Challenges to the integration of the Platfontein San in South Africa between 1990 and 2003

Abstract

This article is based on a narrative case study that explores the controversy in the history surrounding the Platfontein San. During the South African border war, San soldiers joined the South African Defence Force in their fight against African liberation movements in Angola and Namibia. Shortly before Namibian independence, these soldiers and their families were evacuated to a military base in South Africa. Amidst the concurrent political changes in South Africa, the fate of this small San community came to be uncertain and insecure. In their quest for a place to settle permanently, the group experienced different racial, socio-economic and cultural problems. Eventually in 2003, they settled permanently in Platfontein. Overall, the government’s resettlement project was a “quick-fix” decision, not an integrated solution. It shaped many chronic socio-economic problems among the Platfontein community. The article thus seeks to understand how the small group of indigenous inhabitants has been affected by major changes in Southern Africa and reveals the key factors that favoured and hindered its integration in South Africa.