SOS Bushmen

THE ancient Khoi-San people, commonly known as the Bushmen, have accused South Africa's government of implying that they are not African at all but mixed race "bastards''. Chief Elwin White said the refusal by President Thabo Mbeki's government to grant his 5,000-strong community official status as the country's earliest inhabitants was insulting.

He said the government treated them as "highly-stressed coloureds [mixed race people] who are without a sense of belonging, with any creative spirit, confused, anxious and mostly drunk''.

"The government officially and inhumanely insults us as coloureds, which is commonly understood to mean we are not Africans but bastards of mixed, unpure blood.''

The Khoi-San's plight had been made worse because they were denied job opportunities and often relocated away from their traditional homes, Chief White said. The Khoi-San, with their distinctive features and yellowish hue, are the aboriginal people of Southern Africa who were around thousands of years before the great black races or European settlement.

A government spokesman said he was "mystified'' by Chief White's allegations. He said: "President Mbeki has taken a personal interest in the Khoi-San people and has publicly acknowledged that they are the first inhabitants of South Africa.''

The Khoi-San live along the west coast of South Africa and in Botswana and Namibia.