Mr Andrew Laastelle from Bloemhof said: "We are called coloured people and this is a serious problem, in real essence we are not coloured. I am glad this Bill is here to make sure our dignity is restored.
Khoisan researcher and historian, Dr William Langeveldt, said the Bill will address the challenges they have been battling with since 1994.
"Our struggle for the past 23 years has been to try and convince government that we must be treated as humans and not as sub-humans. We have written hundreds of appeals and letters to Presidents Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, why the government of this land treats the Khoisan so badly? What have we done, are we not black enough? In the past we were not white enough," said Dr Langeveldt.
"There is a terrible wrong that was done to people who are continue to be insulted as coloureds, we have a parliament that has made horrendous laws over 106 years and we are calling on the president to revoke the laws that refer to us as coloureds," he said.
Dr Langeveldt was among hundreds of people who gathered at the Vryburg Town Hall to make submissions on the Traditional and Khoisan Leadership Bill.
Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is conducting countrywide public hearings on the draft legislation that seeks to recognise Khoi-San traditional leaders and restore the dignity of the communities.
Dr Langeveldt told the Committee that government was referred to a report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Indigenous People and that it must put together a national register of Khoisan people in the country. He also made a proposal for the title of the Bill to be changed to "Indigenous People Bill".
Committee member, Mr Mbulelo Bara, said: "We must accept that we come from a painful past and the scars are still showing but we must also acknowledge the fact that the Bill is trying to restore the dignity of the Khoisan people. Let us come with proposals to improve the Bill".
The Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Bill repeals the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act as well as the House of Traditional Leaders Act and brings them together in the new legislation, to bring about uniformity.
Mr Kagisho Seochwareng also welcomed the draft legislation, saying the recognition of Khoi-San and their traditional leaders has been long overdue.
By Sakhile Mokoena
26 January 2017
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