This morning i started reading a book called Waters of the Western Cape by Jose Burman. It was published in 1970 and deals with ten of the rivers of the Western Cape of South Africa. According to the little blurb it deals with the impact these rivers had on the expansion of the country . Certainly it mean expansion of European settlement following the initial invasion through VOCs established refreshment station under the leadership of Jan van Riebeeck. A quick google search on the author reveals that he has written quite prolifically about the Western Cape history but I found very little about the author himself. The first chapter covers the Eerste (First) River flowing through Stellenbosch and covers, among other interesting bits, the initial awarding of farms to colonial settles from 1679/1680 (?) onwards. Quite interestingly one found that among these first recipients of land were freed slaves, but it seems none of them managed to hold onto their land for very long. No detail is provided on the circumstances that led to the alienation of their land, neither is there any mention of indigenous settlement in the area, either before or after the establishment of these farms. The Eerste River flows into the sea at Macassar, the site of the Kramat (tomb) of Sheik Yusuf (never knew this bit of history) who was exiled to the Cape from Java via Sril Lanka (then Ceylon). During Apartheid, Macassar beach was declared a non-White resort, and the author used this fact to conclude the chapter with the following statement: Fitting, too, is the fact that the non-Whites of South Africa, who owned the source of the Eerste River nearly 300 years ago, should again have a stake in this. the river that supported the first colony at the Cape, and paved the way for the expansion of South Africa. The only recognition, and very subtly so, in this chapter that land was indeed stolen from Indigenous people. Looking forward to the next chapters
Posted on: Wed, 24 Dec 2014 10:53:27 +0000
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