Goffals are people of mixed race from Southern Africa .It may be said that goffals are specifically from Zimbabwe and South Africa. The word goffal originates from South Africa where it is a derogatory term used to describe ugly women,but goffal women are known for their beauty so this definition is no longer used.Coloureds in other parts of the world are referred to as mulatto,Zimbabwean coloureds are referred to as Goffals.

The word was brought to Rhodesia by Afrikaans speaking Cape Coloureds who settled in Bulawayo in the early 1900s. It cannot be pinpointed exactly when that coloureds started referring to one another as Goffals.

Racial composition of goffals

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Goffal can refer to a mixture of any race but is predominantly a mixture of local black tribes(Shona and Ndebele), white settlers and cape coloureds.

Goffal communities

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During the white minority rule of then Rhodesia all children resulting from inter-racial relations were separated from their families and put race specific schools and restricted to living in coloured designated neighbourhoods. As a result the mixed race offspring began to marry have families within their racial group which already included the cape coloureds.The Goffal community began to grow and gain an identity. Specifically suburbs in mainly Bulawayo(Thorngrove nicknamed Groove, Barham Green nick named B.G.) and Harare(Arcadia, Braeside) began to grow and gain a significant population but in recent years many have gone in diaspora with large groups in London, Milton Keynes,Dublin,Canada and New Zealand.

Language

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Unlike their South African counterparts who speak Afrikaans, the main language is a mixture of mainly English with some Afrikaans, local Bantu and slang made up over the years to produce a unique accent which is easily identifiable.

Goffals can also be identified by their accents that are very distinctive with the word eksee used at the end of each phrase or sentence e.g "Howz it,Eksee ?",reply "lekker,eksee".Goffals are proud to be from Africa.Their lastnames significantly differ from native African lastnames because of European descent. Last names such as Soutter ,Mckop ,Hassam ,Green ,Van helsdingen ,Van Heeden are last names that have nothing to do with native Africa,hence these are but a few of the names found amongst the goffal community .An example of a native African Zimbabwean lastname is Nkomo (which is ndebele for cow)or Chimombe (which is Shona for cow).Since the decline of the Zimbabwean economy which is credited to the current President Robert Mugabe and his government, goffals have been migrating in large groups to various countries over seas and as a result of this they have conjured up the web and created a meeting place on sites like chirundu.com, goffal.com and many others .For more info on goffals and interaction with goffals over the net check out goffal.com ^*its lakker eksee.