The Khoekhoe Saga

The Khoekhoe Saga chronicles the real history of South Africa’s Khoekhoen herders as never told before. Set against the backdrop of breathtaking land and seascapes, comes a story of heroes and villains as an ancient culture clash with the world’s largest multinational company, the Dutch East India Company and later Great Britain.

Told from the perspective of Khoekhoen descendants, this epic film also explores the rich cultural legacy of a forgotten people. The film traces the origins of the Khoekhoe in Northern Botswana and dispersement all over Southern Africa. It also explains the difference between the Khoekhoe and the San (Bushmen). Tribes settled all along the Cape coast as far as the Fish River in the east and the mouth of the Gariep in the north-west.

For decades school text books totally ignored Khoekhoen history, their resistance to the European settlement and subsequent dispossession of land, livestock and water resources. Khoekhoen herders fought bravely with fire hardened sticks against a military force armed with cannons and muskets. The first prisoners on Robben Island were Khoekhoen leaders, such as Autshumao and David Stuurman, who dared to resist the Dutch VOC.

Within a fifty year period the Khoekhoe lost all their land and water resources, and their status dwindled from being owners of large herds of livestock to servants on farms. Many migrated north to escape colonial rule. One such group was the Griquas, a group mixed with Khoekhoe and runaway slaves led by Adam Kok.

Presenter, Rehane Abrahams spends time with descendants of the Hessequas and also takes a country-wide journey to trace the trek of the Griquas. She finally arrives in Kokstad where she meets descendants of those that made the journey more than a hundred years ago. Dr Willa Boezak gives us insight into the spiritual life of the Khoekhoe and explain the reasons for their quick adaptation and conversion to Christianity.

This landmark film uses modern interpretation of historical records by historians, rock art, and excavations by archaeologists, to reveal a new narrative. Its a story of survival of one of the oldest cultures in the world, who faced an unexpected threat to its way of life in 1652 when the Dutch East India Company sets up a refreshment station at the Cape. It is a thought-provoking film that explores the cultural genocide, and dispossession of land inflicted on South Africa’s indigenous people, the Khoekhoe. Today Khoekhoe and San revivalists demand recognition of this neglected history and seek reparation for the injustices of the not too distant past.