KROTOA: 350 Years, a celebration in verse

134pp., 4to., b/w & colour illus., paperback, Shofar Books, (Cape Town), 2025

ISBN: 9781067227463

A collection of poems written in honour of Krotoa (c. 1643-1674), the 17th-century Khoi woman who served as an interpreter for the Dutch East India Company.

Krotoa was a member of the Goringhaicona people, a Khoi tribe living around the Cape of Good Hope. The niece of influential Khoi chieftain Autshumao, an early trader and intermediary between the Dutch and local tribes, she entered the household of Dutch Commander Jan van Riebeeck around the age of 12, initially as a maid for his wife. She learned Dutch and Portuguese and later worked for the Dutch as a trading agent, interpreter and peace negotiator in times of war.

Krotoa's position was fraught with challenges and she found herself caught between the Dutch, who saw her as useful but never fully accepted her, and the Khoi, who grew suspicious of her close ties with the colonisers.

Baptised at the age of 22 at her own request, she became known to the Dutch as Eva. In 1664 she married a surgeon, Pieter van Meerhof, and in 1665 they moved to Robben Island, where van Meerhof had been appointed superintendent. When Van Meerhof was killed during an expedition to Madagascar in 1668, Krotoa's position within Dutch society became increasingly precarious - her services as an interpreter were no longer needed and her alcoholism and erratic behaviour were used against her. In 1669 she was imprisoned for immoral behaviour and then banished to Robben Island in 1671. Jan van Riebeeck's niece, Elizabeth van Opdorp, subsequently adopted Krotoa's children. Isolated and unable to reintegrate into either the Dutch or the Khoi communities, she died in 1674 and was buried at the Castle.

Poets Vannie Kaap, launched in 2022, is an organisation that organises poetry readings and poetry circles. They have published four anthologies, volumes 1 to 4 of Lekka Poems.