulting for Department of Environmental Affairs.
Pretoria, https://www.dffe.gov.za/sites/default/files/reports/traditionalknowledge_
rooibosandhoneybushspecies_report.pdf
Jansen, L. (2019). South Africa. In D. N. Berger (Ed.), The Indigenous World 2019
(pp. 543–550). IWGIA.
Jansen, L. (2021). South Africa. In D. N. Berger (Ed.), The Indigenous World 2021
(pp. 160–167). IWGIA.
Le Fleur, A., & Jansen, L. (2013). The Khoisan in Contemporary South Africa. Konrad
Adenauer Stiftung Country Report. www.kas.de/suedafrika/en
movement and regarded themselves as Black African. That was the basis on which
the anti-apartheid struggle was fought; they were united in their cause. Yet, when
the new South Africa was designed, these communities were told, “Sorry, you’re
not African”. It forced this collective to go deep within themselves to find out,
then, who exactly they are. The result was a resurgence with an indigeneity that
held a great amount of wealth, stewarded the environment and its natural resources,
and held genetic markers linking them to people, over 200,000 years prior, at the
tip of Africa. Thirty years into South Africa’s dispensation, these communities’
resurgence movement is forcing cracks into the modern-day development space to
find their place at the South Africa table. Rooibos lit the torch to help make those
linkages. One of the knowledge holders, Oom Barend, said, “You don’t have to
teach them, just dust the peoples’ memory a little and they will remember”. And
remember they did. The Rooibos BCP process facilitated a shift which forced
them to relook at their traditional institutions and what they needed to do to
respond to benefit-sharing amidst this complicated context.
It was as if Rooibos gave a clarion call, to these communities, about all their
other resources. Rooibos shed light on the lie of biotrade. It forced South Africa
to have a different conversation on their high value plant species. It now has to
speak about TK.
Notes
1 https://www.wipo.int/tk/en/tk/. *All URLs retrieved on 1 September 2021.
2 Fynbos is a small belt of distinctive, heather-like tree and shrub vegetation endemic
to the Western and Eastern Cape Provinces in South Africa.
References
Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture. (2019). Final Report of the Presidential
Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture. Republic of South Africa. https://www.
gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201907/panelreportlandreform_0.pdf
Alexander, M. C. (2018, July 9). South Africa’s Population. South Africa Gateway. https://
southafrica-info.com/people/south-africa-population/
Boezak, W. (2017). The Cultural Heritage of South Africa’s Khoisan. In A. Xanthaki, S.
Valkonen, L. Heinämäki, & P. K. Nuorgam (Eds.), Indigenous Peoples’ Cultural Heritage
(pp. 253–272). Brill | Nijhoff. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004342194_013
DEA. (2014). Traditional Knowledge Associated with Rooibos and Honeybush Species in South
Africa. Siyanda Samahlubi Consulting for Department of Environmental Affairs.
Pretoria, https://www.dffe.gov.za/sites/default/files/reports/traditionalknowledge_
rooibosandhoneybushspecies_report.pdf
Jansen, L. (2019). South Africa. In D. N. Berger (Ed.), The Indigenous World 2019
(pp. 543–550). IWGIA.
Jansen, L. (2021). South Africa. In D. N. Berger (Ed.), The Indigenous World 2021
(pp. 160–167). IWGIA.
Le Fleur, A., & Jansen, L. (2013). The Khoisan in Contemporary South Africa. Konrad
Adenauer Stiftung Country Report. www.kas.de/suedafrika/en