75$16)250$7,21(cid:3)$1’(cid:3)5(&2167,787,21(cid:3)2)(cid:3).+2((cid:16)6$1(cid:3),’(17,7,(6(cid:29)(cid:3)$$6(cid:3)/((cid:3) )/(85(cid:3),(cid:15)(cid:3)*5,48$(cid:3),’(17,7,(6(cid:3)$1’(cid:3)3267(cid:16)$3$57+(,’(cid:3).+2((cid:16)6$1(cid:3)5(9,9$/,60(cid:3) (cid:11)(cid:20)(cid:27)(cid:28)(cid:23)(cid:16)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:19)(cid:23)(cid:12)(cid:3) PROEFSCHRIFT Ter verkrijing van de graad van Doctor aan de Universiteit Leiden op gezag van de Rector Magnificus Dr. D.D. Breimer, hoogleraar in de faculteit der Wiskunde en Natuurwetenschappen en die der Geneeskunde, volgens besluit van het College voor Promoties te verdedigen op woensdag 18 januari 2006 klokke 14.15 door Michael Paul Besten Geboren te Roma, Lesotho, in 1969 ii Promotor: Prof. dr. R.J. Ross Referent: Prof. S. Newton-King (University of the Western Cape) Commissie: Prof dr. P.C. Emmer Dr. J.B. Gewald (Afrika-Studiecentrum, Leiden) Prof . dr. P. Pels Dr. G.C. Quispel. iii (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) &217(176(cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) Acknowledgements iv Abstract v Chapter 1. Introduction 1 PART ONE ANDREW ABRAHAM STOCKENSTRÖM LE FLEUR I Chapter 2. Early Khoe-San and the emergence of the Griqua 16 Chapter 3. Griqua land struggle in East Griqualand (1894-1898) 51 Chapter 4. Quest for an ethnic identity (1898-1921) 94 Chapter 5. Griqua-Coloured resettlement (1920-1941) 121 Chapter 6. Griqua-Coloured ethno-nationalism (1920-1970s) 151 PART TWO GRIQUA DURING APARTHEID Chapter 7. Loyal subjects (1948-1980s) 176 Chapter 8. The Griqua and Coloured party politics (1965-1980) 197 Chapter 9. Griqua inquiries (1980-1983) 222 Chapter 10. Between fragmentation and unity 247 PART THREE POST-APARTHEID KHOE-SAN REVIVALISM Chapter 11. Democratic transition and the re-articulation of Griqua identities 263 Chapter 12. The neo-Khoe-San 287 Chapter 13. Staging indigeneity 309 Summation 344 Bibliography 349 Appendix: 1. Griqua and Le Fleur leadership lines 364 2.1 Picture of AAS le Fleur I and followers 365 iv 2.2 Picture of AAS le Fleur I and family 366 2.3. Pictures of Eric le Fleur and AAS le Fleur II 367 2.4. Picture of AAS le Fleur II and neo-Khoekhoe 368 3.1 Map of South Africa, 2004 369 3.2 Map of South Africa, 1885 370 3.3. Map of East Griqualand, 1922 371 3.4. Map of East Griqualand, 1879 372 (cid:3) 4. South African population figures, 2001 373 (cid:3) Abstract in Dutch 374 Curriculum Vitae 375 (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) v $FNQRZOHGJHPHQWV(cid:3) I acknowledge with gratitude financial support from the National Research Foundation (RSA), South Africa- Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development, Research School for Asian African and Amerindian Studies (Leiden) and the Study Fund Foundation for South African Students (Amsterdam) which enabled me to undertake this study. The views expressed in this dissertation are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my sponsors.(cid:3) I would also like to thank Janneke Jansen and Willem Stoetzer for the translation of the Abstract into Dutch. (cid:3) vi $EVWUDFW(cid:3) Focussing on AAS le Fleur I (1867-1941), the Griqua, and post-apartheid Khoe-San revivalism, the dissertation examines changes in the articulation of Khoe-San identities in South Africa. It shows the significance of shifting political, cultural and ideological power relations on the articulation of Khoe-San identities, and by extension on the subjectivities of ethno-‘racial’ underclasses. It shows the complexity of Griqua subjectivities (and socio-political behaviour) generated and reshaped in intercultural environments and subjected to multiple and contending discourses, manifested acutely in AAS le Fleur. Whilst colonial somatic and cultural discrimination engendered distancing from Khoe-Sanness and the assumption of alternative (Christian, Bastaard and Coloured) identities, the emergence of Griqua polities and identities in the early 1800s allowed for the maintenance of an awareness of a Khoekhoe indigenous heritage. Broader socio- political and legislative developments influenced