[intro]President Jacob Zuma’s assertion that the problems in South Africa started with the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck, set off some lively public debate recently. Two weeks ago, Zubeida Jaffer, Publisher of The Journalist wrote a piece in which she argued that Van Riebeeck set off a legacy of exclusion that has persisted to this very day. Freedom Front Plus leader Dr Pieter Mulder has offered this response our story.[/intro]
You cannot change historical facts.
It is a historical fact that Jan van Riebeeck arrived in Table Bay on 6 April 1652.
It is a historical fact that Jan van Riebeeck found Autshumao, whom he called Harry, the Strandloper (Beach Walker) and his people in Table Bay.
Why do we so often disagree about history then?
Because people interpret historical facts differently.
Also because some people often abuse history to mobilise others. With this they try and achieve their own goals in the present time. Then we choose historical facts that suit us and leave other uncomfortable facts out. With this we create historical myths which are partially true — but do not portray history fully in a balanced way. The myths of history we create in this way say more about the times in which the myths were established than the period that history covers.
Dan Brown writes in his book The Da Vinci Code (p. 343):
“History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books – books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. Napoleon once said: ‘What is history, but a fable agreed upon?’ By its very nature, history is always a very one-sided account.”
At present South African history is again being analysed from new angles and re-written, especially by the ANC which sees itself as the victors after 1994. What I find to be a pity is that exactly the same mistakes of the past are being made now. In the new version of history the Afrikaner and whites are always just bad and Black, Brown, Khoisan and the other people are always just good and innocent. People and history are never that simple.
Madiba’s Guiding Principle
President Mandela said during the 10th year anniversary of his inauguration (10 May 2004) that a guiding principle for him “has been that there are good men and women to be found in all groups and from all sectors of society, and that in an open and free society those South Africans will come together to jointly and co-operatively realise the common good”.
This is also my problem with the article “Eight years of Jan van Riebeeck.”
According to the article Autshumao and his followers are only good and innocent. Jan van Riebeeck and his followers are only bad and mean. The history of that period is much more complex than that, with good and bad people on both sides.
Seen from the point of view of the KhoiSan, the writer is correct that Van Riebeeck had permanently disrupted and changed the lives of the KhoiSan. Many of them were later killed in punitive expeditions and the great Smallpox epidemics of 1713, 1755 and 1767 completely wiped out some tribes. The KhoiSan were forced into the interior, just like many years before, they had been forced south out of the current KwaZulu-Natal area by the Nguni tribes. Only their rock paintings remained in the Drakensberg Mountains.
But what do the facts look like from the Dutch perspective? Facts that the writer omits.
According to the writer, the local KhoiSan residents always acted cordially toward Europeans at all times. The diaries of the early sea farers differ from this.
In 1510, Francisco d’ Almeida, a Portuguese viceroy, was killed in Table Bay following a skirmish with local residents. The Portuguese sea farers thereafter received instructions to try and avoid landing at the South African coast. This helps to explain why South Africa was never a Portuguese colony like Angola and Mozambique.
The Dutch sea farers wrote about the friendliness or hostility of local residents at the Cape which they found to be “unpredictable”. The Dutch merchant Cornelis Specx and 14 of his crew were murdered in 1638 in Table Bay when they ventured too far away from their ship.
With the arrival of Jan van Riebeeck in 1652 he had specific instructions form the Lords Seventeen (Heeren Sewentien). He had to build a fort for safety but also received strict instructions to live in peace with the local population. The aim was not to disrupt their lives or to wipe them out, but to build good relations with them in order to trade with them.
Religion vs Race
For that they needed an interpreter for communication. Autshumato, (Harry the Beach Walker), his niece Krotoa (Eva) and Doman acted as interpreters. Krotoa (Eve) became part of Van Riebeeck’s family and lived with them. She converted to Christianity, was baptised and married a Dutch man, Pieter van Meerhof. From their marriage three children were born who became part of the Dutch community. This shows how the original division was not based upon race, but on religion. Race would only become an important divisive factor in the 18th century.
Van Riebeeck writes how he struggled to execute his orders because the different KhoiSan groups were internally divided and distrusted each other. They also did not always want to trade and barter with cattle. Some of the groups or tribes with whom he struggled, included the Goringhaiconas (the Beach Walkers of Autshumato) and the Goringhaiquas (the Cape Men under Kokosoa). He does however write positively about the Saldanha who were more eager to trade.
For more than a year after 1652, it went well. Then on 19 October 1653, Autshumato and his followers stole nearly all the cattle from the Company. They also murdered the herdsman, David Janz.
