Speaker of oldest San language dies

2013-01-18 11:10

A San drawing (File) (Shutterstock)

Cape Town - Only two people are left who can speak the oldest surviving San language of South Africa, it was reported on Friday.

The Cape Times reported that Aenki Kassie, 71, who was one of only three people who spoke the N/uu language, died in Upington on January 7.

Her son said she died in hospital of chicken pox.

She was part of the Khomani people of the Kalahari desert, whose language became known to researchers in 1998 through a land claim which helped form the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park.

Last March, Una Katriena Kassie Rooi, one of the four N/uu speakers died at the age of 81.

The Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee told the newspaper that Aenki Kassie was a great storyteller.

"She and her daughter co-operated with Unesco in conserving and promoting the oral heritage of the Khomani people of the Kalahari desert. May she rest in peace," the committee said.

- SAPA