the configuration and reconfiguration of elements in Griqua identities, with different elements of their heritage tending to be emphasized under different historical periods and political regimes. Discrimination against ‘Natives’ under White regimes encouraged Griqua to affirm that they had partial non-indigenous origin, to locate the Griqua category within the Coloured category suggesting distance from ‘Nativeness’ and proximity to Whiteness, whilst varyingly acknowledging having some Khoekhoe heritage. However, the official consolidation of the association of the Griqua and Coloured categories allowed Griqua nationalists to ambivalently disassociate the Griqua category from Colouredness during apartheid (1948-1994) and to promote Griqua ethno-national specificity. With the ending of apartheid, and the attendant reconfiguration of political, cultural and ideological relations, the Coloured category lost much of the psychological, socio-economic, ideological and political value it previously conferred, further inclining Griqua and some Coloureds to distance themselves from a Coloured identity; to (re)affirm an indigenous heritage; and to promote Khoe-San identities engendering and conferring the geographic rootedness, sense of belonging, sense of entitlement and ownership, group security, self-esteem, and ethno- cultural specificity, legitimacy and unity they desired. vii (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) :KDW(cid:3)KDYH(cid:3)ZH(cid:3)JRW(cid:3)IRU(cid:3)RXU(cid:3)IDWKHUV¶(cid:3)VDFULILFHV"(cid:3) (cid:3)<HV(cid:15)(cid:3)RXUV(cid:3)LV(cid:3)D(cid:3)FUXHO(cid:3)KLVWRU\(cid:17)(cid:3)+HUH(cid:3)PLJKW(cid:3)LV(cid:3)ULJKW(cid:17)(cid:3) (cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3) (cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3)(cid:3) AAS le Fleur I, 19271 (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) (cid:3) 1*ULTXD(cid:3)DQG(cid:3)&RORXUHG(cid:3)3HRSOH¶V(cid:3)2SLQLRQ, 18 February 1927. 1 &KDSWHU(cid:3)(cid:20)(cid:29)(cid:3),QWURGXFWLRQ(cid:3) In the aftermath of the 1994 democratic change in South Africa, a relatively small but growing number of people previously categorized officially as Coloured, started to promote a Khoe-San indigenous and First Nation identity – manifesting a process of psychological, cultural and socio-political repositioning within the national and international order. The affirmation of a Khoekhoe (or ‘Hottentot’) and San (or ‘Bushman’) heritage was a rarity prior to 1994. There were however individuals who continued to openly acknowledge and/or affirm their Khoekhoe and San indigenous origins and identities, for example, individuals from the Griqua, Kalahari San and Nama Khoekhoe communities. After the 1994 democratic change, Khoekhoe and San identities were increasingly promoted. An overarching Khoe-San identity was also promoted at the same time, marking thus the appropriation of a term originating in the academy. These identity re-articulations were attended with aspirations for unity, government recognition, constitutional accommodation and empowerment. This dissertation explores changes in the articulation of Khoe-San identities and the contexts of specific identity articulation and re-articulation. The dissertation focus on Griqua identity and the Griqua under the Griqua National Conference (GNC), established in 1920 by Andrew Abraham Stockenström le Fleur I (1867-1941) who positioned himself with a measure of success as heir of Griqua Chief Adam Kok III (1811-1875). The GNC played a prominent role within the Griqua socio-political landscape prior to 1994. The Kranshoek based GNC1 also played a significant role in the post-1994 Khoe-San revivalism. The Griqua and the GNC thus provide a useful avenue for the exploration of the articulation and re-articulation of Khoe-San identities prior to and after the 1994 democratic change. Dealing with Griqua identities and the post-apartheid Khoe-San resurgence, the dissertation explores the way in which certain sections of Khoe-San descent have historically related to their Khoe-San past in articulating a group identity. Focussing particularly on the Griqua