REPRESENTATIVES of the Khoisan community are walking on foot from Port Elizabeth to Pretoria to hand over a memorandum to President Cyril Ramaphosa. This is to raise awareness about attempts to remove the word “coloured” from South African language, among other issues. They are led by Chief Khoisan SA.
The group reached Kokstad on the evening of Wednesday, November 21 and spent the night. They were welcomed by Cyril Gangerdine, who supported their initiative.
The group are determined to raise awareness around the issues raised in their memorandum in every town they pass through until they reach the Union Buildings in Pretoria by next Friday.
“We want government to remove the word ‘coloured’ when describing us and to make our languages official. Our land claim must also be taken into consideration,” said Chief Khoisan SA when speaking to the Fever in Kokstad. He said the word “coloured” was banned in 1991, but is still used in many occasions. He said that in December 2017 a memorandum was handed over to government, calling for the word to be eliminated.
