Coloureds

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Coloured" redirects here. For the component ethnic group originating in the Cape, see Cape Coloureds. For usage of the term outside Southern Africa, see Colored. For other uses, see Color (disambiguation).
Coloureds
Rehoboth Basters, Tswana
Coloured people as a proportion of the total population in South Africa.
  •   0–20%
  •   20–40%
  •   40–60%
  •   60–80%
  •   80–100%
Density of the Coloured population in South Africa.
  •   <1 /km²
  •   1–3 /km²
  •   3–10 /km²
  •   10–30 /km²
  •   30–100 /km²
  •   100–300 /km²
  •   300–1000 /km²
  •   1000–3000 /km²
  •   >3000 /km²
A genetic clustering of South African Coloured and five source populations.[6] Each vertical bar represents individual.

Coloureds (

ethnic communities in South Africa who may have ancestry from African, European, and Asian people. The intermixing of different races began in the Cape province of South Africa, with Dutch settlers, African and Malaysian slaves intermixing with the indigenous Khoi tribes of that region. Later various other European nationals also contributed to the growing mixed race people, who would later be officially classified as coloured by the apartheid government in the 1950s.[7][8]

Coloured was a legally defined racial classification during apartheid referring to anyone not white or not of the black Bantu tribes. Among the coloured population, approximately +-million are direct descendants of the Khoi or San people. These first nation coloureds are presently reclaiming their rightful identity as indigenous people.[9]

In the

Cape Malay culture developed. Genetic studies suggest the group has the highest levels of mixed ancestry in the world. Mitochondrial DNA
studies have demonstrated that many maternal lines of the Cape Coloured population are descended from Khoi and San and Xhosa women. In other parts of Southern Africa, people classified as Coloured were usually the descendants of individuals from two distinct ethnicities.

Coloureds are mostly found in the western part of South Africa. In

South African National Census of 2011.[10]
: 11, 57 

The apartheid-era Population Registration Act, 1950 and subsequent amendments, codified the Coloured identity and defined its subgroups, including Cape Coloureds and Malays. Indian South Africans were initially classified under the act as a subgroup of Coloured.[11] As a consequence of Apartheid policies and despite the abolition of the Population Registration Act in 1991, Coloureds are regarded as one of four race groups in South Africa. These groups (blacks, whites, Coloureds and Indians) still tend to have strong racial identities and to classify themselves and others as members of these race groups.[12][8] The classification continues to persist in government policy, to an extent, as a result of attempts at redress such as Black Economic Empowerment and Employment Equity.[8][13][14]

Background

Adam Kok III, leader of the Coloured Griqua People

The Cape Coloured community is predominantly descended from numerous interracial sexual unions, primarily between Western European men and Khoisan or mixed-race women in the Cape Colony from the 17th century onwards.[15][16] A ten year study of African genetics worldwide noted the Cape Coloured community has highest levels of mixed ancestry anywhere, including African, European, East Asian and South Indian contributions.[17][18]

All Coloureds possess a diverse heritage including Dutch, Khoisan, Zulu, Indian and Indonesian descent.[19][20]

Zimbabwean Coloureds are descended from

Afrikaner settlers, as well as Arab and Asian people. Griqua, on the other hand, are descendants of Khoisan women and Afrikaner Trekboers. Despite these major differences, as both groups have ancestry from more than one naturalised racial group, they are classified as coloured in the South African context. Such mixed-race people did not necessarily self-identify this way; some preferred to call themselves black or Khoisan or just South African.[citation needed
]

The Griqua were subjected to an ambiguity of other

Khoikhoi tribes.[19] In South Africa and many neighbouring countries, the white minority governments historically segregated Africans from Europeans after settlement had progressed, and increasingly classified all mixed race people together into a third group, despite their numerous ethnic and national differences in ancestry. The imperial and apartheid
governments categorized them as Coloured. In addition, other distinctly homogeneous ethnic groups also traditionally viewed the mixed-race populations as a separate group, and a growing number of mixed-race people also embraced a shared identity.

During the

Negroes, and Cape Coloureds
.

Of particular importance is the fact that the instruction to classify "coloured persons" as a distinct racial group included individuals of African descent, commonly referred to as

Negroes. Therefore, it is important to note that Cape Coloureds, as a group of mixed-race individuals, also have African ancestry and can be considered as part of the broader African diaspora.[22]

Although the apartheid government recognised various coloured subgroups, including the Cape Malays and Cape Coloureds, the Coloured population, was for many purposes treated as a single group, despite their varying ancestries and cultures. Also during apartheid, many Griqua began to self-identify as Coloureds during the apartheid era, because of the benefits of such classification. For example, Coloureds did not have to carry a

dompas
(a pass, an identity document designed to limit the movements of the black population), while the Griqua, who were seen as an indigenous African group, did.

