KOBUS Faasen describes himself as a direct descendent of the Khoisan. After taking exception to the ongoing use of the term “Bushman” to describe members of South Africa’s first nations, Faasen is suing Media24, owners of Die Burger for an estimated R10 million. The resulting courtroom drama is investigating the crimen injuria resulting from the affront against the dignity of his people, despite many self-described Khoisan showing a disdain for confrontation and general disinterest in a problem which is not unique to South Africa.
This case should be seen in the light of the recent apology issued by the Australian government to people termed Aborigenes. South Africa shares a settler history with Australia, and so the world is watching to see if this case sheds any light on the trauma and suffering experienced by victims of colonisation, as well as the inevitable impact on freedom of expression.
When Faasen is done with Media24, perhaps he will turn his eyes to a local chile sauce manufacture, whose product “Bushman’s” is bound to offend those who remember a time when tannies utterring the racist phrase, “Hotter than a B@$&^%#$ bum” was an accepted ephithet in reference to the African weather. Whatever ones feelings about political correctness and whether or not the courts should be interfearing in free speech, the case of the Khoisan, and whether or not the term First Nation is a better collective phrase than “Bushmen” or “Aborginal”, is a special one indeed.
WILL the SA-govern
ment follow the lead taken by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd who apologised for the systematic abuse of the country’s first nations? First Nations around the world have already praised the move, and called for other governments in the Commonwealth such as South Africa to follow suit. Canada’s national chief of the Assembly of First Nations said the Canadian government should match an apology Australia has made to its aboriginal people. Although South Africa’s Khoi-San have been accorded recognition in South Africa’s heritage, and various steps have been taken to counteract their marginalisation, there has yet to be an official apology for the virtual extermination of indigenous people of the Sub-contintent, such as the Khoi-Khoi who enjoyed over 20 000 years of history before being dislodged by European and Nguni Settlers.
On April 29, 2005. Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley, Jr., signed what is believed to be the first Native American tribal law banning uranium mining and milling. With dozens of community members and dignitaries looking on, Shirley signed the Diné Natural Resources Protection Act (DNRPA) of 2005, which was passed by the Navajo Nation Council by a vote of 63-19 on April 19. As amended by the Council during floor debate, the act states, “No person shall engage in uranium mining and processing on any sites within Navajo Indian Country.” The law is based on the Fundamental Laws of the Diné, which are already codified in Navajo statutes. The act finds that based on those fundamental laws, “certain substances in the Earth (doo nal yee dah) that are harmful to the people should not be disturbed, and that the people now know that uranium is one such substance, and therefore, that its extraction should be avoided as traditional practice and prohibited by Navajo law.”