Cape Town - A group of Khoisan protesters marched to Parliament on Wednesday to engage with the government on their First Nation rights.
Some were members of the South African Aboriginal Congress who submitted a “referendum” to a representative of the Speaker of the National Assembly.
“The referendum is to give notice and request an engagement from the ruling party so as to discuss ownership and land issues,” said some of the leaders.
Referring to the “Coloured Person Communal Reserve Act of 1961”, the group demanded to be given “their land” back.
Speaking on behalf of the crowd, High Commissioner Elman Pienaar said: “We are the original people. We are the first people. When other people came here, we were here. So what happened is that we were totally robbed of everything.
“Our people don’t have the luxury of owning part of this land, but we have to wait for other people to feed us, like dogs.
“We are not dogs any more, we’re not animals any more, but we are the owners and we claim our ownership of everything – our minerals, petroleum, our money, everything.”
Accepting the “referendum” on behalf of the Speaker, Tshepiso Nage promised that the document would reach her within the course of the day and said she would then decide which structure of Parliament would look at it.
siviwe.melapi@inl.co.za