— On Sunday 26 May 2019 I did an interview with WeThePeopleRadio about the South African Election and what it reveals about the Western Cape. The link to the recording is HERE. Just move the player to 50 minutes and 51 seconds to get to the start of my roughly hour long segment.
I discussed some of the options for the REAL RAINBOW NATION of South Africa, the community of Brown and White people of the Western Cape and Northern Cape who share a common ancestry and who have walked a joint path for some 367 years through history. They were split by several events in history, including the British playing them off against each other and the stupid policy of apartheid, but they obviously have a common future. Since the ANC government denies them a plausible future, they have to start thinking clearly about their joint road ahead as Westerners with a joint culture that transcends skin colour, language, and religion.
I was born in “The Kolonie” and, beyond a host of Dutch, French, Danish and Germans, I count among my ancestors slaves from India, Indonesia and Africa, as well as at least one Khoi ancestor: Eva Krotoa. My DNA confirms my mixed, European, Indonesian, Indian, and African background.
Yet the apartheid system decided I was white and other folks with the same heritage were “Coloured”. This was the real hurt of that system. In South Africa, those distinctions have become transparent and irritating and folks realize the truth lies not in how the skin reflects light, but in where the heart is. It has nothing to do with skin colour, or language, or religion. I feel it is time for all who reject the Africanist Ba’Ntu-only philosophy of the ANC to stand together and realize they have a joint future. They are a nation built over 367 years and are quite distinct from the Ba’Ntu people of South Africa with whom they have practically zero in common.
I well remember Roos, the 4 foot 6 inch little Khoi-San woman who helped my Aunt around the house at Kendrew outside Graaff-Reinet in 1976. I asked her what she thought of the Soweto Riots which were taking place at the time, and her answer with big round eyes was (in Afrikaans):
“Oh my Lord, sir! The k*****s are coming. They are going to kill us all!”
Roos spoke the truth just as most “Coloured” people know that truth today. When the ANC is finished with those who still cling to it, it will spit them out and stomp on them…and their children will curse them. And, they know that only too well.
—Harry Booyens
AmaBhulu 