From Transkei
3.7.83
Dear Mum,
I
think you may have misunderstood. I had a small cardboard box containing a few
text books (dental materials, pharmacology, a yellow book and possible a book
on anatomy by Last). There were a few notes on dentistry. Nothing else. Maybe
some cooking utensils were in the same box. What I want if possible is the
textbooks, notes, machine for cutting vegetables and a recipe book that goes
with it. If you want send over the names of any books and I’ll tell
you if I need them.
I
haven’t heard the word native for ages. But I will put down on paper which
natives are what. They say that in SA a liberal is someone who calls his
kaffirs coons. Or alternatively a liberal is someone who says the so-called
“homelands”. I will try and ignore all this so-called and apostrophic rubbish.
The blacks
of southern Africa are divided by language into two main groups.
SOTHO
–North Sotho – Lebowa
–Tswana
– Bophuthatswana/Botswana
–South
Sotho – Qwa Qwa/Lesotho
–Uhavenda
–Venda
NGUNI –Xhosa – Transkei, Ciskei
–Zulu
– KwaZulu
–Swazi – Swaziland, Kangwane
–Shangaan – Ganzankulu, Mozambique
–Ndebele – Kwandebele, Zimbabwe
Swaziland, Botswana,
Lesotho, Zimbabwe are former British colonies. (nee Swaziland, Bechuanaland,
Basutoland, Rhodesia). Transkei,
Bophutswana, Venda and Ciskei are called republics or independent national
states. The other six are called self-governing territories within the Republic
of South Africa.
The Union of South Africa = the five republics
In the 19th C a dialect of the Xhosa tribe was
written down. Nowadays all the blacks around here are called Xhosa. But things
are not that simple. All the black tribes were in a constant state of migration
and movement before the whites arrived. The Nguni tribes were slowly moving
down the east coast as the white settlers were moving up the east coast. At one
stage there was a distinct and well-defined boundary between the white and
black areas between East London and Port Elizabeth. As the Nguni moves
downwards they eliminated all bushmen from this area. This boundary between
white and black areas was a source of constant wars, cattle pouching etc. other
tribes split & began migrating north again ie. The Ndebele in Zimbabwe.
The
main tribes that came down furtherest were the Thembu, Xhosa, Pondo, Bomvana,
Xesibe, Bhaca, Hlubi and Fingo. These are the main tribes that are known as the
Xhosa. In this area is mainly the Fingo tribe though the official language
everywhere is Xhosa.
Because
the Xhosa language was written down recently it is a language were everything
is pronounced just as it is read. Though pronouncing it is difficult because of
the number of click sounds in the words.
As for
the Hottentots. The early white settlers encountered two indigenous groups.
There are a few remaining Bushmen in the Kalahari Desert (see Laurens Van der
Post) and the Bushmen in the mountainous areas are extinct (qv). The Hottentots
are now either extinct or incorporated into the colored community. The Cape
Colored are a mixture of early white settlers, Malays, Hottentots and even a
few blacks. There are two main sub-groups – the Cape Malays and the
Griquas. The Griquas are of
Hottentot–white ancestry are found around Kimberley.
It’s
axiomatic that the Afrikaaners are frightened
their culture is going to disappear into the melting pot along with quite a few
other groups. This fear is not unfounded. There are 2.5 million Coloreds. The
majority speak Afrikaans and the vast majority get their white blood from the
Afrikaaners. They say the first Colored was born 9 months after the first
Dutchman arrived in 1652.
Such
things wouldn’t matter if one was a South African first and an Afrikaaner
second but things are rare or as they say the Afrikaaner is more tribalistic
than the blacks. Such is life.
Meanwhile
the strangest hit show of the year is the Paul Hogan Show. Everybody wants to
give me the credit or congratulate me.
Alan