Van Riebeeck wrote how shocked he was that “die tolk Herrij, die doorgaens van onse taeffel als een groot vrunt alle dagen is gespijst met Hollandse cleederen gecleet, so iets kon doen.” (How the interpreter Harry, who often as a friend had dined with us at our table wearing Dutch clothing, could do something like this.)
Later they found out how Doman, the other interpreter, had encouraged the Goringhaiquas (the Cape Men) to go and steal more cattle during rainy weather as Van Riebeeck and his people could not use their flint lock guns because the fuses would be wet.
In July 1659 the herdsman Sijmon in’t Velt, was knifed to death and a further 68 cattle and 67 sheep are driven off. For this a decision was taken to build a fence, which the article refers to. Conflict amongst the Dutch and the local population followed until April 1660. After talks between the groups, peace agreements were signed with the leaders of the different groups and the reconciliation policy was resumed.
Clash of Cultures
The final balanced history of that time will still have to be written. It will lie somewhere between the KhoiSan and Dutch perspectives. It will explain how two different cultural approaches had clashed at the Cape. The Dutch who came from Europe where individual and private property rights to land was the custom as opposed to the KhoiSan who believed the land belonged to everyone for their use. The KhoiSan who kept cattle just for their own use as opposed to the Dutch who traded to make a profit and to be ready to provide huge Dutch navies with meat.
When this is written about from today’s perspective, the question has to be asked whether South Africa would be a better place if Jan van Riebeeck had never come to the Cape. This is, after all, today’s debate. Would the highways have been broader, hospitals bigger and the TV better without Jan van Riebeeck and his descendants’ contribution?
Currently, South Africa is an economic giant in Africa. Nearly half of all tarred roads in Africa are found in South Africa as well as the biggest hospitals in the Southern hemisphere with more cell phones in South Africa than there are adults. The descendants of Autshumato today also make use of these hospitals, roads, television and cellular phones.
What is the danger of history myths which is used for present day mobilisation? One example:
In Rwanda, the Hutu leaders created history myths to show that the country’s troubles were created by the Tutsis and not caused by the leadership. When the problems did not go away, the ordinary Hutus started calling the Tutsi’s “cockroaches” and decided one day to get rid of the “cockroaches”. Up to a million Tutsis were murdered in 100 days.
At the beginning of this year, President Zuma spoke about South Africa’s history.
Where do South Africa’s problems come from? The honourable President says: “a man called Jan van Riebeek arrived here and that was the start of the trouble in this country.” I can show that the President is wrong in that he keeps quiet about the Black-on-Black wars or the Black and KhoiSan clashes before 1652. The question is however, what exactly did he say in plain language? He says that when the white man arrived here, the trouble started.
Evil Spirits
With the commemoration of the ANC’s 103rd birthday this year at the Cape Town stadium, the praise singer and worship leader, Ockert Lewies, referred to Mr Zuma’s remarks about Van Riebeeck. In his praise song he told the 40 000 people in the stadium that he first had to drive out Van Riebeeck’s evil spirit to cleanse the stadium before the President could speak. By the way, Van Riebeeck died and was buried in Batavia.
What do ordinary ANC supporters understand from the President’s and his praise singer’s remarks? They understand that the white man is responsible for the problems in the country. If you therefore get rid of the white man, all the problems will go away. Drive out the “cockroaches” then the problems will be gone. That is why myths are dangerous.
An old African saying states that as long as the lion cannot talk and appoint their own story-tellers, the hunters will always come off the best in the stories about hunting. Let us work for a balanced South African historiography by the lions and the hunters because we realise the dangers of one-sided historiographies and myths.
Globalization is a fact and South Africa can not escape the bigger global picture …no matter how strong the inner longing for an exclusive society with its own exclusive Utopian island , and closed economy .The feeling and emotion is real and for some people the alternative common society is simply too ghastly to contemplate and some individuals revert to extremism , even terror !
It is simply also a fact that a total faceless , amorphous , mixture of all people is unthinkable for the time horizon man is capable of projecting into .
A fruit salad once properly made can be delicious , however the individual pieces retain their individual flavor . A well designed fruit salad has the advantage over separate groups of fruit is a positive . It makes for synergy where the whole is greater than the sum of the individual pieces . However , a fruit salad with bits of say onion or garlic may be spoiled ? ( At least according to my taste buds ) .
A scrambled egg can not be unscrambled and neither can a fruit salad be returned to the individual whole fruits it originated from . But I think it is possible to remove the bits that spoil the fruit salad with diligent work .
South Africa is both now a scrambled egg and a fruit salad . No matter what brought this about in history .
We may be wasting valuable opportunity to salvage the wonderful advantage of positive synergy in nitpicking at the past rather than accepting the challenges to build on the positive still remaining .
