Lucelle Campbell
It is shameful that stories of the First People of South Africa and Africa have not made it into the top 10 in our official narratives and historical timelines.
This is despite the fact that they were first to demonstrate their resistance and carried on their backs the marks of struggle and bondage long before apartheid. They were the first to feel the loss of land and forced removals.
We are proud parents when we tell our youth stories of heroes, those individuals who lived and died for this “new South Africa”, like Ashley Kriel, Robbie Waterwitch and Coline Williams, Ruth First, Fatima Meer, Zainunnisa “Cissie” Gool, Ray Alexander and many more who are not mentioned here.
Yet, do we know on whose shoulders these worthy heroes stand? These are the ancient foremothers and fathers the San, Korana, Nama, Griqua (Grigriqua) and Cape Khoen Peoples of South Africa. We are not surprised that they have left documentary evidence of their lives.
It was one particular individual who caught my attention.
Doman, as he is known in the history books, was born a Goringhaiqua; one of many other Khoe groups living in and around the Cape Peninsula thousands of years before white settlement. These groups comprised the Central Cape Khoi, Chobona (Cobuqua), Hamcumqua (Inqua), Chamaqua, Omaqua, Attaqua, Cauqua and Houtunqua. We found the Western Cape Khoi; the Hessequa, where my birthmother is from; Chainouqua, Cochoqua and Guriqua (“Charigurqua”).
Then we found the Peninsulars, which comprised Goringhaiqua, Gorachouqua and “other” Peninsulars. What is striking about him is his clear, unfailing loyalty to his people. And more so his non-negotiable stand in choosing the Europeans as allies. One can uncover his great skills of multilingualism, political shrewdness; one who travelled and experienced different cultures, strategist and understanding of the economy with a most astute military talent. A keen spy for his people, leader, fighter and spokesperson.
“He would operate from his hut near the Castle of Good Hope to intercept all inland visitors to the settlement, and pushed himself forward as an interpreter and broker in the all-white Khoe transactions.” Jan van Riebeeck would curse the day he sent him to Java to prepare himself to be an interpreter at the Cape in 1657-58.
But it would be in a foreign land that Doman found time to contemplate the impact and severity European expansion would have on the Cape’s indigenous people. And also the enormous threat posed to the land and the Khoe’s independence. But while there, he witnessed the peak of the spirited Bantamese resistance movement and became more hostile to the Dutch.
He developed a radical or militant attitude towards the idea that his people’s pastures were being taken. Almost as soon as he landed at the Cape, he began to emerge as a fiery critic of Van Riebeeck and an advocate for the Goringhaiqua. He once obstructed entrance to the castle – stopping trade between the Cochoqua, another Khoe group, who later became allies of the Dutch.
“In short, Doman was pursuing the traditional Peninsular, Goringhaiqua policies of economically blockading the fort and thwarting any conjunction between the Dutch and the inland peoples.”
He was assaulted and badly beaten for this by the Cochoqua. Doman was one of three of the great Khoe interpreters during the 1600s, which included Krotoa, who had extensive kinship ties with several Khoe groups: the Chainoqua the Goringhaiqau and another with the Cochoqua and chief Autshumato, or “Harry” from the Strandlopers.
In 1657, one of the most significant events in South Africa was when the VOC gave away plots of land to their white employees (free-Burghers). They were instructed to plough the land and raise livestock so they could be relieved from relying on the Khoe. “The formation of a society of free (no contracts) white settlers was probably the most decisive for Khoe loss of land and perpetuated land ownership.”
It was into this very tense situation that Doman arrived back in Cape Town from Batavia and brought with him a learning experience from Bantam Indonesia and the resistance movement there that he will never forget. But he also came with a concrete plan. However, he first had to win over the hearts of the Peninsular Khoe.
In his view, the colony must be stopped before it could grow further. “In his arguments he probably drew on his own experience in Batavia and on inklings of Van Riebeeck’s plots which he had picked up at the fort.”
Slowly, he would win support from the younger leaders and formed around him a coalition of Goringhaiqua, Gorachouqua, and warriors of Peninsula chief Ankaisoa.
“In May 1659, he directed a series of attacks on the Dutch and assumed command of military operations. He planned an attack on the Dutch that needed expert advice and timing. On one especially chosen rainy day, for he knew that in a downpour the Dutch match-cords could not burn and their powder could not ignite. And on May 19, the Council of Policy resolved to mount a punitive expedition, and freemen were authorised to seize and shoot Khoe on sight. The first Kho-Dutch War had begun”.
It lasted for a year… Truth is; you will not hear these stories from mom and dad, maybe they are too ashamed to tell you or they do not know. Or they just don’t care.
Yet if we should dare to take a closer look, we start to grow to understand the neighbour, the cashier at the till point, the librarian’s tone of voice, the Rasta selling indigenous herbs, the preacher on the train, or the hawker selling his greens on the pavement. Only then will I come close to knowing my true heritage. Do we really know why we are led to believe that the chain of events pre-apartheid has little or no bearing on our lives today?
l Campbell is a Cape Slavery & Cultural Heritage Activist