Colin speaking Afrikaans.

In the 21st century, Coloured people constitute a plurality of the population in the provinces of Western Cape (48.8%), and a large minority in the Northern Cape (40.3%), both areas of centuries of mixing among the populations. In the Eastern Cape, they make up 8.3% of the population. Most speak Afrikaans, as they were generally descendants of Dutch and Afrikaner men and grew up in their society. About twenty percent of the Coloured speak English as their mother tongue, mostly those of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. Virtually all Cape Town Coloureds are bilingual.[23][24]

Genetics

At least one genetic study indicates that Cape Coloureds have ancestries from the following ethnic groups; not all Coloureds in South Africa had the same ancestry.[25]

The

Malagasy component in the Coloured composite gene pool is itself a blend of Malay and Bantu genetic markers
.

This genetic admixture appears to be gender-biased. A majority of maternal genetic material is Khoisan. The Cape Coloured population is descended predominantly from unions of European and European-African males with autochthonous Khoisan females.[15][16]

Coloureds in KwaZulu-Natal tend to be descended from unions between Zulu women and British settlers, and the group includes people with Mauritian and St Helenian ancestry.[20][19]

History

Pre-apartheid era

Coloured people played an important role in the struggle against apartheid and its predecessor policies. The

African Political Organisation, established in 1902, had an exclusively Coloured membership; its leader Abdullah Abdurahman rallied Coloured political efforts for many years.[26] Many Coloured people later joined the African National Congress and the United Democratic Front
. Whether in these organisations or others, many Coloured people were active in the fight against apartheid.

The political rights of Coloured people varied by location and over time. In the 19th century they theoretically had similar rights to Whites in the

Transvaal Republic or the Orange Free State, they had few rights. Coloured members were elected to Cape Town's municipal authority (including, for many years, Abdurahman). The establishment of the Union of South Africa gave Coloured people the franchise, although by 1930 they were restricted to electing White representatives. They conducted frequent voting boycotts in protest. Such boycotts may have contributed to the victory of the National Party
in 1948. It carried out an apartheid programme that stripped Coloured people of their remaining voting powers.

The term "kaffir" is a racial slur used to refer to Black African people in South Africa. While it is still used against black people, it is not as prevalent as it is against coloured people.[27][28]

Apartheid era

Explanation of South African identity numbers in an identity document during apartheid in terms of official White, Coloured and Indian population subgroups

Coloured people were subject to forced relocation. For instance, the government relocated Coloured from the urban Cape Town areas of District Six, which was later bulldozed. Other areas they were forced to leave included Constantia, Claremont, Simon's Town. Inhabitants were moved to racially designated sections of the metropolitan area on the Cape Flats. Additionally, under apartheid, Coloured people received education inferior to that of Whites. It was, however, better than that provided to Black South Africans.

South Africa Act, the Union's effective constitution. In order to bypass this safeguard, enforced since 1909 to ensure Coloured political rights in the then-British Cape Colony
, Strijdom's government passed legislation to expand the number of Senate seats from 48 to 89. All of the additional 41 members hailed from the National Party, increasing its representation in the Senate to 77 in total. The Appellate Division Quorum Bill increased the number of judges necessary for constitutional decisions in the Appeal Court from five to eleven. Strijdom, knowing that he had his two-thirds majority, held a joint sitting of parliament in May 1956. The entrenchment clause regarding the Coloured vote, known as the South Africa Act, were thus eliminated and the Separate Representation of Voters Act passed, now successfully.

Coloureds were placed on a separate voters' roll from the 1958 election to the House of Assembly and forward. They could elect four Whites to represent them in the

governor general could appoint one senator. Both blacks and Whites opposed this measure, particularly from the United Party and more liberal opposition. The Torch Commando was very prominent, while the Black Sash (White women, uniformly dressed, standing on street corners with placards) also made themselves heard. In this way, the question of the Coloured vote became one of the first measures of the regime's unscrupulous nature and flagrant willingness to manipulate its inherited Westminster system
. It would remain in power until 1994.

Many Coloureds refused to register for the new voters' roll and the number of Coloured voters dropped dramatically. In the next election, only 50.2% of them voted. They had no interest in voting for White representatives — an activity which many of them saw as pointless, and only persisted for ten years.

Under the

Chinese South African community was also classified as a coloured subgroup.[29][30]

In 1958, the government established the Department of Coloured Affairs, followed in 1959 by the Union for Coloured Affairs. The latter had 27 members and served as an advisory link between the government and the Coloured people.

