Dawid Kruiper (1 September 1935 – 13 June 2012) was a traditional healer and leader of the ǂKhomani San in the

Kalahari The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coasta ...

. Well known for his acting role in ''

The Gods Must Be Crazy II ''The Gods Must Be Crazy II'' is a 1989 comedy film written and directed by Jamie Uys, and a sequel to the 1980 film ''The Gods Must Be Crazy'', which Uys also wrote and directed. An international co-production between South Africa, Botswana an ...

'', Kruiper spoke for the rights of indigenous people to the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

in 1994, and led the way for successful land-claims for the San people in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, culminating in the restoration of 40,000 hectares of land in 1999. He also made headlines after hitch-hiking from the Kalahari to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in 2004 to speak to then South African president

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC ...

, and was also involved in the development and restoration of the San languages. Kruiper was born in the Kalahari National Park. He was outspoken on the theft of

traditional knowledge Traditional knowledge (TK), indigenous knowledge (IK) and local knowledge generally refer to knowledge systems embedded in the cultural traditions of regional, indigenous, or local communities. According to the World Intellectual Property Organ ...

, particularly regarding

hoodia ''Hoodia'' (; known locally as "ghaap" or "bobbejaanghaap") is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, under the subfamily Asclepiadoideae, native to Southern Africa. One species of ''Hoodia'' in particular, ''Hoodia gordonii'', ...

, by western pharmaceutical companies. Kruiper died at approximately noon on June 13, 2012 at Upington Medi-Clinic in

Upington Upington ( Nama: //Khara hais) is a town founded in 1873 and located in the Northern Cape province of South Africa, on the banks of the Orange River. The town was originally called Olijvenhoutsdrift ('Olive wood drift'), due to the abundance of ...

. He had been transferred there from Gordonia Regional Hospital on June 12, 2012 after his condition abruptly deteriorated at night. Family representative Anna Festus told news media that Kruiper had been doing better during the weekend prior to the deterioration. Specifics of his medical condition and cause of death were not reported.

Legacy

Cape Town has the ''Dawid Kruiper Bridge'' that crosses over Nelson Mandela Boulevard.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kruiper, Dawid South African politicians San people South African male film actors 1940s births Year of birth uncertain 2012 deaths

Legacy

See also

References