The TEPC Transcription Project

(Extracts)

The acronym TEPC stands for Transcription of Estate Papers at the Cape of Good Hope. It is a joint project of the Universities of the Western Cape and Cape Town in partnership with the Cape Town Archives Repository and the National Archives at The Hague with the overall goal of equitable access to significant archival resources associated with the history of the Cape.

The TEPC project (2004-2008) was funded by the Dutch Government through the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, and supported by the Consulate-General in Cape Town. The database is hosted by the Nationaal Archief (Den Haag) and made available on the TANAP website, where you will also find transcriptions of the Resolutions of the Cape of Good Hope.

The TEPC Project is a partnership of the Universities of Cape Town and the Western Cape , the Cape Archives and the National Archives of the Netherlands, funded by the Dutch government. It follows the successful TANAP project that digitized.

An expert team of transcribers and editors have worked in the Archives for the past year, transcribing inventories from the Orphan Chamber records (1690s to 1830s). These valuable records provide a window into what people owned, bought, sold and valued at the Cape , and help us trace the history of households and individuals including slaves.

The fragile original hand-written documents are transformed into digitized versions which are put on the internet, giving easy access to local and international researchers. The transcriptions are accompanied by an introduction, an index of names, dates and references, and a bilingual glossary.

TEPC Database: Ownership and Access

The agreement signed between the TEPC Project funders (Government of the Netherlands) and administrators (University of Cape Town) refers to issues of ownership and access to the information produced by the project.

The first Phase of the project saw the transcription of selected papers from the Orphan Chamber (Weeskamer) at the Cape. These comprised inventories of deceased estates dating to between c 1690 and 1834 (MOOC8). Five volumes of associated documents, the auction lists (vendurollen) of the same deceased estates, were also transcribed and the whole vendurol series (MOOC10) was indexed. In 2005 a series of public workshops showed what these fascinating documents contained and explored how they could be used and developed by different groups.

The second Phase culminated in an international conference, held in Cape Town in December 2006. It was organized jointly with an academic research project of the Universities of Cape Town and the Western Cape. Participants were invited from Europe and Asia – around the Indian Ocean – to forge links between South African, Asian and Dutch scholars working in the fields of social history, historical archaeology and material culture studies. The proceedings of the conference were published in N. Worden (ed.), Contingent Lives: Social Identity and Material Culture in the VOC World (Historical Studies Department, University of Cape Town, 2008) and some papers were published in the academic journals Kronos (33) 2007 and South African Historical Journal (59) 2007.

The third Phase saw the transcription of a series of Court of Justice volumes dealing with prisoners and convicts sent to the Cape from the East Indies (bandietenrollen), and lists of VOC employees and residents at the Cape from 1656 until 1789. To complement the transcribed and indexed Orphan Chamber records, the TEPC Team made a catalogue of a variety of unbound private papers annexed to the Distribution and Liquidation Accounts of deceased estates (MOOC14).

Cape Transcripts on CD

The Orphan Chamber transcriptions are hosted on the TANAP website and can be searched and downloaded from there. For local researchers, the following transcriptions, indexes and associated resources have been produced as a CD:

1. Inventories, Auction Lists and Estate Accounts

Introduction

 

1.1 Inventories

MOOC8/1-75 (75 volumes)

Bilingual List to the Inventories (Dutch and English)

Transcribing the Inventories – a personal experience

Table of women whose deaths were childbirth-related

The Orphan Chamber – a visit

 

1.2 Auction Lists

MOOC10/1-5 (5 volumes)

MOOC10/6-46: Indexed

 

1.3 Estate Accounts

MOOC14/1-85: Indexed

Häszner’s Medical Home Manual

 

2. “Bandietenrollen”

 

Introduction

CJ3186-CJ3192A (8 volumes)

CJ 2562-CJ 2568 (7 volumes)

 

3. VOC Muster Rolls

 

Introduction

VC39/2-VC48 (11 volumes)

NA12537-12653 (7 volumes)

 

Buying the Guidebooks and CDs

The Guidebooks can be ordered through Antonia Malan at info@capetranscripts.co.za or antonia@tracinghistorytrust.co.za.

The CDs can be ordered through Helena Liebenberg at helena@tracinghistorytrust.co.za or tel. 021- 949 2736.