the dissertation also explore how people appropriating an ethnic identity (i.e. an identity engendering a sense of peopleness) imputing them a Khoekhoe heritage, without themselves necessarily being of Khoekhoe descent, have related to the Khoe-San past in articulating a group identity. The dissertation also examines how Griqua have located themselves socially and politically in articulating a group identity. Given the multiple ethnic heritages of Griqua and post-apartheid Khoe-San identity claimants, the exploration of their identity articulations necessarily take into account the way they related to their to their multiple ethnic heritages. The dissertation also necessarily explore the way in which Griqua and post-apartheid Khoe-San identity claimants related to non-Griqua and non-Khoe-San group categories that were crucial for defining or distinguishing Griquaness and post-apartheid Khoe-Sanness. Given the prominence of the GNC in the Griqua and Khoe-San socio-political landscape, both before and after 1994, a study of the GNC is essential for understanding Griqua and South African Khoe-San identity politics. To understand the socio-political conduct of the GNC, a study of its founder, Andrew Abraham Stockenström le Fleur I, is essential. To understand Le Fleur and his influence on the orientation of Griqua under the GNC, it is essential to understand his behaviour and ideas as they were shaped and transformed from the late 1800s onwards, particularly since his ascent in Griqua politics in East Griqualand in 1894. With the articulation of Griqua identities explored in the context of changing power relations between socio- cultural assemblages, the dissertation shows how different socio-political landscapes in South Africa fostered particular relations between cultures, discourses, ideologies affecting subjective orientations and identity articulations. The dissertation shows general identity shifts and cultural, discursive and ideological orientation and reorientation engendered by shifting political landscapes. The dissertation also shows contextual shifts in identity articulation engendered by changes within specific political orders. 1 The GNC split in two organizations bearing the same name in 1969. The head office of the bigger faction (referred to as the Kranshoek based GNC in this study) remained at Kranshoek (in Plettenberg Bay) where Paramount Chief Andrew AS le Fleur II, the head of the faction, also resided until his death in 2004. A le Fleur was succeeded by his son Allan. The head office of the smaller faction (referred to as the Knysna based GNC) was moved to The Grags (near Plettenberg Bay). The head of this faction, Eric le Fleur, who assumed the title of volkspresident, resided in Knysna. After his death in 1989 E le Fleur was succeeded by his oldest son, Anthony. 2 3RSXODWLRQ(cid:3)WHUPV(cid:3) European (or White) domination and cultural chauvinism in South Africa generated and invested population categories with negative and disparaging connotations. Categories like ‘Bantu’, ‘Bushman’, ‘Hottentot’ and ‘Native’ became associated with inferiority and primitivism. As such these categories became offensive, inclining some people to use alternative terms. Thus, some preferred to use ‘African’ instead of ‘Bantu’ or ‘Native’, as suggested in the name shift of the South African Native National Congress (formed in 1912) to African National Congress in 1923. Sensitive scholars preferred to use to use ‘Khoikhoi’ instead of ‘Hottentot’ and San instead of ‘Bushman’. Though intentions of scholars were noble, the association of the ‘Bantu’ and ‘Native’ categories and the substitution of these two terms with ‘African’, invested the term ‘African’ with an exclusivity that was liable to ironically reinforce the ethno-‘racial’ order that some wished to subvert. Just like the association of the Coloured category with people who were neither Bantu-speaking nor White during the 1900s could obscure the multiple deployments of the category in the 1800s, the substitution of ‘Bantu’, ‘Native’, and ‘African’ had a potential to obscure the multiple historical meanings and ambiguity of the ‘Native’ category (as shown in subsequent chapters). Scholarly substitution of ‘Bantu’/‘Native’ with an unqualified African category (invested with exclusiveness) made Khoe-San categories and Khoe-San descendants as well as people from other ethno-cultural backgrounds not absorbed into Bantu-speaking communities liable to be excluded from the African category. The category of African is used in this study to embrace all people indigenous to Africa. Where there is a need, a distinction is made, for example, between Khoe-San and Bantu-speaking Africans. The 1994 democratic transition contributed to a rethinking of what it meant to be African in South Africa. Some of those who were excluded from the general deployment of the term ‘African’ prior to 1994 became more open to use it self-referentially after the 1994 democratic change. There term ‘African’ was steadily detached from exclusive association with Bantu-speakers. The term also became somewhat detached from exclusive association with people considered to be indigenous to Africa. Being African was being steadily associated with geographic location. The steady tendency to use the African category inclusively was exemplified by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s “I am an African” speech on the occasion of the adoption of a new constitution for South Africa on 8 May 1996: I am an African. I owe my being to the Khoi and the San … . I am formed of the migrants who left Europe to find a new home on our native land. ... In my veins courses the blood of the Malay slaves who came from the East. … I am the grandchild of the warrior men and women that Hintsa and Sekhukhune led, the patriots that Cetshwayo and Mphephu took to battle, the soldiers Moshoeshoe and Ngungunyane taught never to dishonour the cause of freedom. … I come of those who were transported from India and China … . Being part of all these people, and in the knowledge that none dare contest that assertion, I shall claim that I am an African! We are assembled here today to mark their victory in acquiring and exercising their right to formulate their own definition of what it means to be African. The Constitution whose adoption we celebrate constitutes an unequivocal statement that we refuse to accept that our Africanness shall be defined by our race, colour, gender or historical origins.2 The impetus to use the African category more broadly was also exemplified by the media projection of Mark Shuttleworth, a White South African, as the “first African in space” after journeying into space on a Russian rocket in April 2002.3 Though there was growth in the use of ‘African’ in an inclusive sense, during the first 2 Statement of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, on behalf of the African National Congress, on the occasion of the adoption of “The Republic of South Africa Constitution Bill 1996” by the Constitutional Assembly, Cape Town, 8 May 1996, http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/1996/960819_23196.htm (accessed March 2005). 3 “The top 100 newsmakers of 2002”, IOL, 27 December 27 2002, http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=13&art_id=iol1040987657942T152 (accessed March 2005). 3 decade after the 1994 democratic transition the category was still used much in a restricted sense, as reflected in the population census of 1996 which distinguished between “African/Black”, “Coloured”, “Indian/Asian”, and “White”.4 The use of the term “Black African” in the 2001 census reflected a perception that there were ‘Africans’ who were not ‘Black’ and that it was problematic to restrict the category of ‘African’ to Bantu- speakers.5 The term ‘Black’ has been used in diverse ways throughout the history of South Africa. It was at times used in reference to all people not considered White. It was also used in a more restricted sense to refer to especially Bantu-speaking Africans. During the course of the twentieth century the term was used very much in a restricted sense by government officials and members of the public. The emergence of the ideology Black Consciousness in the late 1960s encouraged a more inclusive use of the