The 1964 Coloured Persons Representative Council turned out to be a constitutional hitch[clarification needed] which never really got going. In 1969, the Coloureds elected forty onto the council to supplement the twenty nominated by the government, taking the total number to sixty.

Following the

hold the first universal election
.

Post-apartheid era

During the 1994 all-race elections, Coloured people voted heavily for the white National Party, which in its first contest with a non-white majority won 20% of the vote and a majority in the new Western Cape province – much due to Cape Coloured support. The National Party recast itself as the New National Party after De Klerk's departure in 1996, partly to attract non-White voters, and grew closer to the ANC. This political alliance, often perplexing to outsiders, has sometimes been explained in terms of the culture and language shared by White and Coloured New National Party members, who both spoke Afrikaans. In addition, both groups opposed affirmative action programmes that might give preference to Black South Africans, and some Coloured people feared giving up older privileges, such as access to municipal jobs, if African National Congress gained leadership in the government. After the absorption of the NNP into the ANC in 2005, Coloured voters have generally drawn to the Democratic Alliance, with some opting for minor parties such as Vryheidsfront and Patricia de Lille's Independent Democrats, with lukewarm support for the ANC.

Since the late 20th century, Coloured identity politics have grown in influence. The Western Cape has been a site of the rise of opposition parties, such as the Democratic Alliance (DA). The Western Cape is considered as an area in which this party might gain ground against the dominant African National Congress. The Democratic Alliance drew in some former New National Party voters and won considerable Coloured support. The New National Party collapsed in the 2004 elections. Coloured support aided the Democratic Alliance's victory in the 2006 Cape Town municipal elections.

Patricia de Lille, who became mayor of Cape Town in 2011 on the platform of the now-defunct Independent Democrats, does not use the label Coloured but many observers would consider her as Coloured by visible appearance. The Independent Democrats party sought the Coloured vote and gained significant ground in the municipal and local elections in 2006, particularly in districts in the Western Cape with high proportions of Coloured residents. The firebrand Peter Marais (formerly a provincial leader of the New National Party) has sought to portray his New Labour Party as the political voice for Coloured people.

Coloured people supported and were members of the African National Congress before, during and after the apartheid era: notable politicians include Ebrahim Rasool (previously Western Cape premier), Beatrice Marshoff, John Schuurman, Allan Hendrickse and Trevor Manuel, longtime Minister of Finance. The Democratic Alliance won control over the Western Cape during the 2009 National and Provincial Elections and subsequently brokered an alliance with the Independent Democrats.

The ANC has had some success in winning Coloured votes, particularly among labour-affiliated and middle-class Coloured voters. Some Coloureds express distrust of the ANC with the comment, saying that the Coloured were considered "not white enough under apartheid and not black enough under the ANC."[31] In the 2004 election, voter apathy was high in historically Coloured areas.[32] The ANC faces the dilemma of having to balance the increasingly nationalistic economic aspirations of its core black African support base, with its ambition to regain control of the Western Cape, which would require support from Coloureds.[14]

Southern Africa

Racial-demographic map of South Africa published by the CIA in 1979, with data from the 1970 South African census.

The term

Coloureds
were treated by the government in a way comparable to that of South African Coloureds.

In Zimbabwe and to a lesser extent Zambia, the term Coloured or Goffal was used to refer to people of mixed race. Most are descended from mixed African and British, or African and Indian, progenitors. Some Coloured families descended from Cape Coloured migrants from South Africa who had children with local women. Under Rhodesia's predominantly white government, Coloureds had more privileges than black Africans, including full voting rights, but still faced social discrimination. The term Coloured is also used in Eswatini.

Culture

Lifestyle

As far as family life, housing, eating habits, clothing and so on are concerned, the Christian Coloureds generally maintain a Western lifestyle. Marriages are strictly monogamous, although extramarital and premarital sexual relationships can occur and are perceived differently from family to family. Among the working and agrarian classes, permanent relationships are often officially ratified only after a while if at all.

The average family size of six does not differ from those of other Western families and, as with the latter, is generally related to socio-economic status. Extended families are common. Coloured children are often expected to refer to any extended relatives as their "auntie" or "uncle" as a formality.

While many affluent families live in large, modern, and sometimes luxurious homes, many urban coloured people rely on state-owned economic and sub-economic housing.