The MOOC manuscripts are unique, in that no copies were sent to VOC headquarters, and they are detailed records of South African families and their fixed and moveable properties – including slaves. The documents are hand-written in Dutch (and ‘Cape Dutch’), which is difficult for most researchers to read or understand, and in a vulnerable condition from over-use.

Publications

Two reader-friendly guidebooks (‘Household Inventories at the Cape’ and ‘Slaves at the Cape ‘) and a CD (with the data, bilingual list of terms and introduction to the project) are now available . These will be of interest to people involved in the classroom, in museums and in heritage tourism, as well as archivists and researchers.

‘Households at the Cape : a beginners guide to research’

by Carohn Cornell & Antonia Malan

“If you want to explore Cape households of the 17 th, 18 th and early 19 th century, this book is for you. Do you want to find out about old houses and farmyards and the objects in each room? Are you interested in family life or the relationships between slaves and their owners? Do you want to trace your ancestors? Are you curious about how people made a living or what they wore?

This book will guide you through how to begin your research and how to find related sources. It also tells you how many other people – community researchers, archivists, writers, historians, archaeologists and genealogists – have discovered stories about people and places at the Cape. Even if you are already an experienced researcher, we hope that the guide offers you something of interest.”

Buying the books and CD. Special price if you buy them direct from the Cash Office, in the lobby of the Cape Archives Repository, Roeland Street , Cape Town . Opening times 08h00-15h45 from Monday to Friday. Easy parking right outside. The books cost R80 and the CD costs R70. CASH ONLY PLEASE.

If you cannot visit the Archives, contact Clarke’s Bookshop, Long Street, or make a special arrangement with Antonia Malan (amalan@age.uct.ac.za; Tel: (021) 650 2358).

Information about the TEPC Project:

TEPC website: www.capetranscripts.co.za

TANAP website: www.tanap.net/content/activit ies/events

E-mail: info@capetranscripts.co.za

Tel: (021) 650 2358; Fax (021) 650 2352

February 2006

An American Freed Slave: “To My Old Master”

“To My Old Master” from a Freed Slave

A Letter from freed slave to former master draws attention

By Eric Pfeiffer | The Sideshow

A newly discovered letter from a freed former slave to his onetime master is creating a buzz. Letters of Note explains that in August of 1865, a Colonel P.H. Anderson of Big Spring, Tennessee wrote to his former slave Jourdan Anderson,requesting that Jourdan return to work on his farm.

In the time since escaping from slavery, Anderson had become emancipated, moved to Ohio where he found paid work and was now supporting his family. The letter turned up in the August 22 edition of the New York Daily Tribune. Some excerpts:

Dayton, Ohio,

August 7, 1865

To My Old Master, Colonel P.H. Anderson, Big Spring, Tennessee

Sir: I got your letter, and was glad to find that you had not forgotten Jourdon, and that you wanted me to come back and live with you again, promising to do better for me than anybody else can. I have often felt uneasy about you. I thought the Yankees would have hung you long before this, for harboring Rebs
they found at your house. I suppose they never heard about your going to Colonel Martin’s to kill the Union soldier that was left by his company in their stable.

Although you shot at me twice before I left you, I did not want to hear of your being hurt, and am glad you are still living. It would do me good to go back to the dear old home again, and see Miss Mary and Miss Martha and Allen, Esther, Green, and Lee. Give my love to them all, and tell them I hope we will meet in the better world, if not in this. I would have gone back to see you all when I was working in the Nashville Hospital, but one of the neighbors told me that Henry intended to shoot me if he ever got a chance.

On the “good chance” offered by the former slave owner:

I want to know particularly what the good chance is you propose to give me. I am doing tolerably well here. I get twenty-five dollars a month, with victuals and clothing; have a comfortable home for Mandy,—the folks call her Mrs. Anderson,—and the children—Milly, Jane, and Grundy—go to school and are learning well. The teacher says Grundy has a head for a preacher. They go to Sunday school, and Mandy and me attend church regularly. We are kindly treated.
Sometimes we overhear others saying, “Them colored people were slaves” down in Tennessee. The children feel hurt when they hear such remarks; but I tell them it was no disgrace in Tennessee to belong to Colonel Anderson. Many darkeys would have been proud, as I used to be, to call you master. Now if you will write and say what wages you will give me, I will be better able to decide
whether it would be to my advantage to move back again.

