Coloured in South Africa

I kept hearing this term 'coloured,' and people constantly referred to me as being 'coloured.' At first, I thought it just meant a person of colour, but it was actually a lot deeper than that.

In South Africa, the term "coloured" historically referred to a racial classification under the apartheid system, enforced by the Afrikaner-led National Party government from 1948 to the early 1990s. This divisive and discriminatory system categorised people of mixed race, including individuals of Khoisan, European, Asian, or other African ancestry.

Then you have "Cape Coloured" specifically refers to an ethnic group in South Africa, particularly concentrated in the Western Cape province, including Cape Town. Coloureds, not to be mistaken for mixed race, often have mixed parents. For instance, a father might be of European, African, and Asian descent, while the mother is of Khoisan and Asian descent—creating a distinct group separate from black and white populations.

I would often hear things like, "Oh, they think they’re better than us," or they probably thought you’d be rude to them (because people thought I looked coloured). And honestly a lot of it was negative but up until that point I still had no real interactions with coloured people so I had no idea. 

I went to Robben Island, and on the island, you have former political prisoners showing you around. This guy passionately spoke about historical treatment differences among various racial groups and showed us the differences. Obviously, he went through the worst kind of treatment because he’s a black man, so you could hear how challenging it was for him.

And it wasn’t nice hearing that the Indians and coloured people didn't always help the black people in the prison, but that’s how they built the system, right? They did it in a way that people felt precious about their own racial groups and didn’t help each other. It’s obviously really hard to hear that because I grew up so mixed that it doesn’t matter who or where or what the person is; you just try and help them regardless.

One day I was driving around and ended up in Simon's Town.

I saw this beautiful small restaurant overlooking this incredible view of the seafront. Fran's place is owned by a coloured woman; she’s had the place for 6 years. 

I got a classic battered hake, calamari, and chips. It was perfect, like I’m still thinking about how amazing it was. The fish was beautifully cooked and flaky, the calamari was tender and not like biting into a tyre. And the chips just took me back to childhood.

Views from Fran’s Place

We had a little chat about the struggles of it being a coloured-owned business, and it made me sad because here's a woman trying to move past the stigmas and is just trying to run a great business. She’s super cool and I can’t wait to go back there.

Fran, the chef, the boss!

The very last interaction I had in Cape Town before flying back to London was with a coloured man too. We met at the Eat Out Awards; it’s a bit like the Michelin Guide of South Africa. He’d been helping out at The Pot Luck Club, which won an award that night and is also a great restaurant. I had a cheeky lunch there hehe.

He offered to take me out for brunch before I left. We had a wonderful chat about pretty much everything, and I was able to be quite frank with my questions. Again, he was just another person trying to make it in this world.

He introduced me to pickled fish, which is a Cape Malay dish; it was super interesting. He was saying you would normally have it during Easter, and it kind of tastes like the curry sauce you get at the chip shops in England if you’ve ever had that before. When I looked at the ingredients, I could see similarities. This was such a fun and beautiful interaction to have with someone my age. I was told all these challenging biases about coloured people and it was far from the truth for me.

The pickled fish we had in Cape Town

Personal interactions play a crucial role in breaking down biases, and it really depended on who you speak to. I have had nothing but lovely interactions with people that are trying to move forward from a difficult recent history of segregation, and here are some people trying to close the gap. It's these kinds of conversations over a meal that stay with me.

Today I want to leave you with this track - You Think You Know Me by The Brother Moves On.

Love,

Rez x