A group of 30 people identifying themselves as Khoi or San continue to “walk in the footsteps of their ancestors” with the sixth annual Indigenous Liberation Walk.
The group gathered in George last week before travelling to Victoria West, in the central Karoo. They were embarking on a 1 000km journey on Saturday as they walk to Vanrhynsdorp on the West Coast and then to Cape Town.
Indigenous rights activist /Namtagob Neal Hartman Ligter, from George, said they were not asking permission to live as Khoi or San, but demanding respect of their culture and languages.
“The first group in 2013 walked with the intention to deliver a memorandum to Parliament that the United Nations has a declaration recognising the rights of the indigenous peoples.
"This has evolved to something more,” said Ligter.
In 2004, Khomani San leader Dawid Kruiper walked more than 1000km from his home in the Kalahari to have an audience with then president Thabo Mbeki. Though unsuccessful, this had brought the attention of the country to the plight faced by indigenous people.
One of the founders of the walk, /ae /uib /khombkhoeb Joey Klintin, said indigenous people had undertaken this walk since 2013.
“We have almost 30 people participating this year, who identify as indigenous or have decided to live more natural lives which coincide with our way of living. Along the walk we meet people and talk to them because we want to show them what they believe about the Khoi or Boesman is not the reality,” said Klintin.
He said a mother whose parents immigrated to Canada during the apartheid era and her daughter had returned home to participate in the walk.