Not Black Enough: South Africa’s Coloured identity

Coloured identity was developed through creolisation, the blending of subaltern and ruling cultures. This gave rise to the common refrain, “not black enough to be Black and not white enough to be White”.

The Coloured community in Gauteng, South Africa’s economic heartland, continues to face barriers to full economic and social inclusion. Despite the much-vaunted racial emancipation in post-apartheid South Africa, this community continues to experience significant socio-economic discrimination.

1664: Krotoa married a Danish soldier and explorer Pieter van Meerhof. It is South Africa’s first recorded interracial marriage. Wikipedia

Historically, the formation of Coloured identity in South Africa emerged from a complex colonial encounter involving Dutch and British settlers, slaves from south and east Asia and east Africa, and the indigenous Khoi and San peoples. This produced a distinct, mixed group that did not neatly fit into colonial racial categories. During apartheid, Coloured people were legally defined by the 1950 Population Registration Act as those who were neither white nor Black African.

Today, it remains an official racial classification in South Africa. It is also used in everyday discourse.

The Coloured population is concentrated mainly in the Western Cape (42.1%) and the Northern Cape (41.6%). There are smaller proportions in the Eastern Cape (7.6%), Gauteng (2.9%), Free-State (2.6%), North-West (1.6%), KwaZulu-Natal (1.5%), Mpumalanga (0.6%) and Limpopo (0.3%).

Current, albeit limited, research on the Coloured community is usually focused on the Western Cape province. This means that there is no new substantial scholarship providing a deeper and more nuanced understanding of this community in Gauteng.

In a bid to fill this gap, the Gauteng City-Region Observatory (GCRO) initiated a research project that delves into the issues in greater detail. This follows findings from a GCRO Quality of Life Survey released in 2024 which revealed concerning data on the Coloured community in Gauteng. This included the fact that a larger proportion of Coloured people within Gauteng felt unsafe, discouraged, apathetic and dissatisfied compared to the provincial average.

The concerns highlighted in the survey are not separate from questions of Coloured identity. There is a link between an enduring perception of marginalisation within Coloured communities and real material struggles.

Biggest concerns

Safety: The survey indicated that safety remains a concern for the Coloured community in Gauteng. When asked about the main problems in their community, 2.3% indicated gangs as a problem. This compared with 0.2% of the general Gauteng population.

Additionally, 61% of Coloured people believed that the crime situation had worsened in their neighbourhoods over the past year. The provincial average was 48%.

South Africa is today regarded as “the protest capital of the world”. Over 680 protests were recorded in the country from August 2024 to August 2025, an average of nearly two a day. In September 2025, Johannesburg’s majority-Coloured suburbs, Westbury, Coronationville, Newclare and Claremont, erupted in violent protests following prolonged water shortages. These protests reflected broader frustrations over basic service delivery failures in their communities.

The renewed mass anti-immigration protests and violence against foreign nationals that have recently swept major South African cities is another reminder that interethnic violence is par for the course. Sparked by an unofficial deadline set by groups like March and March and Operation Dudula for undocumented migrants to leave the country, the protests have caused thousands of African immigrants to flee for safety. Africans from neighbouring countries now face the same dilemma as Coloureds do.

Coloured residents of Coronationville took to the streets in 2025 in protest in a bid to demand action on water shortages that have plagued the area for nearly ten years. Tensions escalated when riot police responded with rubber bullets to break up the demonstrators, who were calling for reliable access to clean water and better municipal services. With formal supply so unpredictable, many households depend on water tankers that arrive irregularly and sometimes skip the area entirely, putting older residents and children at particular risk while leaving essential institutions such as schools and hospitals struggling to function. Still image from YouTube

When Coloured respondents were asked about reasons for protests in the neighbourhood in the survey, 17% indicated that it was a result of crime and safety issues, compared to the provincial average of 4%.

Joblessness and financial stresses: The survey highlighted that 5% of Coloured residents are discouraged work seekers. This is double the average in Gauteng. A total of 26% of Coloured people felt that saving money was impossible, compared to 17% of the general population.

The highest proportion of households experiencing severe food insecurity in Gauteng belong to the Coloured (12%) and some Black African (13%) population groups.

Food insecurity refers to individuals who do not have access to sufficient food to lead an active, healthy life. The GCRO developed a food security index based on four indicators: whether households could afford enough groceries, whether there was a place nearby to buy food, and whether adults or children had skipped a meal due to financial constraints.

Political apathy: Among Coloured people who stated that they intended not to vote or were unsure if they would vote, 40% indicated that they do not like politics, broken promises or believed that voting is a waste of time. This is nearly double the provincial average of 26%.

The Coloured community had the highest proportion of people who were dissatisfied with their local municipalities. This dissatisfaction extended to provincial and national government:

72% of Coloured people expressed dissatisfaction with provincial government, compared to 63% across Gauteng, and 78% were dissatisfied with the national government, compared to 67% for the province.

Over a quarter of Coloured people believed that politics was a waste of time (26%) and that South Africa was a failed state (29%). This was much higher than the provincial average.

The survey also shed light on the ongoing racial tensions within Gauteng. Eighteen percent of Coloured residents reported experiencing racial discrimination either always or often. This compares with 13% of the general population.

Conclusion

The data emerging from the GCRO survey paints a troubling picture. Three decades after the end of apartheid, Gauteng’s Coloured population is faced with contemporary forms of exclusion — from the tear gas and rubber bullets in Coronationville’s streets to the quieter erosion of hope reflected in rising political apathy and food insecurity.

What makes these findings significant is not simply that Coloured residents report worse outcomes than the provincial average, but that this pattern holds consistently across nearly every dimension measured: safety, employment, service delivery, food security, and trust in government. This consistency suggests something more structural than coincidental hardship — a community that remains, in important respects, on the margins.