Special Report Transcript Episode 29, Section 5, Time 29:00

Our next piece has nothing to do with murder or massacres or torture or forced removals. It still breaks your heart. During the apartheid years many African people living in the so-called Coloured preferential areas gave up their ethnic identities and became ‘Coloured’. In the Karoo they called this ‘om jou baadjie om te draai,’ to turn your jacket inside out. There were many advantages to pass as a Coloured. Coloured people did not have to carry pass books and there were more jobs available. Coloureds were better paid and their schools were superior. But with freedom comes dignity. Many of the Xhosa’s, Sotho’s and Zulu’s of the Karoo now want to go back to their roots. ‘Hulle wil weer hulle baadjies omdraai’ [they again want to turn their jackets inside out].

Notes: Max du Preez

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