Khoisan rights supporters marched through Cape Town’s city centre on Friday to protest what an organiser said was the lack of Armistice Day recognition of the historic role of indigenous Khoisan warriors.
The City of Cape Town will hold its annual Armistice Day ceremony at the Cenotaph in Adderley Street on Saturday morning in honour, it said in a media release this week, of ”all South Africans who lost their lives in instances of conflict”.
Friday’s protesters marched to the same venue, where they were addressed by march organiser Henry January, who is chairperson of the South African Cape Corps Trust.
He said afterwards that the indigenous Khoisan warriors who fought against Xhosa and colonial invaders were ”the first soldiers of this country”.
He said the warriors, whom he called ”Cape Boys”, were not recognised in Armistice Day ceremonies.
”We actually rectified a wrong here today,” he said.
January put the number of marchers at about 150. Police said the figure was closer to 60.
Armistice Day services are traditionally held at 11am on November 11, the time and date on which World War I officially ended in 1918, or on the nearest Sunday.
The city’s media release said Cape Town is one of the last cities in the world to hold the remembrance service at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.
Other cities, it said, tend to commemorate Armistice Day on the nearest Sunday. — Sapa