Abstract
In a guest column in the Sunday Times in July 2012, Heindrich Wyngaard takes
issue with fellow columnist Phyllicia Oppelt, who in her weekly commentary
spoke of being Coloured as “...the identity that shamed me” (Oppelt, quoted in
Wyngaard, 2012). According to Wyngaard, there is “deep-seated disagreement
about identity” amongst Coloured people, with some, like Oppelt, refusing to
identify with a name that reflects the “lowly, shameful status bestowed by the
apartheid government,” whereas others celebrate this identity (Wyngaard,
2012:2). This is emblematic of the way in which, in South Africa, the so-called
‘Coloured’1 community has traditionally inhabited that shadow-world between
definitions of race and class...