term amongst subordinated communities.6 Although post-1994 (African National Congress) government officials often used ‘Black’ in reference to all people considered not White,7 the censuses of 1996 and 2001 also reflected an inclination amongst government official to use the term in a restricted sense. Offensive categories like ‘Hottentot’ and ‘Bushman’ are used in inverted commas in this study. Alternative terms like Khoekhoe and San or Khoe-San are also used. The term ‘Khoe-San’ is a variation of ‘Khoisan’ or ‘Khoi-San’/‘KhoiSan’. Like ‘Khoisan’, it reflects the view amongst some academics and some people who identity themselves as Khoekhoe and San that although the Khoekhoe and the San have a shared ancestry and some cultural commonalities, there were differences in language, culture, livelihoods and identity between the two warranting separate terms to designate them, granting that there was some mobility between livelihoods, languages, cultures and identities. The term ‘Khoe-San’ (or KhoeSan/KhoiSan) also reflects the view or ideal amongst some who identify themselves as Khoekhoe and San that the San should not be subordinated to, or subsumed within the Khoekhoe politically and linguistically (as in Khoisan or Khoesan). Those San who reject the “the idea of the Khoisan people, terming it a political ploy by non-San-speaking people” particularly the Cape Khoekhoe, Nama and the Griqua, “to continue subjugating their unique culture”,8 would also be inclined to reject the term Khoe-San. Differential marginalization between Khoe-San, and the relative privileged socio-economic and educational position of many Khoekhoe in relation to San, and concern about San domination by Khoekhoe, together with attempts (by San activists and White led San developmental agencies) at maximizing international developmental funding for the San – projected as ultra-marginalized and exploited – encouraged the use of ‘Khoe and San’ instead of ‘Khoe-San’ (or Khoisan). The term ‘Khoisan’ (or rather ‘Koisan’) was coined around 1928 by Leonard Schultze as a collective category for the early southern African hunter-gathering and herding peoples. ‘Khoekhoe’ in Nama, is regarded as a more accurate linguistic rendering than ‘Khoikhoi’. ‘San’ is used by many scholars to refer to the early inhabitants of southern Africa who spoke click languages and lived by hunting and gathering in contradistinction to Khoe-speaking herders. Hunter-gathering communities tended to be referred to as San by Khoekhoe herders. Hunter-gathering communities, which spoke other than a Khoe language, did not historically refer to themselves as San but used more narrow group names in reference to themselves. ‘San’ had a plurality of meaning (in Nama). It could historically be used to refer to people who lived by foraging, to people with a low socio-economic or lineage status or to robbers. People who lived by hunting and gathering tended to be referred to as ‘Bushmen’ by White colonists whilst herders tended to be referred to as ‘Hottentots’. Some people reject the term ‘San’ and prefer to be called ‘Bushmen’. Translated from Nama the singular ‘Khoe’ suggests ‘man’, ‘human’ or ‘person’. Combined Khoekhoe suggest ‘men of men’ or ‘people’. 4 Statistics South Africa: 7KH(cid:3)SHRSOH(cid:3)RI(cid:3)6RXWK(cid:3)$IULFD(cid:17)(cid:3)3RSXODWLRQ(cid:3)&HQVXV(cid:15)(cid:3)(cid:20)(cid:28)(cid:28)(cid:25)(cid:15)(cid:3)’HILQLWLRQV, Report no. 03-01-14, (Statistics SA: Pretoria, 1998), p. 16. 5 Statistics South Africa: &HQVXV(cid:3)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:29)(cid:3)3ULPDU\(cid:3)WDEOHV(cid:3)6RXWK(cid:3)$IULFD(cid:17)(cid:3)&HQVXV(cid:3)¶(cid:28)(cid:25)(cid:3)DQG(cid:3)(cid:21)(cid:19)(cid:19)(cid:20)(cid:3)FRPSDUHG, Report no. 03-02- 04 (Pretoria: Statistics SA, 2004). 6 The shifting meaning of ‘Black’ is, to some extent, reflected in subsequent chapters. 7 E.g. Address of President Thabo Mbeki, at the reburial of Sarah Bartmann at Hankey, Eastern Cape, 9 August 2002, http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/2002/02081209461001.htm (accessed March 2005). 8 0DLO(cid:3)(cid:9)(cid:3)*XDUGLDQ, 26 April, 2001.