Driessen
Yes black hands bould the roads, buildings, bridges, schools and Hospitals in SA but not at own free will, but with the white man gehind them and sometimes even with a sjambok.They the whites have bring therefor progress as well as improvement with their way of thinking towards a better SA where everybody can have a better life. If they the whites don’t do it the way it has been done, SA will still be in the middle ages for time to come. So both parties the whites and black in SA has both their own ‘skils’ to help each other, but alone nobody will win anything!
Quite well written, but a little appeasing. Explain?
Whether you believe in God or not, this is a must-read message!!!
Throughout time, we can see how we have been slowly conditioned to come to this point where we are on the verge of a cashless society. Did you know that the Bible foretold of this event almost 2,000 years ago?
In Revelation 13:16-18, we read,
“He (the false prophet who decieves many by his miracles) causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man: His number is 666.”
Referring to the last generation, this could only be speaking of a cashless society. Why? Revelation 13:17 tells us that we cannot buy or sell unless we receive the mark of the beast. If physical money was still in use, we could buy or sell with one another without receiving the mark. This would contradict scripture that states we need the mark to buy or sell!
These verses could not be referring to something purely spiritual as scripture references two physical locations (our right hand or forehead) stating the mark will be on one “OR” the other. If this mark was purely spiritual, it would indicate only in one place.
This is where it really starts to come together. It is shocking how accurate the Bible is concerning the implatnable RFID microchip. These are notes from a man named Carl Sanders who worked with a team of engineers to help develop this RFID chip
“Carl Sanders sat in seventeen New World Order meetings with heads-of-state officials such as Henry Kissinger and Bob Gates of the C.I.A. to discuss plans on how to bring about this one-world system. The government commissioned Carl Sanders to design a microchip for identifying and controlling the peoples of the world—a microchip that could be inserted under the skin with a hypodermic needle (a quick, convenient method that would be gradually accepted by society).
Carl Sanders, with a team of engineers behind him, with U.S. grant monies supplied by tax dollars, took on this project and designed a microchip that is powered by a lithium battery, rechargeable through the temperature changes in our skin. Without the knowledge of the Bible (Brother Sanders was not a Christian at the time), these engineers spent one-and-a-half-million dollars doing research on the best and most convenient place to have the microchip inserted.
Guess what? These researchers found that the forehead and the back of the hand (the two places the Bible says the mark will go) are not just the most convenient places, but are also the only viable places for rapid, consistent temperature changes in the skin to recharge the lithium battery. The microchip is approximately seven millimeters in length, .75 millimeters in diameter, about the size of a grain of rice. It is capable of storing pages upon pages of information about you. All your general history, work history, crime record, health history, and financial data can be stored on this chip.
Brother Sanders believes that this microchip, which he regretfully helped design, is the “mark” spoken about in Revelation 13:16–18. The original Greek word for “mark” is “charagma,” which means a “scratch or etching.” It is also interesting to note that the number 666 is actually a word in the original Greek. The word is “chi xi stigma,” with the last part, “stigma,” also meaning “to stick or prick.” Carl believes this is referring to a hypodermic needle when they poke into the skin to inject the microchip.”
Mr. Sanders asked a doctor what would happen if the lithium contained within the RFID microchip leaked into the body. The doctor replied by saying a terrible sore would appear in that location. This is what the book of Revelation says:
“And the first (angel) went, and poured out his vial on the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore on the men which had the mark of the beast, and on them which worshipped his image” (Revelation 16:2).
You can read more about it here–and to also understand the mystery behind the number 666: https://2ruth.org/rfid-mark-of-the-beast-666-revealed/
The third angel’s warning in Revelation 14:9-11 states,
“Then a third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, ‘If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives his mark on his forehead or on his hand, he himself shall also drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out full strength into the cup of His indignation. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.'”
Who is Barack Obama, and why is he still in the public scene?
So what’s in the name? The meaning of someone’s name can say a lot about a person. God throughout history has given names to people that have a specific meaning tied to their lives. How about the name Barack Obama? Let us take a look at what may be hiding beneath the surface.
Jesus says in Luke 10:18, “…I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”
The Hebrew Strongs word (H1299) for “lightning”: “bârâq” (baw-rawk)
In Isaiah chapter 14, verse 14, we read about Lucifer (Satan) saying in his heart:
“I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.”
In the verses in Isaiah that refer directly to Lucifer, several times it mentions him falling from the heights or the heavens. The Hebrew word for the heights or heavens used here is Hebrew Strongs 1116: “bamah”–Pronounced (bam-maw’)
In Hebrew, the letter “Waw” or “Vav” is often transliterated as a “U” or “O,” and it is primarily used as a conjunction to join concepts together. So to join in Hebrew poetry the concept of lightning (Baraq) and a high place like heaven or the heights of heaven (Bam-Maw), the letter “U” or “O” would be used. So, Baraq “O” Bam-Maw or Baraq “U” Bam-Maw in Hebrew poetry similar to the style written in Isaiah, would translate literally to “Lightning from the heights.” The word “Satan” in Hebrew is a direct translation, therefore “Satan.”
