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Zinto: Navigating Cape Identities is inspired by South Africa s constitutional commitment to Unity in Diversity . Plurality of identity is explored using the author´s own journey, to open discourse on identity that departs from the paradigm of race and ethnicity. Six lenses explore collective heritage; genealogy: history; life experience; genetic ancestry; and national group cultures. Exploration of identity in South Africa has been stymied by Apartheid ideology which forced the population into race silos - white, black, coloured and Indian, amplifying ethnicity as identity. Particularly for those classified as ´Coloured´, identity was totally warped by ideology. This distorted legacy still haunts the post-Apartheid era. A fresh approach, illustrated by personal experience, emphasises the ties that bind people and provides perspective particularly for ´Coloured´ or Cape Creole people, often misrepresented as a mixed-race product of miscegenation. Six journeys proceed from the seven enmeshed tributaries to Cape identities - Indigene, Slave, Free Black, European, Maroon, Exiled Resisters and Refugees, and Indentures and Migrants.

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Patric Tariq Mellét MSc, a Cape Town born heritage activist, spent 14 years in exile as a result of ANC political activity. Former post-Apartheid Head of PR in the South African Parliament. Raised in District Six, Woodstock and Salt River, he frequently appears in the SA media commenting on heritage issues involving Cape slavery heritage.

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