Certain members of the community, direct descendants of the Khoikhoi Khutsuqua tribe who lived in the Groenekloof valley long before the arrival of Dutch settlers at the Cape, are trying to preserve the land for their children.

They fear that the land will be lost forever if the municipality takes control over what they call traditional land.

A spokesperson for the group, Crown Prince David Johannes is a direct descendant of Benigna, the sister of Khoikhoi leader Hans Klapmuts, who lived in a kraal not far from present day Mamre.

Benigna, whose original name was Rosetta, worked on the farm Vissershok owned by Dutch farmer, Johannes Laubscher. She became his common law wife and bore him four children. When the farmer took a Dutch wife he asked Benigna to leave the farm with their children. He gave her some cattle and allowed her to use his name as a surname. She went back to her people at the kraal at Louwskloof and later joined others on the Moravian mission station in Mamre, which started in 1808. She and the children were babtised by the missionaries. Today many of her descendants are still found in Mamre. The group is taking the municipality and Dept of Land Affairs to court over the land using their First Nation status as a basis of their fight to retain control over Mamre. South Africa is a signatory to the United Nations resolutions that seek to protect indigenous peoples and their land.

Second Interview

The Special Assignment team also paid a visit to Maria Loock. At 89 she is one of the oldest residents of the Mamre mission station.

She tells a remarkable story of life in Mamre when residents still lived close to the sea. She lives in a traditional house built by her husband. She says she wants to fix the thatch roof but does not have the money to do it.

Residents are now trying to regain the land lost over the years.

Third Interview

Oom “Berie” Trout is another resident who remembers the heyday of Mamre when they still owned cattle and had large tracts of land close to the sea. Oom “Berie” still makes handmade whips the old way. He described the process to us and says he has lots of orders coming in daily.