SHAUN KHAEB MACDONALD: Supporting SA’s indigenous economy

Leading Canadian indigenous businesswoman Carol Anne Hilton coined one of my now favourite words: indigenomics.  

In her book Indigenomics: Taking A Seat At The Economic Table, Hilton speaks about igniting a $100bn indigenous economy. To further understand this, she writes: “It is time. It is time to increase the visibility, role and responsibility of the emerging modern indigenous economy and the people involved. This is the foundation for economic reconciliation. This is indigenomics.”

To an indigenous person such as myself, people like Hilton are a breath of fresh air. It is the focus on the commercial value we bring as indigenous peoples that inspires us to mobilise within the economy of our country. It is why we have empowered ourselves with the international mechanisms that allow us to take the necessary steps to reclaim the status of global economic players.

Though this does not receive any real recognition within the history of this land, the indigenous peoples were part of the global economy long before the arrival of the “1652s”. It is why Jan van Riebeeck was assigned the task to return to these lands.

||Hui !Gaeb (now known as Cape Town) was an important port for those travelling by sea, the leading means of trade. Modern-day |Xam and Khoe peoples are making great strides in reclaiming the custodianship our ancestors once proudly held.

There are increasing instances of commercial deals/agreements reflecting this. One example of this is the recently published news of the first payment to the indigenous peoples from the rooibos benefit-sharing agreement. Another is the much-contested River Club Development in Cape Town.

Even though these deals are being contested, it does show that there is a shift to include the indigenous peoples in the commercial spaces; that there’s an understanding for a need to delve into economic reconciliation.

These actions are a result of us understanding and applying international mechanisms such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which SA adopted in 2016, and the International Labour Organization Convention 169, which we are working towards having the SA government ratify. These mechanisms have already helped nations such as Canada address the matter of reconciling with their indigenous peoples.

In the lead-up to the 2022 state of the nation and budget speech, we wrote to the president and finance minister requesting that the indigenous peoples of SA be included and catered for. The expectation was born from the first piece of legislation focusing in the |Xam and Khoe Nations, the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act of 2019, coming into effect on April 1 2021.

Also, following numerous discussions with the state by different indigenous representatives around progressing the indigenous economy, as important as it was, the request made to the government was one of multiple actions being taken.

Over the past 18 months I have been privy to engagements within the private sector. With the understanding that things generally move much quicker within the private sector, as opposed to the state, engagements within the current status quo boardrooms have been welcoming and progressive.

These engagements are not only based on economic reconciliation but also from the understanding that the indigenous peoples have much to offer through our indigenous knowledge system. A factor gaining importance, as expressed by the UN, is for indigenous knowledge systems to be included in the international post-pandemic recovery.

From an SA perspective, there’s an indigenous collective influenced by our cultural principles, working towards a shared future. And where the state, private sector and indigenous peoples walk hand-in-hand with an active society, to the benefit of the nation.

We are not interested in lagging behind the international progression of indigenous peoples. Our goal is to be global leaders and have the capabilities and competence to occupy those spaces.

Perhaps the question we as a country should be asking is: what is the worth of the SA indigenous economy to us as a nation, and to the world? We’re ready to begin answering that. 

• |Khaeb MacDonald is provincial leader of civil rights organisation Indigenous First Nation Advocacy SA and an indigenous business leader.