A Tribe Makes a Waterfront Claim

In a twist on South Africa’s contentious debate over restoring land to landless people, an indigenous community has launched a drive to reclaim what is today some of the country’s most valuable real estate.

About 60,000 ethnic Khoikhoi of the Goringhaicona tribe, led by paramount chief Calvin Cornelius, want to regain large sections of Cape Town’s stunningly beautiful and financially lucrative Victoria and Alfred Waterfront.

The Khoi and the ethnic San, who together occupied this region thousands of years before the arrival of Europeans, are recognized in South Africa as the nation’s first indigenous peoples. The Khoi of the Goringhaicona tribe claim that the waterfront areas are part of several huge tracts taken from their people after the arrival of Dutch settlers in the 17th century.

Now the Khoi want the land back--or, at the very least, royalties from the developed portions to compensate for use of the prime coastal property, which rakes in billions of dollars in revenue each year for the city of Cape Town. In addition, the Khoi are laying claim to large swaths of “unencumbered state-owned land” elsewhere in the city that they say has historical significance.

The biggest obstacle they face is that a provision of the South African Constitution dealing with restitution does not cover claims for land seized by whites in the early centuries of colonialism. Claims can be lodged based only on the status of land on or after June 19, 1913.

That date marked the passage of the Natives Land Act, which successive white apartheid governments used to gradually designate about 80% of South Africa for white occupation. The nation’s black majority was confined over time to the remaining land, which typically was remote and undeveloped.

Indigenous communities elsewhere in the country have applied for the restitution of land taken from them before 1913, and some have been successful in resettling and developing reclaimed land after reaching agreements with the government. But in general, communities that were displaced during early colonial times have had difficulty getting recourse.

“That’s the problem with having that kind of [cutoff date] provision in the constitution,” said Patricia de Lille, a member of Parliament and spokeswoman with the Pan-Africanist Congress, a small opposition party that has criticized the slow pace of the government’s land restitution program.

Since the apartheid system of white minority rule ended in 1994, 12,676 of 54,324 claims have been settled. Wallace Mgoqi, South Africa’s land claims commissioner, said there has been a tendency to request financial compensation in settled urban areas, while in rural areas the claims largely have been for returning lands.

Despite the long odds, Cornelius said, his people will not be put off.

“We are talking about land that was taken away unlawfully and was sold,” said the 41-year-old chief, who took over the position last year from his father. “Our ancestors were raped and abused for their land. We were dehumanized. We no longer have our identity. That is why it is so important that we claim back our land.”

The Khoi have begun a letter-writing campaign to press their claim and have put up signs in areas of Cape Town claiming various tracts of land. They expect to pursue their claim in court.

Regaining the Victoria and Alfred Waterfront is likely to be difficult. The area is home to a host of retail businesses, restaurants, offices and luxury residential units.

Before the complex opened in 1990, the area was largely derelict, costing local authorities more than $1.2 million a year to maintain, according to V&A; Waterfront spokeswoman Maureen Thomson. “The vision was to give part of the harbor back to the people,” she said.

Today, the waterfront attracts an average of 10 million visitors a year and is the city’s biggest taxpayer. At least 14,000 permanent jobs have been created, in addition to temporary and seasonal positions.

Thomson said no one from the tribe has approached the waterfront management regarding the land claim. But Cornelius insisted that the developers are well aware of the Khoi demands and that much of the land being sought belongs to the state.

The chief explained that his people have no intention of closing down or demolishing the waterfront development. As for vacant parcels in the area, the tribe would lease the land to companies for development.

Proceeds from these ventures would be channeled to the Goringhaicona, who for the most part are impoverished and employed only as semiskilled laborers and unskilled farm workers. The Khoi and San would be given priority for employment at the new ventures, Cornelius said.

“As the chief, I would just be the custodian of the land, but the people would get the direct benefit,” Cornelius said. “We are living in a multicultural country, but we will be biased toward the Khoi, without a doubt.”

The community also would like to plant hemp on some of the undeveloped land, to make money off the manufacture of hemp byproducts such as rope and sailcloth.

“We are tired of handouts,” Cornelius said. “We want to be become self-sufficient.”

The Khoi also want to prevent the creation of enclaves to which their community would not have access. Developers already have plans for an exclusive beach in an area called Granger Bay, which is now used by indigenous fishermen.

“They want to take away our ancestral land and make it into a private beach for the very rich,” Cornelius said. “That is unacceptable. That shows a total disrespect for our culture and who we really are.”

Cornelius said the community was hoping to use its “first nation” status as a political tool to gain international support and to press the government to hand over traditional lands.

Glenda Glover, director of the Cape Town-based Surplus Peoples’ Project, a land claims lobby group, said that although it was useful for historical claims to be documented, the return of occupied land probably is not as viable as ensuring that property already available for distribution is fairly divided.

She explained that sometimes restoring past land divisions does not always bring about equal rights because a chief or a male head of household might end up reaping the most benefits.

“We feel the focus should be on the redistribution process in terms of needs and affirmative action,” Glover said. “It should be about recognizing this huge unequal distribution and doing something about it. It is the majority that has been dispossessed, so it is the majority that needs to be helped.”

But Cornelius and his people said their priority is ensuring their social advancement as well as regaining their cultural and national heritage.

“It’s only right, because this is Khoi land,” said Dorothy Williams, 53, a traditional herbalist whose grandmother was forcibly removed from land under apartheid. “I think the land is not fairly distributed now. I would like some of [it] to be given back to the Khoi people for economic use, because people have to have a source of income.”

Added Cornelius: “By getting back the land, we are getting back a sense of who we really are. If you give back land to somebody, you acknowledge their existence. Giving the land back would be a sign of respect.”