And then Jourdan explains that anything his former master could offer, he’s already earned on his own. Other than some back wages:

As to my freedom, which you say I can have, there is nothing to be gained on that score, as I got my free papers in 1864 from the Provost-Marshal-General of the Department of Nashville. Mandy says she would be afraid to go back without some proof that you were disposed to treat us justly and kindly; and we have concluded to test your sincerity by asking you to send us our wages for the time we served you. This will make us forget and forgive old scores, and rely on your justice and friendship in the future. I served you faithfully for thirty-two years, and Mandy twenty years. At twenty-five dollars a month for me, and two dollars a week for Mandy, our earnings would amount to eleven thousand six
hundred and eighty dollars. Add to this the interest for the time our wages have been kept back, and deduct what you paid for our clothing, and three doctor’s visits to me, and pulling a tooth for Mandy, and the balance will show what we are in justice entitled to. Please send the money by Adams’s Express, in care of V. Winters, Esq., Dayton, Ohio. If you fail to pay us for faithful labors in the past, we can have little faith in your promises in the future. We trust the good Maker has opened your eyes to the wrongs which you and your fathers have done to me and my fathers, in making us toil for you for generations without recompense. Here I draw my wages every Saturday night; but in Tennessee there was never any pay-day for the negroes any more than for the horses and cows. Surely there will be a day of reckoning for those who defraud the laborer of his hire.

In answering this letter, please state if there would be any safety for my Milly and Jane, who are now grown up, and both good-looking girls. You know how it was with poor Matilda and Catherine. I would rather stay here and starve—and die, if it come to that—than have my girls brought to shame by the violence and
wickedness of their young masters. You will also please state if there has been any schools opened for the colored children in your neighborhood. The great desire of my life now is to give my children an education, and have them form virtuous habits.

And after a few more jabs about how his children are now happy and receiving an education, Jourdan concludes his letter with:

Say howdy to George Carter, and thank him for taking the pistol from you when you were shooting at me.
From your old servant,

Jourdon Anderson.

http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/01/to-my-old-master.html

(Letters of Note Archives http://www.lettersofnote.com/p/archive.html)

Ebrahim Rhoda’s Book on Slavery

Slavery Book Gives Rare View (Written by Webmaster)

VOC Webmaster is a consortium of writers both in-house and outsourced

From slavery to citizenship, first edition (2011) as a genuine example of Africana, was published by the author, printed by DPB Printers and Booksellers. The ISBN number is 978-0-620-51394-4. The first edition had a price tag of R60.00 and was virtually sold out. NEWS24

Ebrahim Rhoda signing his newly published book

REVIEW by Dr Francois Verster – From slavery to citizenship: a walk through the history of a Strand community by the enigmatic Mr Ebrahim Rhoda is more than a chronicle of the Strand’s yesteryear – it echoes emotions; it paints pictures, it grabs you: if not by the throat, then definitely by the heart.

The name Rhoda is basically synonymous with the Strand – the Rhodas were there when this area was known by almost forgotten names, such as Mosterd Bay, and Ebrahim is an important figure in the preservation of these memories ; to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves (“dedicated to all our forbears”) and to remind the senior members of the extended family/community of why they are where they are now, but also to “… make our younger generation aware of the rich heritage of both Muslim and Christian who were the first permanent settlers of our town.”

Mr Rhoda, a former schoolmaster and avid genealogist, is well-known for his encyclopaedic knowledge of the Strand area and the intrinsic understanding he has of research on the subject, resultant of years of study as well as practical experience of all facets the community. If anyone is qualified to write a history of the Strand, he is the obvious candidate: well-versed in research techniques, streetwise in the sense that he knows the heartbeat of the Strand, in fact he is part of it since birth.

This is only to be expected of the founder-member of the Cape Family Research Forum and recipient of several accolades for his awareness projects, such as the award presented to him by the Western Cape Dept. of Cultural Affairs and Sport in 2009 for his contribution towards public awareness and the documentation of our heritage resources.

Therefore, to page through this book, to read his words and to view the old monochrome pictures of a time that is forever gone, but of a town that is still alive and vibrant, built on the toil and tears, exultations and achievements of many generations, is like travelling through a memory palace, with nostalgia as your companion and Mr Rhoda as the tour guide.

There is much to learn too, about personalia, about language, customs, places and names, the sporting activities – everything which created the foundation of a community that was born in slavery, a community that never really lost its identity or independence and survived both slavery and apartheid, who endured, struggled and ultimately saw total independence: the liberation of 1994.

