Kali Mercier
"The government has cut off everything that enables us to survive, but we won't move because we were born here."
Two years after Botswana's government evicted hundreds of Gana and Gwi "Bushmen" from their ancestral land, the authorities have stepped up their persecution. They are bringing charges against a group of Bushmen who were arrested as they were hunting near the resettlement camp where the government has left them. Hunting is the only alternative to government handouts for Bushmen in the camps.
They are desperate to return to their land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), where Bushmen lived for thousands of years. The government, however, forces the Bushmen to apply for permits if they wish to visit their relatives in the reserve (an impossibly bureaucratic procedure for most), and has forbidden them from taking in desperately needed supplies of water.
February marked the second anniversary of the eviction of the last 700 Gana and Gwi Bushmen and their neighbours (the Bakgalagadi) from their lands in the reserve. In February 2002, after 15 years of pressure that forced most Bushmen out, their last remaining water borehole was smashed and they were forced to dismantle their huts. Police and soldiers threatened to burn them in their homes if they refused. Despite the threats, several dozen Bushmen and Bakgalagadi remain on their land, relying on the rain and underground tubers for water.
About 2500 Bushmen and Bakgalagadi now live in two bleak resettlement camps, which they call "places of death". Since the first evictions in 1997, there has been a steady disintegration of families as people succumb to alcoholism and depression. One Bushman told human rights group Survival International: "There's a lot of alcoholism and people are not eating. People go into the bars and drink beer so they can forget things. In CKGR people had fit minds and bodies. Here, people contracted by the government are bringing in AIDS. In our culture, we didn't know all these diseases."
People are bored and feel helpless. They depend on the government for handouts of food — the barren land around the camps supports little hunting or gathering. According to one Bushman, "This makes us very sad. We feel powerless. We feel like bits of rubbish put in a waste bin."
Many want to return to their land, and in spite of intense intimidation from the authorities, some have. Life inside the reserve is harsh, as the Bushmen are banned from hunting, gathering and collecting firewood. Since the borehole was smashed, water is extremely scarce. But courage and resilience have enabled them to withstand constant pressure to move.
A Bushman told Survival International: "The government has cut the water but I will carry on here. I said to myself that I will live on my ancestors' land where they are buried and I'm still alive."
The government claims that the relocations were voluntary, however in an embarrassing admission last October, Botswana's foreign minister told a group of students in London: "We put these people [the Bushmen] ... where we want them to be."
As soon as the Bushmen were evicted in 2002, the government carved up most of the reserve into diamond exploration concessions. Most are owned by South African-owned De Beers and BHP Billiton. De Beers has refused to condemn the forced removals of the Bushmen and in fact the managing director of its Botswana subsidiary has publicly welcomed them.
The Bushmen and Bakgalagadi have appealed, through Survival International, for international support in their efforts to return to their ancestral land — and to live there without further harassment or fear of eviction, and to hunt and gather freely.
In July, the Gana and Gwi Bushmen are taking the Botswana government to court for forcing them off their ancestral land in the Kalahari.
The case will begin on July 4 with an "inspection in loco" of the resettlement centres, and of the Bushman communities in the CKGR to which nearly 200 Bushmen have returned despite government opposition. Fearing that their voices will not be heard, as has been the case in previous government-led tours, the Bushmen are calling for observers from the local and international media to participate.
The original case was dismissed on a technicality in April 2002. The Bushmen appealed, and won the right to have the case re-heard on its merits.
Survival International has launched an urgent appeal to raise funds to support their case. Visit
From 91×ÔÅÄÂÛ̳ Weekly, June 23, 2004.
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