Die mondelinge oorlewering oor Ruitertjie Ruiters, “Leeu van die Langkloof”

Résumé

This article deals with the life and heritage of Ruiter Ruiters, a man who lived in the Langkloof area of the Eastern Cape and who attained legendary status. Ruiters was born during the second decade of the 20th century and started a career of petty crime, serving a number of short jail sentences. His “career” became a matter of concern when he started developing a reputation for easily evading apprehension. After a manhunt lasting two years and a court case in which he was charged with over eighty offences he was declared a habitual criminal in 1948. The focus of the article is not the biographical Ruiters, but rather the oral testimonies on his exploits recorded in the Langkloof and other areas at the end of the 1990s. The article relates these oral narratives to the Khoe heritage, specifically the stories on Heitsi Eibib. It concludes that in their renderings the storytellers make use of a number of heterogeneous cultural sources.