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The four men who have walked more than 1000km from Port Elizabeth to Pretoria hoping to meet President Jacob Zuma have been told to wait another seven days.
Chief Khoisan SA, Christian Martin, Brendon Billings and Shane Plaatjies want to meet Zuma and present to him a set of “civil rights” grievances on behalf of the Khoisan community.
The four said they were told this morning – almost two weeks since they started camping on the Union Buildings grounds – that they will know next Tuesday whether Zuma will meet them or not.
Officials from the president’s office told them this after they went back to the Union Buildings visitors’ entrance this morning to demand a meeting with Zuma.
This follows their removal from the same entrance late last night by the police.
“We spent the whole day at the entrance demanding a meeting with President Zuma on Monday and we were still not allowed beyond the security point. Police came after 11pm and we were taken to Sunnyside police station where we were told to choose between the cells and benches in the charge office where they can see us; and we opted to spend the night on the benches,” said Martin.
Barefooted and clad in animal skin covering mainly their private parts, the men who claim they were previously denied entry into the Union Buildings because “we are in their own words, inappropriately dressed”, went back to the state headquarters this morning.
“We went back to the security point again and this time several officials came to see us but still would not allow us in. We wrote a letter demanding a meeting with the president and we were told we will know in seven days if the meeting is granted or not,” Martin said.
“It is very disappointing for all of us but we’re here for that meeting and so we will wait. We’re still maintaining we are not going anywhere until President Jacob Zuma has met and listened to us.”
READ: Khoisan Chief vows to camp at Union Buildings until Zuma agrees to meet
Martin said they have also revised their request and they would be happy to be afforded an audience by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa if Zuma is not available.
The group left Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape on November 13 and arrived in Pretoria on November 30.
Except for last night which they spent at the Sunnyside police station, the four have been camping in small tents on the Union Buildings’ grounds.
They have now started an online petition where their demands are clearly listed.
“When everyone came to this country, they found us here. Our paintings are all over this land, they are our title deeds,” Chief Khoisan SA is quoted as saying on the petition.
They continue to explain that as the “Khoisan/Bushman nation” they call on the South African government to comply with the following:
1. We want to be restored as the First Nation of South Africa.
2. We want to be recognised as a Khoisan/Bushman.
3. We want the KhoiSan language be added as an official language of South Africa with reference to the Code of Arms of the Republic of South Africa.
4. We want the 1913 Land Claims Act to be repealed.
