In the mist of an indiscreet and fumbling President, a nation is emerging atleast in part, quick to condemn him because of what he is and even at the risk indirectly affirming symbols highly discredited, notorious and highly infamous. To be fair, to the extent our white compatriots, especially the Afrikaner community feeling the mentioning of Jan Van Riebeeck is a direct jibe at them, i can understand this. But the truth of the matter is that Jan is a savage figure in the history of this country. Not only he was a robber baron, a bandit and set the foundations of conquest with tragic consequences, he started a process of complete annihilation of a nation, the Khoi. Just a few years after he left, not only these people had lost their land, they had lost their language, culture and become permanently destitute and South Africas 10th( infact the first) ethnic group/nation disappeared in front of the world. 338 years after this, descendants of this nation are still picking up the pieces with no end in sight. Jan was Dutch and both himself and his company Dutch East India Company are not celebrated in the country of origin and are infact despised, they are not heroes at all in Holland. Why would South Africans who may(or may not)have one particle of his genes out of a thousand care. Infact of all people, Jan s genes could be found more in the very Khoi people he helped destroy than in Zelda since many Khoi women in his castle gave birth to kids whose fathers could not be discussed. Its so tragic seeing the whole nation coaxed into this revisionism, worse black middle and upper class people, these people disgust me.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 07:29:23 +0000
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