Original Articles

The Buysdorp conundrum: constructing and articulating community and identity in Soutpansberg, Limpopo Province

Published in: Anthropology Southern Africa
Volume 27 , issue 3-4 , 2004 , pages: 86–91

DOI: 10.1080/23323256.2004.11499903

Author(s): Michael de Jongh Department of Anthropology and Archaeology,

Keywords: Coenraad De Buys , Buys family , Buysdorp , identity politics , politics of identity , moral geography , contested land , local government

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Abstract

Coenraad de Buys, the great-grandson of Jean du Bois, a Huguenot immigrant from Calais, France, was by all accounts a formidable man. He left an indelible, often disruptive, mark on the historical, political and sociocultural landscape of South Africa. Coenraad married or co-habited with several indigenous women, one being Elizabeth, who according to sources, was Mzilikazi's sister or ‘niece’. Of the nine recorded offspring from this union, three brothers, Gabriël, Michael and Doris were to play a decisive role in the establishment and development of the Buys community in the foothills of the Soutpansberg. For ‘services rendered’ to the Boers and the Transvaal Republic, in 1888 President Paul Kruger granted 11 000 hectares of land exclusively to the Buys people. Subsequent years produced a narrative of individuals and events, interactions and struggles which shaped and reshaped the people and the place which became known as Buysdorp.

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