Patriotic Alliance MP Bino Jam Farmer used Parliament’s debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) to spotlight the continued marginalisation of the Khoi and San communities, calling for stronger recognition, land restitution, and language protection for South Africa’s first people.
Addressing the House during the Wednesday debate, Farmer framed his remarks around the national coat of arms motto, written in Khoisan and commonly translated as “diverse people unite,” saying it symbolised a promise yet to be fully realised.
“While these words represent the soul of our nation, the people who spoke them — the first inhabitants of this land — remain among the most marginalised,” Farmer said. “Today, we speak about the Khoi and the San.”
First nations of South Africa
He traced their history back thousands of years. Farmer described the San as having lived as hunter-gatherers for over 100, 000 years and the Khoi as pastoralists for millennia. He said this makes them “the first nations of South Africa” and custodians of some of the world’s oldest genetic heritage.
“But their history is not just an ancient heritage,” Farmer said. “It is a story of a centuries-long struggle for recognition, land and the right to exist as a distinct people.”
He said dispossession began with the arrival of European settlers in 1652. And it intensified under colonial expansion and apartheid. This was when the Khoi and San communities were stripped of their indigenous identities and forced into the broader “coloured” classification.
“This was not just a label — it was an attempt at erasure,” he said.
“By being absorbed into a broader racial group, their unique languages, traditional leadership structures and status as custodians were legally wiped from the record.”
Land restitution
Farmer argued that post-apartheid South Africa had not fully corrected these historical injustices. This is particularly in relation to land restitution. He noted that existing land claim laws largely exclude dispossession that occurred before 1913. Thus leaving many Khoi and San communities without recourse.
“Because the law does not fully account for pre-1913 colonial theft, many communities remain landless in the very places where their ancestors lived,” he said. “Their rock art, their caves and their heritage remain — but they themselves have no legal claim.”
The MP also expressed concern over the erosion of Khoisan languages. He said many remained unrecognised in formal education and public life.
“Languages such as N|uu and Khwedam are now on the brink of extinction,” Farmer said. “Without official status, they cannot be effectively taught in schools, further severing the connection between the youth and their heritage.”
While acknowledging steps taken by the government, including legislation aimed at recognising Khoisan traditional leadership, Farmer said more needed to be done to ensure meaningful autonomy and development.
“In places like the Kalahari, communities such as the Khomani San continue to fight for access to basic water and sanitation,” he said.
Neglected icons of history
“They are celebrated as icons of our history, yet they live in deep poverty, marginalised by the modern economy.”
He called on parliament and the government to move beyond symbolic gestures. To implement policies that restore dignity through land access, cultural recognition and economic inclusion.
“To honour Khoi and San is not just to admire ancient rock art or use their words in our currency,” Farmer said. “It is to recognise that they are a living, breathing part of our present.”
Farmer concluded by urging lawmakers to ensure that South Africa’s national motto became a lived reality. Rather than a symbolic aspiration.
“Their struggle is a mirror held up to our democracy,” he said. “It asks whether a nation can be truly free if its first people are still fighting for the right to be named.”