Cultural aspects

There are many singing and choir associations as well as orchestras in the Coloured community. The Eoan Group Theatre Company performs opera and ballet in Cape Town. The Kaapse Klopse carnival, held annually on 2 January in Cape Town, and the Cape Malay choir and orchestral performances are an important part of the city's holiday season. Kaapse Klopse consists of several competing groups that have been singing and dancing through Cape Town's streets on New Year's Day earlier this year. Nowadays the drumlines in cheerful, brightly Coloured costumes perform in a stadium. Christmas festivities take place in a sacred atmosphere but are no less vivid, mainly including choirs and orchestras that sing and play Christmas songs in the streets. In the field of performing arts and literature, several Coloureds performed with the CAPAB (Cape Performing Arts Board) ballet and opera company, and the community yielded three major Afrikaans poets the well-known poets, Adam Small, S.V. Petersen, and P.J. Philander. In 1968, the Culture and Recreation Council was established to promote the cultural activities of the Coloured Community.

Education

Until 1841 missionary societies provided all the school facilities for Coloured children.

All South African children are expected to attend school from the age of seven to sixteen years, at the minimum.

Economic activities

Initially, Coloureds were mainly semi-skilled and unskilled labourers who, as builders, masons, carpenters and painters, made an important contribution to the early construction industry in the Cape. Many were also fishermen and farm workers, and the latter had an important share in the development of the wine, fruit and grain farms in the Western Cape.

The Malays were, and still are, skilled furniture makers, dressmakers and coopers. In recent years, more and more Coloureds have been working in the manufacturing and construction industry. There are still many Coloured fishermen, and most Coloureds in the countryside are farm workers and even farmers. The largest percentage of economically active Coloureds is found in the manufacturing industry. About 35% of the economically active Coloured women are employed in clothing, textile, food and other factories.

Another important field of work is the service sector, while an ever-increasing number of Coloureds operate in administrative, clerical and sales positions. All the more professional and managerial posts are. In order to stimulate the economic development of Coloureds, the Coloured Development Corporation was established in 1962. The corporation provided capital to businessmen, offered training courses and undertook the establishment of shopping centres, factories and the like.

Distribution

A majority of those who identify as Coloured live in the Western Cape, where they make up almost half of the province's population. In the 2011 South African census the distribution of the group per province was as follows:[33]

Province Population % of Coloureds % of province
Eastern Cape 541,850 11.74 8.26
Free State
 83,844 1.82 3.05
Gauteng 423,594 9.18 3.45
KwaZulu-Natal 141,376 3.06 1.38
Limpopo 14,415 0.31 0.27
Mpumalanga 36,611 0.79 0.91
North West 71,409 1.55 2.03
Northern Cape 461,899 10.01 40.31
Western Cape 2,840,404 61.54 48.78
Total 4,615,401 100.0 8.92

Language

Coloured people were some of the first speakers of

Setswana which was spoken by 0.87% of the group.[33]

Language Number in 2011 %
Afrikaans
 3,442,164 74.58%
English 945,847 20.49%
Setswana
 40,351 0.87%
isiXhosa
 25,340 0.55%
isiZulu
 23,797 0.52%
Sesotho
 23,230 0.50%
Sign language 11,891 0.26%
isiNdebele 8,225 0.18%
Sepedi
 5,642 0.12%
siSwati
 4,056 0.09%
Tshivenda
 2,847 0.06%
Xitsonga
 2,268 0.05%
Sign language 5,702 0.12%
Not applicable 74,043 1.60%
Total 4,616,401 100.0%

Cuisine

See also: South African cuisine

Numerous South African cuisines can be traced back to Coloured people. Bobotie, snoek based dishes, koe'sisters, bredies, Malay roti and gatsbies are staple diets of Coloureds and other South Africans as well.[34]

See also

References

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  2. ^ "Namibia" CIA World Factbook. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  3. ^ "Zimbabwe Population Census 2012" (PDF). Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT). October 2013. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
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  14. ^ a b "BBC News - How race still colours South African elections". BBC News. April 20, 2011. Archived from the original on November 20, 2014.
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  21. ^ Nurse 1975:71
  22. ^ Moultrie, A. T., & Dorrington, R. Used for ill, used for good: A century of collecting data on race in South Africa. pp. 7, 8. Moultrie and Dorrington. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232827270_Used_for_ill_used_for_good_A_century_of_collecting_data_on_race_in_South_Africa
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  28. ^ Mathabane, M. (1986). Kaffir Boy: The True Story of a Black Youth's Coming of Age in Apartheid South Africa. Simon & Schuster. (Chapter 2)
  29. ^ An appalling "science"
  30. ^ Graham Leach, South Africa : no easy path to peace (1986), p. 70: Population Registration Act, 1959 cape coloured
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  32. ^ Faull, Jonathan (June 21, 2004). "Election Synopsis - How the West was Won (and Lost) - May 2004". Institute for Democracy in Africa. Archived from the original on June 18, 2008. Retrieved 2009-10-23.
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Bibliography

Novels

External links

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