Pretoria – Arts and Culture Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi will on Thursday unveil a memorial for one of the unsung heroines, Magrieta Jantjies, at Rosedale Cemetery in Upington in the Northern Cape.
Jantjies is being honoured for her role in promoting the N!uu language. Ouma Griet, as she was known, was Khoi-San, and one of the last to speak N!uu fluently, which has been largely overshadowed by Afrikaans and Nama.
As this year marks 60 years since the historic 1956 Women’s March to the Union Buildings against pass laws, the Department of Arts and Culture is on a mission to pay homage to little-known heroines, who made sacrifices during the liberation struggle and also those who did outstanding work for the benefit of their communities in the areas of arts, culture and heritage.
Jantjies passed away on 31 December 2015 at the age of 70.
Jantjies’s grave was identified as a grave of cultural significance in terms of the National Heritage Resources Act no 25 of 1999 (NHRA), section 36 (2), which states that: “the [South African Heritage Resources Agency] must identify and record graves of victims of conflict and any other graves which it deems to be of cultural significance and may erect memorials associated with the grave…”.
The decision to make Jantjies’s grave culturally significant was prompted by the role she played in opposing the displacement of the N!uu language, imposed by the apartheid government.
The Department of Arts and Culture tasked and funded its agency, the South African Heritage Resource Agency (SAHRA), to erect a memorial in her honour.
On Thursday, Arts and Culture Deputy Minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi will also host a gala dinner to launch the first publication of its kind -- ‘Women of Power: The Unsung Human Treasures’.
This publication celebrates 18 women, who have made huge contributions to their societies, but remain on the margins of public memory. The Department of Arts and Culture has undertaken this initiative to recognise these heroines.’
Protecting languages
The work done by Jantjies has elevated the prominence of the N!uu language.
N!uu is listed as one of the critically endangered languages of the world by UNESCO. This language was spoken mainly in Upington and Olifantshoek, and possibly other surrounding areas.
The N!uu language has 112 distinct sounds, which were passed on orally through generations, but was never written down. It has one of the biggest speech/sound inventories in the world, with more than 45 click sounds, 30 non-click consonants and 37 vowels.
When the apartheid government took over in 1948, those who spoke N!uu language were compelled to speak Afrikaans. Gradually, N!uu language began to recede and decline, with some of the words becoming completely extinct. – SAnews.gov.za
