Well-known Khomani San leader and healer Oom Dawid Kruiper has been admitted to an Upington hospital in the Northern Cape for an unknown medical condition.
Kruiper, 71, is the traditional leader and healer of the Khomani San, hunter-gatherers living in the Kalahari Desert.
They are more commonly known as Bushmen.
Dawid Kruiper refers to himself as a Bushman, though not all San people are comfortable with the term Bushmen, which was originally applied to them by Europeans.
He was also known for the role he played as a tracker in the film The God's Must Be Crazy II.
“Oom Dawid” also addressed the United Nations regarding the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in 1994.
Northern Cape social development MEC Alvin Botes made a courteous visit to Oom Dawid at the Gordonia Hospital in Upington on Friday.
Standing at the bedside of the grey-headed Kruiper, Botes said it was good to know that Oom Dawid was getting the best treatment at the hospital.
He hoped that Kruiper would make a good recovery soon.
Khomani San members at the hospital said they were “seer” (hurt) about Kruiper's admission.
They would not allow photos to be taken of Kruiper out of respect for the aged tribal chief.
“Thank you for the respect for our tribal chief,” Maggie Aly said in Afrikaans. - Sapa