During the second quarter of the nineteenth century, the position of the Khoesan within the Cape Colony shifted significantly. The colony as a whole was moving slowly in a direction which would lead to the greater participation of the Cape's elite in its government. Precisely how this would be achieved was a matter of long debate, made more poisonous by ethnic conflict among the dominant classes, with many of British descent, particularly the settlers who had come to the colony in the assisted immigration scheme of 1820, confronting those whose families had been in South Africa for much longer and whose first language was Dutch.

For the Khoesan, the crucial event was the promulgation of Ordinance 50 in 1828. This ended legal discrimination in the colony on the basis of race (but not, of course, on the basis of legal status, notably slavery, of sex or of age). The ordinance gave them rights, although little in the way of economic opportunities. Nevertheless, a proportion of the Khoesan were able to acquire land in the Kat River valley, in return for protecting the colony against Xhosa attacks. Others found positions at the various mission stations in the colony. From here they acquired the independence necessary for their voice to be heard in the colonial debates on a wide variety of topics. This they did in concert with (some of) the missionaries. Their prime concern was to maintain the benefits they had gained by Ordinance 50, against the potential introduction of measures which would restrict their mobility or in other ways leave them subservient to the colony's landowners.