OPINION

South Africa's white Coloureds

Piet Swanepoel |
15 March 2011
Piet Swanepoel says most Afrikaners can claim black descent

The controversy around the statement about the number of "Coloureds" in the Western Cape and recent articles about this group of people promp one to ask for a definition  of a "Coloured" person.

In a previous article I claimed that the Black Economic Empowerment Act provides no definition for "Coloureds". It merely states that  Blacks are "Africans, Coloureds and Indians".  I contended that anyone claiming to have the genes of an indigenous African  or of any non-European, can, in terms of the Act, claim to be Black.

I went on to say that Eva, the Khoi (or "Hottentot") girl,who grew up in Jan van Riebeeck's house, was not the only non-European woman to marry a European in South Africa.  In H.F. Heese's book, Groep Sonder Grense, the particulars of more than a thousand  marriages between Europeans and non-European people in the period 1652 to 1795 in the Cape are recorded.

Nobody has ever sat down to work out how many Afrikaners have non-European genes which would enable them to claim to be  Blacks, but I have now made a list of the surnames and numbers of people who married descendants of just one of Eva's great-grandchildren. I have included in this list only those surnames of which seven or more people married persons with Eva's genes.

To get an idea of how many Afrikaners this list represents, I can mention that one of the 106 Swanepoels on the list was my great-grandfather. His descendants alone run into the hundreds.

Genealogists will tell you that Afrikaners are practically all related to each other. Technically, therefore, all Afrikaners can claim to be black.  Dividing South Africans on racial grounds, however, is not only morally reprehensible, it is also legally unsound and people with the means to do so should test its validity in Court.

SURNAMES AND   NUMBERS OF SOME OF THE PERSONS WHO  MARRIED PELSER   DESCENDANTS OF EVA, THE KHOI GIRL

Aucamp 27 Greyling 60 Pansegrouw 12
Audie 10 Greyvenstein 8 Pienaar 40
Badenhorst 12 Griesel 16 Pieters 10
Barnard 24 Grobbelaar 25 Pietersen 17
Basson 15 Grobler 138 Potas 10
Bekker 11 Harmse 19 Potgieter 52
Benade 9 Hattingh 44 Pretorius 130
Bester  31 Haupt 8 Prinsloo 48
Beyleveld 8 Henning 84 Ras 11
Bezuidenhout 26 Horn 9 Rautenbach 17
Blignaut 11 Human 23 Reyneke 23
Blom 13 Jacobs 23 Richter 11
 Booysen 12 Janse van Rensburg 32 Roberts 11
Boshoff 9 Janse van Vuuren 35 Roodt 10
Bosman 7 Jonker 11 Roos 9
Botes 13 Jooste  16 Roux 19
Botha 98 Jordaan 24 Scheepers 13
Breedt 27 Joubert  23 Schlebusch 17
Brits 22 Krogh 7 Schmidt 8
Britz 12 Kleynhans 29 Schoeman 10
Bronkhorst 21 Klopper  7 Schulz 7
Brummer 7 Knoetze 9 Schutte 25
Bruwer 8 Koekemoer 19 Slabbert 8
Buitendag 13 Kotze 52 Smit 92
Burger 15 Krause 8 Smith 72
Buys 48 Kriek 7 Snyman 20
Cilliers 10 Kriel 8 Stander 7
Claassen 7 Kruger 236 Steenekamp 30
Cloete  10 Labuschagne   Steenkamp 74
 Coetsee 70 Le Roux  22 Steyn 61
Coetzee 216 Liebenberg 13 Struwig 14
Coetzer 13 Liversage 7 Strydom 56
Craucamp 8 Lotter 9 Swanepoel      106
Cronje 10 Lourens 11 Swart 38
Davel 10 Louw 23 Tait 8
De Beer 52 Lubbe  14 Terblanche 8
De Bruin 17 Maartens 13 Van den Berg 25
De Bruyn 17 Malan 29 Van den Heever  10
De Jonge 8 Mans 13 Van der Linde 10
De Klerk 44 Marais 67 Van der Merwe 82
De Kock 19 Maree 7 Van der Walt 213
De Lange 16 Martin 8 Van der Westhuizen 43 43
De Villiers 25 Meintjies 9 Van Eeden 14
De Wet 21 Meyer 62 Van Heerden 40
De Winnaar  11 Minnaar 12 Van Jaarsveld 19
De Witt 9 Mocke  13 Van Rooyen 27
Delport  20 Mostert 12 Van Schalkwyk9 9
Dietrichsen 7 Mouton 7 Van Staden 18
Du Plessis 88 Muller 7 Van Tonder 43
Du Plooy 60 Myburgh 40 Van Wyk 62
Du Preez 29 Nagel 66 Van Zyl 60
Du Toit 55 Naude 17 Venter 150
Duvenage 20 Nel 77 Verster 8
Eloff 23 Niemann 9 Viljoen 36
Els`` 24 Nienaber 22 Visagie 7
Engelbrecht  17 Nieuwenhuizen 11   Visser 21
Erasmus 35 Nortje 24 Viviers 11
Esterhuizen 7 Oberholzer 39 Vorster 41
Ferreira 13 Odendaal 9 Welthagen 10
Fouche 7 Oelofse 15 Williamson 8
Fourie  84 Olivier 42 Zwanepoel 14
Goose  7 Oosthuizen 24    
Gouws 11 Opperman 10    

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