#renosterveld

The wealth of plant diversity in renosterveld and fynbos, two natural shrub-scrub habitats found only in South Africa’s Western Cape, offers many plants which have medicinal purposes and soothe ailments, if only one knows how to identify them. Traditional South African ‘bush doctors’ have harvested and prescribed these plants to the sick for thousands of years.

Nowadays, in the Swartland agricultural mosaic of the Western Cape, renosterveld is critically endangered and only small fragments remain, mostly on hillsides and rocky outcrops known as “koppies”. One of the larger fragments is  known as “Klipkoppie”, and was formerly a landfill site, and home to a large motocross trail network. It recently been designated a nature reserve, and the motocross is officially forbidden, although motorbike and quad bike riders regularly flout the ban and ride freely across the reserve, which can cause damage and erosion to the plants and soils. Another issue which, according to the council, threatens the integrity of the renosterveld ecosystem is the digging up and harvesting of medicinal plants by local Rastafarian ‘bush doctors’.

If one stops in the vibrant section of town by the taxi station, one can find people selling fruit and vegetables and snacks along the sidewalk. Among the melee, I find a group of Rastafarians sitting next to an open sack, spread across the concrete, upon which have been displayed various bundles and packages of medicinal plants. The young Cape woman generously explains to me each of the plants and what they are good for. Her husband is the bush doctor and knows more, she tells me, but he is currently inside the Fish&Chip shop. I look through the window and see a Rastafarian man, dressed in the traditional sack, with dreadlocks down to his waist and bare feet, looking up at the board behind the counter and choosing his meal.

When he comes out, the pair of them point to the different plants and explain what they are good for. On one side of the sacks are bulbs and roots, and on the other are bunches of herbs and wrapped leaves. They show me large bulbs of cinnamon root, which is good for piles and clogged arteries; wild mountain garlic which has a bunch of squid-like tentacles and smells pungent; bunches of renosterbos and sage for tea or smudging (cleaning a house by burning and spreading the sage smoke to remove unwanted spirits); a paper bag of aloe leaves; ointments prepared with aloe and Vaseline; ‘elephant’s feet’ and ‘kankerbossie’ (cancer bush).

The woman explains that her husband goes to the veld every week to harvest in the fynbos from anywhere she calls generally “the Mountain”. I have an image of the Rasta in his sack with a large spade, digging up bulbs and picking leaves from the omnipresent renosterbos. “I can cut a piece for you, 20 rand, 30 rand, how much you need”, he says, indicating the cinnamon bulb.

I see with my own eyes that the harvesting is happening, and that the critically endangered renosterveld is home to this kind of unregulated activity, but I am charmed by the connection these people have to their local ecosystem, and the traditional knowledge that is alive and kicking on the Swartland streets. In the time that I talk to them both, at least two or three men come to ask the Rasta man about a cure or boost for something, and he sells them a little pack of leaves for high blood pressure or fertility or so on. I am also struck by the vibrancy and energy of the black and coloured community down in the town. It makes the white person’s way of life, in malls and air-conditioned cars, look very dull and sterile.