Princess Vlei is our link to our humanity and reclamation of our African identity and Self-worth.

Princess Vlei is our link to our humanity and reclamation of our African identity and Self-worth.

 It is with deep pain and disgust that I write this plea to avoid the building of a Mall on the banks of our beloved Princess Vlei. “Skelmpies”, as a kid, I ran to the vlei with my “brasse” to catch fish. I say “skelmpies”, because we all knew the legend of the Khoisan Princess that was raped and lost her love there and how her spirit would take a boy or a man’s life in the vlei every year. When I was a kid I was taught by the Apartheid system to fear anything African, but today I am who I am because of these magnificent first peoples blood running through our veins.


 It is with this knowledge and realization that I now encourage our communities to stand up and make sure that this memory is not cemented away for greed and so-called progress. This heritage is what will stop gangsterism, crime, drug abuse and violence. This knowledge will bring a sense of belonging to the so-called coloured community that is made to feel like immigrants in their own country. This knowledge will give back our connection to the first people of the land and we will reclaim our self-worth. Yes, that very same Princess I feared as a kid, I now LOVE as an adult. It is said that they took her to “Elephants Eye” as a hostage and when she cried her tears formed, ran into and live on in Princess Vlei, Zeekoe Vlei, Rondevlei and Zandvlei. These are stories I wish to tell my children while relaxing along the banks of the vlei, so that they can feel at home. I will tell them that we come from long lineage that stretches back to the beginning of mankind and like those tears our peoples blood are in all people. My children will finally feel equal and part of the human race and not some bastard tribe that Apartheid created. I will tell them that we belong to the land and have to protect it because it is our only home. I will tell them how we were taught to forget and write the San and the Khoi off as uncivilized and child-like by our oppressors because they knew it would destroy our humanity. I will tell them how the Khoi and San live on when we say “er” and “he er” as they mean yes and no in Nama/ “Bushman” language. I will show them Nama words like Gogga, Kriekie, Gwagga, Dagga, Boechoe, Abba, Eina, Aitsa, that are still in the Afrikaans dictionary and how they helped to create that language. I will tell them about the natural fish traps at Kommetjie and the name Hoerikwaggo for Table Mountain and they will be proud. I will tell them how the Khoisan named the Xhosa (which means angry looking man in Nama) and how they shared the three clicks out of four in Nama with them. I will tell them how everyone in South Africa is living on the land of the San and Khoi and how forgetting them, will be like forgetting our common humanity.

As we sit and watch the sun set, I will dig my fingers into the soil and know that I am blessed, for within them lie ancient dormant “fynbos” seeds that can be found nowhere else in the world. As I watch my children play on her banks, maybe she will not take our men any longer, for we have stood up and saved her from being raped this time. Toa tama !kams ge  (Nama for “The Struggle Continues)

 Emile Jansen aka Emile YX? of Black Noise

Born & Raised in Grassy Park, net lanks die vlei

P.O.Box 31184, Grassy Park 7888, Cape Town 8000, 0217060481, 0823958125, emileyx@gmail.com