Much of the quaint eccentricities and peculiar beauties of the past are gone now (eg: “The Rialto Cinema had been destroyed by fire in 1950s, was rebuilt and finally demolished in 2010”.), as are many of the characters which made the Strand what it was (“… Oom Adriaanse whom I remember had a very big white moustache and he wore a huge Stetson-type hat”), but Mr Rhoda expertly recreated this faded construct like a renovator would restore a classical building to its former splendour. Indeed it has been a privilege to be allowed a view of another time with other values, perspectives and expectations – to feel the spirit of those times as revealed by an actual eye witness.

http://www.vocfm.co.za/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=3250:slavery-book-gives-rare-view&Itemid=139

The Cape Family Research Forum

CFRF 2011 AGM

July 26, 2011

(Extracts)

In the past two decades, the idea of ‘tracing one’s roots’ has become more of a reality for South Africans previously kept in the dark about their ancestral pasts. Histories previously glossed over or unspoken, and records formerly inaccessible are being (re)visited by South Africans of all walks of life. One way in which this renewed interest in the past – particularly the personal past – is manifested is through genealogical projects. In particular, tracing family trees has offered a concrete way for everyday people to engage with their pasts and to discover their ancestral stories.

While genealogical research is often undertaken by individuals or specific families, there are also community groups fostering this kind of research. One such group in the Western Cape is the Cape Family Research Forum (CFRF), a unique network of family and community historical researchers based on the Cape Flats that is primarily concerned with tracing ‘creole’ genealogies, particularly Cape slave ancestries.

The CFRF was established in 2002 by a group of individuals passionate about archival research, and eager to discuss their work with people facing similar challenges in the field. Almost ten years later, the CFRF is still in operation, meeting regularly and holding a place of prominence in Cape Flats heritage circles and beyond. The group consists of between ten and fifteen core members, who meet on a monthly basis to discuss the progress of the various members’ research. During these meetings they also address requests for assistance put forward to the CFRF by members of the public embarking on family research projects.  Although the group is more than happy to guide people to the relevant archival resources, it stresses that it cannot be commissioned do the actual research for individuals and families.

CFRF chairperson: Shamil Gamildien

CFRF secretary: Mogamat ‘Kammie’ Kamedien

http://www.archivalplatform.org/blog/entry/opening_up_the_ancestral_past_the_cape_family_research_forum/

Silat Warriors of Cape Town

M. Toyer Farrath with Silat Instructors Faheem Jackson (left) and Hilmy Hartley (right) at the Al-Jaami’ah Masjid Centre, Claremont.

Guru Hilmy Hartley practising with trainees in the gelanggang (court circle/arena)

Hafidh Faheem Jackson demonstrating a Jurus at the Al-Jaami’ah Qur-aan and Seni Silat Academy, Cape Town

Standing from left:  Sheikh Khalil Hendricks, Guru Toyer Farrath and Tuan Hilmy.

Front from left: Muneeb Solomons and Ebraheem Bester

Children’s classes at the Goodwood Masjid facility over the 2011 December Holidays

SA Persilat trainees, Reza Hassan and his sister Farahnaaz, return from Jakarta on 12/01/2012

Gielmie (Hilmy) Hartley (7th from left) was invited to the September 2011 Kongres Antarabangsa Bahasa dan Budaya in Brunei

Mogamat Gielmie Hartley (2nd left) at the Kongres Dinner. As a gift, he received a 3000 page Malay dictionary (5kg in weight)

Auckland City Dukes – The New Zealand Kiwi klopse

A multi-ethnic group of New Zealanders, taking their cue from the Cape Town tradition, have started their own “Cape Coon troupe”, calling themselves the “Auckland City Dukes”. Wearing modified minstrel attire and modified blackface similar to that of their Cape Town counterparts, the Dukes participate in the annual Cape Town Minstrel Carnival and enthusiastically embrace the “coon” moniker.

http://back2basics.hiphopnz.com/viewtopic.php?f=61&t=39122

The  Auckland City Dukes, performing for Unity in Diversity, produced a CD, Tribute to the Springboks, with 4 rugby theme songs, as a fundraiser, and so far, they have established themselves on self funding. However, for the Queen Street March on New Year’s Eve Saturday 31 December, as part of the official launch, they are sponsored by the Dark Horse University to represent the Afrikaans, the English and the Coloured Southern African communities of Kiwiland – attracting about 24 000 people from all over Auckland.