So when Jesus told His disciples in Luke 10:18 that He beheld Satan fall like lightning from heaven, if this were to be spoken by a Jewish Rabbi today influenced by the poetry in the book of Isaiah, he would say these words in Hebrew–the words of Jesus in Luke 10:18 as, And I saw Satan as Baraq O Bam-Maw.
The names of both of Obama’s daughters are Malia and Natasha. If we were to write those names backward (the devil does things in reverse) we would get “ailam ahsatan”. Now if we remove the letters that spell “Alah” (Allah being the false god of Islam), we get “I am Satan”. Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Obama’s campaign logo when he ran in 2008 was a sun over the horizon in the west, with the landscape as the flag of the United States. In Islam, they have their own messiah that they are waiting for called the 12th Imam, or the Mahdi (the Antichrist of the Bible), and one prophecy concerning this man’s appearance is the sun rising in the west.
“Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth—to every nation, tribe, tongue, and people— saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.'” (Revelation 14:6-7)
Why have the word’s of Jesus in His Gospel accounts regarding His death, burial, and resurrection, been translated into over 3,000 languages, and nothing comes close? The same God who formed the heavens and earth that draws all people to Him through His creation, likewise has sent His Word to the ends of the earth so that we may come to personally know Him to be saved in spirit and in truth through His Son Jesus Christ.
Jesus stands alone among the other religions that say to rightly weigh the scales of good and evil and to make sure you have done more good than bad in this life. Is this how we conduct ourselves justly in a court of law? Bearing the image of God, is this how we project this image into reality?
Our good works cannot save us. If we step before a judge, being guilty of a crime, the judge will not judge us by the good that we have done, but rather by the crimes we have committed. If we as fallen humanity, created in God’s image, pose this type of justice, how much more a perfect, righteous, and Holy God?
God has brought down His moral laws through the 10 commandments given to Moses at Mt. Siani. These laws were not given so we may be justified, but rather that we may see the need for a savior. They are the mirror of God’s character of what He has put in each and every one of us, with our conscious bearing witness that we know that it is wrong to steal, lie, dishonor our parents, murder, and so forth.
We can try and follow the moral laws of the 10 commandments, but we will never catch up to them to be justified before a Holy God. That same word of the law given to Moses became flesh about 2,000 years ago in the body of Jesus Christ. He came to be our justification by fulfilling the law, living a sinless perfect life that only God could fulfill.
The gap between us and the law can never be reconciled by our own merit, but the arm of Jesus is stretched out by the grace and mercy of God. And if we are to grab on, through faith in Him, He will pull us up being the one to justify us. As in the court of law, if someone steps in and pays our fine, even though we are guilty, the judge can do what is legal and just and let us go free. That is what Jesus did almost 2,000 years ago on the cross. It was a legal transaction being fulfilled in the spiritual realm by the shedding of His blood.
For God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Ezekiel 18:23). This is why in Isaiah chapter 53, where it speaks of the coming Messiah and His soul being a sacrifice for our sins, why it says it pleased God to crush His only begotten Son.
This is because the wrath that we deserve was justified by being poured out upon His Son. If that wrath was poured out on us, we would all perish to hell forever. God created a way of escape by pouring it out on His Son whose soul could not be left in Hades but was raised and seated at the right hand of God in power.
So now when we put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 13:14), God no longer sees the person who deserves His wrath, but rather the glorious image of His perfect Son dwelling in us, justifying us as if we received the wrath we deserve, making a way of escape from the curse of death–now being conformed into the image of the heavenly man in a new nature, and no longer in the image of the fallen man Adam.
Now what we must do is repent and put our trust and faith in the savior, confessing and forsaking our sins, and to receive His Holy Spirit that we may be born again (for Jesus says we must be born again to enter the Kingdom of God–John chapter 3). This is not just head knowledge of believing in Jesus, but rather receiving His words, taking them to heart, so that we may truly be transformed into the image of God. Where we no longer live to practice sin, but rather turn from our sins and practice righteousness through faith in Him in obedience to His Word by reading the Bible.
Our works cannot save us, but they can condemn us; it is not that we earn our way into everlasting life, but that we obey our Lord Jesus Christ:
“And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.” (Hebrews 5:9)
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.’
Then He who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said to me, ‘Write, for these words are true and faithful.’
And He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.'” (Revelation 21:1-8).
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Thanks for posting. I really enjoyed reading it, especially because it addressed my problem. It helped me a lot and I hope it will help others too.