Khoi and San knowledge of rooibos

The Khoi and the San, often called the Khoisan together, are among the oldest inhabitants of southern Africa. For centuries the San lived as hunter-gatherers, the Khoi as herders. Their knowledge of the dry, plant-rich landscape of the Cape is deep and old.

Rooibos (Aspalathus linearis) grows naturally only in a small area around the Cederberg mountains in the Western Cape. Indigenous inhabitants gathered the needle-like leaves, bruised them, let them ferment and dried them in the sun. That is how the red tea now known worldwide came about.

With European colonisation the Khoi and San lost much of their land and way of life. Settlers took over rooibos. In 1904 the merchant Benjamin Ginsberg began selling rooibos, and in the 1930s people succeeded in cultivating the plant. So rooibos grew into a major export product, without the original knowledge holders seeing anything in return.

That changed. In November 2019 the rooibos industry and the councils of the Khoi and San signed an agreement, the first of its kind in the world. Since then the communities receive a levy of one and a half percent of the price farmers get for rooibos.

The San have a rich spiritual world in which the boundary between people, animals and the spirit world is not hard. Health and illness are connected to that world.

Central is the healing dance, described especially among the Ju|’hoansi in Namibia and Botswana. Women sing and clap around a fire, men dance until some of them enter a trance. According to the San, the dance awakens a power, n|om, that enables healers to draw illness out of others. Such a dance is a community event.

In that world plants are not only remedies, but part of a landscape full of meaning and stories.

Knowledge is passed on orally, by walking along, gathering and listening. Anyone who goes into the veld with an elder learns which plant grows where, in which season, and how to gather it without exhausting the source.

For a long time the San were treated as “objects” of research. That led to conflict. Around 2001 the San discovered that their knowledge of Hoodia had been used to develop a slimming product without their consent. After public pressure, the South African research institute CSIR concluded an agreement with the San in 2003 on a share of the proceeds.

Since then the South African San Council and the National Khoi-San Council have represented the communities in negotiations about their knowledge.

A remarkable source is the archive of Wilhelm Bleek and Lucy Lloyd. In the 1870s in Cape Town they recorded thousands of pages of stories, songs and knowledge of |xam-speaking San, among them //Kabbo and Dia!kwain. The archive is on UNESCO’s Memory of the World register.

Newer and at least as important are the agreements of 2003 and 2019. They are seen internationally as examples of how traditional knowledge can be recognised, and have influenced the Nagoya Protocol on access to genetic resources and fair sharing of the benefits.

In 2019 South Africa also passed a law for the protection and development of indigenous knowledge.

Rooibos is one of South Africa’s best-known products and is drunk around the world. Honeybush (Cyclopia), a related sweet tea from the Cape, is also covered by the 2019 agreement.

Khoi and San communities are working to restore their languages, culture and land. The proceeds of the rooibos levy go to the communities themselves, who decide how to spend them.

Most San no longer live as hunter-gatherers, and many live in poverty. Recognising their knowledge is therefore also a matter of justice.

Besides rooibos and honeybush, the Cape flora has many plants with a long history of use. From buchu (Agathosma) the Khoi made a fragrant powder, mixed with fat, to care for the skin. Later buchu was also sold in Europe.

Kanna (Sceletium tortuosum) was chewed to lift the mood and reduce hunger and thirst. The stem of hoodia was chewed on long hunting trips against hunger and thirst.

These plants grow in a fragile landscape, the Cape Floral Kingdom, one of the richest plant regions in the world.

The knowledge of rooibos, buchu, kanna and hoodia is knowledge of the Khoi and San. If you buy these products, you can choose brands that trade fairly.

Be careful, too, with health claims. Rooibos is a pleasant, caffeine-free drink, but not a proven medicine. Kanna and hoodia act on the body and are not without risk.