Cape Malay, Ruthewaan Waggie is the CEO of the Auckland City Dukes project and Osman Abrahams the Musical Director ably assisted by Norman Murray, an exceptional solo singer, who has worked with Ruthewaan for ten years. Another key person is Brassband Director and Saxophonist Mr David Sigarmoney. In fact, Sigarmoney started the first ‘Klopse’ way back in Durban, South Africa. Their entire minstrel group consists of talented singers and entertainers: Clive Rinquest, Chris Lakey, Derick Wallace, Coby, Henry Goedverwacht, Treleuw Cloete, Cameron February, Riedewaan Ryklief, Riyaad Eksteen, Wayne Scullard, Julius Kirchner, Nazeem Smith, Jerome Pretorius, Joel, Stan Duarte and Allan Windvogel. Their youth section is headed by Muneep Abrahams, Kurt Murray, Rubin Murray and Clyde Lakey, who have the role of ensuring that the Dukes stay focussed on the local youth.

Susanna Kruger and her Kiwi husband Erin Ketel gave them the opportunity to promote the joy of living in a multi-cultural New Zealand.

www.susannakruger.co.nz/assets/new/The-Prima-Donna.pdf

South Africa – Indonesia Joint Stamp Issue

South Africa and Indonesia have jointly released a stamp issue marking 300 years of the link between the two countries.

The stamps were officially launched on 15 October in Cape Town and amongst the attendees to the function were the South African Deputy Minister of Communications, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the South African Post Office, the Ambassador and Consul-General of Indonesia to South Africa and the President Director of Indonesia Post.

South Africa and Indonesia have only enjoyed formal diplomatic ties since August 1994, but the link between the two countries stretches back close to three hundred years. The colonisation of Africa and Asia by European powers from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries led to the enslavement of millions of Afro-Asian peoples, and an international slave trade. This slave trade led to the migration of large numbers of Asian and African people to different parts of the world. It was one such stream of people, most of whom were political exiles or prisoners who had opposed the colonisation of their countries that came to the Cape of Good Hope.

–

Cape Town – Marking 300 years of relations between Indonesia and South Africa, two countries make joint stamps. One of the stamps launched the figure Sheikh Yusuf Al-Banteni Makassari, known as a national hero by Indonesia and also by the South African Government.

Consul General for Social and Cultural Rights – the Consulate General in Cape Town, South Africa – Erry Kananga says, Significant themes raised within the launch for the stamps is namely, the Three Centuries of Relations Among the cities of Indonesia and South Africa.

“There are five stamps issued by each and every country, and Sheikh Yusuf is one…,” said Erry Kananga from Cape Town, Wednesday (10/19/2011).

Shaykh Yusuf is an essential figure for both parties with the spread of Islam in South Africa. The good scholar from the kingdom of Gowa, South Sulawesi was exiled by the Dutch to the Cape of Good Hope (Cape Town) in the 16th-century who then became the first spreaders of Islam in South Africa.

The launch of the stamp was officially represented by the Ambassador to South Africa, Sjahril Sabaruddin, whilst the South African side was represented by Deputy Minister of Communications, Kopeng Obed Bapela. The inauguration marked the unveiling of stamps jointly at the Crystal Tower Hotel & Spa, Cape Town on Saturday (15/10).

Every country publishes 5 stamp designs. Indonesia issued a design of Sheikh Yusuf, Museum of Balla Lompoa South Sulawesi, South Sulawesi Pakarena from Tilanga and Sandals Geulis together with musical instruments Tifa from Papua. While South Africa presented stamps of Sheikh Yusuf, Bo-Kaap Museum, Ghoema drums, Bo-Kaap art and Cape Minstrel group.

The launch of this joint stamp presentation was attended by a few officials from each government that included the Consul General in Cape Town, Sugie Harijadi, officials from South Africa Post Office (Sapo) and officials of PT Pos Indonesia.

http://areanusantara.blogspot.com/2011/10/indonesia-and-south-africa-launches.html

-

See Stamps at:

http://www.postoffice.co.za/philately/2011/SA_and_Indonesia.htm

 

http://philamirror.info/2011/10/26/south-africa-indonesia-joint-issue/

(Shukran to Kammie!)

