BOESMANS

In 2002.. while I was still fresh from Cape Town working in Durban, an MTN colleague of mine, Cherise Williams (from Da East), was asked by another colleague what race group she thinks I am from.

Because I am dark-skinned, I thought she would probably say Zulu or Nigerian.. but no.. my sister spoke a word I had heard for the first time that day. She said “Bushie” .

At the time I had no idea what it meant, and thought that’s probably how Coloured refer to Zulus. Continuing the conversation, I concluded that Bushie is actually a precis-fied version of Coloured.

I am now planted and rooted in Durban and have heard the word “Bushie” used ad nauseum. The thing that hit me is that whilst Coloureds in Durban jokingly refer to each other as “Bushies”, technically they are really BOESMANS… descendants of the original nomadic tribes that wandered the Southern parts of Africa for centuries. In the article about Tatum Keshwar being labelled “ethnic indian” by an Indian news website, there’s a link to the Indian website.. and on that website someone actually commented that Tatum is of “mixed” descent.

No.. hell to the NO.. Tatum is BOESMAN.

Referring to ourselves as “mixed” creates the notion that we’re neither here nor there.. not really knowing where we belong. No culture. No heritage. No history. No ancestry. No pride.

Being from Cape Town I have had countless history lessons on the history of the Coloured people. Thanks to my friends Quinton Betram Fredericks, his wife Beverley Mitchell and long-time acquaintance Brian Ebden I know a lot more than the average Coloured person about who and what we are.

And teh one thing I want to stress and impress is that – my brothers and sisters – YOU ARE NOT MIXED. Mixing is for deejays.