Khoi and San activists set their green ID books alight in Port Elizabeth yesterday in defiance of being classified as coloured.
Their gripe is that the older ID books still reflect racial classification by the second-last numeric digit.
This was used until the late 1980s to indicate a person’s race but has since changed.
The activists, among them ANC Eastern Cape MPL Christian Martin, torched about nine ID books, government job application forms as well as copies of the Population Registration Act of 1950.
Clad in their traditional Khoi and San gear, the activists marched to the Donkin Reserve, where they burnt their traditional incense.
Activist Crawford Fraser said they wanted to demonstrate to the government that they no longer wanted the term “coloured” recognised at all.
“We don’t want this terminology, not on any official paper. Don’t deem us as coloureds because we are marginalised, discriminated against because everyone standing here is declaring we are the descendants of the Khoi and San, and Africans in particular.
“This is an act to demonstrate to this government how serious we are about our identity. We are declaring we are not coloured,” Crawford said.
Martin said during apartheid, some had no choice but to identify as coloureds because they wanted the benefits provided by the state such as housing, grants and pensions.
He said the activists were merely pointing out that it was through legislation and those efforts that people acknowledged and identified themselves as coloureds.
“The 1950 Population Registration Act stated people must declare themselves as coloured and through that, they would benefit by getting houses.
“But on housing forms, they had to classify themselves and after that, classify their children,” he said.
Martin said it was important to note that Khoi and San activists were not going around culturally lashing out at people, and that they respected those who identified as coloured.
“We respect who you want to be until your awareness should one day come.
“We were also coloureds until that awareness awakening. There was a time when the African and Indian people were referred to as [K-word] and c ***** s [a derogatory term used to describe people of Indian descent] and there are no inverted commas to it because it’s fact. As long as we are called coloureds, there will be no inverted commas when referring to anyone else.
“It’s like converting to a religion. The Saturday you were drinking, the Sunday you convert and you want to Bible bash everyone and tell people how wrong they are.
“As Khoi, we don’t want to do that.
“We want to embrace our coloured brothers until they awaken and the Khoi and San renaissance can come to them too,” Martin said.
The activists said burning their identity documents was inspired by Nelson Mandela back in 1960 when he burnt his passbook in protest at the Sharpeville killings. Martin said Mandela’s actions showed the then government that the liberation movement would not be deterred.
He said the Khoi and San activists would now be applying for a new SA smartcard ID.
“We’re going to Home Affairs to apply for IDs that don’t classify us by our race with those 01, 02 and 03 numbers that tell you if you’re white, Indian or coloured,” Martin said.