 

Islamic Art Studies in Malaysia

Persons aged 18 – 28 years, fully literate in English and Arabic, artistically inclined/with an interest in Islamic Art, ‘single’ marital status and in possession of a valid passport to study in Malaysia for two years. Successful applicants should be prepared to work at RESTU RSA upon graduation

The recipients of the scholarships will be the pioneers for the Mushaf Al-Qur’an South Africa, that is, a Qur’an the illumination of which will make it immediately recognisable as a Qur’an of the Rainbow Nation for its illumination will draw on indigenous designs and colours. Interested parties should submit their CV with letter of motivation and pictures of their work if any, to Nazreen Salie on capemalay@hotmail.com or FaceBook Cape Malay. Sponsors for the Mushaf Al-Quran project also welcome to lodge their interest. VOC

Please check if this is still being offered. Also see the Jackson brothers, Nabeel and Faheem, at Al-Jaamiah Academy , Claremont, Cape Town.

Cape Malay Mini Museum – Kuala Lumpur

First Anniversary Celebration

Cape Malay Mini Museum was officially open in June 2001 by the President of South Africac Melayu Cultural Society, Mr. Mogamat Hassiem Sallie.

In his opening speech, Mr. Mogamat expressed his gratitude in working together with Dr. Nortier’s Rooibos Museum in making the Cape Malay Mini Museum a reality. On behalf of the Cape Malays, he is assure that by setting up this museum it will be a good place for Malaysians to learn about the Cape Malays whose ancestors were originally from this part of Asian region. According to him, the Cape Malay Mini Museum in Dr. Nortier’s Rooibos Museum is the first Cape Malay Museum outside South Africa.

The colorful events were attended by Selangor Council of Welfare and Social Development’s Hon. Secretary, Pn. Hajjah Khatijah Suleiman, members of the South Africa Melayu Cultural Society and Area Stockist.

In this museum you’ll find artifacts, photos, costumes and literature (knowledge kitab and Qur’an translated to Dutch) from the 17th century that will make you understand more about the background of the Malay people in South Africa.

The museum is open for public daily from Monday to Friday, 10.00am -6.00pm. Admittance is free and we are close on public holiday. Address: 12, Jalan Tukul 16/5, Section 16, Shah Alam, Selangor.

http://www.dr-nortier.com/Latestissue1.htm

Representatives from Malaysia Book of Records, lead by their Script Writer cum Researcher, Mr.Rakesh Kumar and cameraman, video taped the museum with the theme “The First South Africa Cultural Museum.”

Launch of Arabic-Afrikaans Book

The Afrikaans of the Cape Muslims: Afrikaans at the Cape from 1815 to 1915 – A Sociolinguistic Study by Achmat Davids, edited by Hein Willemse, Suleman E Dangor Achmat Davids (left) with the then President of South Africa Nelson Mandela (right) and Rev. Alan Boesak (2nd right) pay a visit to the predominantly Muslim area of Bo-Kaap at Cape Town in 1992.

http://www.oryxmedia.co.za/people/nelson-mandela-pays-a-visit-to-the-predominantly-muslim-area-of-bo-kaap-in-cape-town-%E2%80%93-17-march-1992

Family members of Dr. Achmat Davids

Mogamat Hilmy Hartley with surviving sister (Hatta) of Achmat Davids

At the Launch

 The Afrikaans of the Cape Muslims by the late Achmat Davids was launched at Cape Town’s Timbuktu Books on Friday night. The launch commenced with a brief prayer lead by book shop proprietor, Saliegh Salaam, who said that he was extremely honoured to host the community and delighted to introduce the speakers. What followed was an erudite discussion with the book’s editors, Hein Willemse and Suleman E Dangor, who were joined by the visiting professor, Muhammed Haron, from the University of Botswana.   Achmat Davids wrote The Afrikaans of the Cape Muslims after coming across ancient Arabic scrolls that he could not decipher, unitl he figured out that it was written in Afrikaans. This lead him to research the establishment of Arabic-Afrikaans texts and the emergence of the Cape Muslim Afrikaans. As I recently said in an interview for the Voice of the Cape radio station, Davids found that at the time when Dutch was still spoken at the Cape, the Malay people were already speaking and writing Afrikaans.   Davids passed away at the age of 59 in 1998 shortly after completing the book, but with the help of the editors Hein Willemse and Suleman E. Dangor, we are pleased to launch the book at Timbuktu Books in Cape Town.

http://protea.bookslive.co.za/blog/2011/07/01/discussion-about-achmat-davids-the-afrikaans-of-the-cape-muslims-on-voice-of-the-cape-radio/