Kalahari San make successful return

ABOUT 40 Kalahari Bushmen in Botswana managed to return to their homes in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) last weekend, despite a heavy police presence and attempts to persuade them to stay in the relocation camps outside like New Xade.

All the Bushmen or San in the convoy were allowed into the reserve by the wildlife guards at the gates, although some were only issued with temporary permits. “Plainclothes police went into the reserve ahead of the Bushmen, but have now left,” the London-based rights organisation for indigenous peoples’ rights, Survival International, said yesterday.”The police attempted to persuade the Bushmen not to leave New Xade by telling them that President Festus Mogae first wanted to talk to them, but the Bushmen insisted on going home.””We hope that the authorities will not try to make life difficult for the Bushmen wanting to return home,” Survival’s director Stephen Corry said.”We will see that it is in their own interest, as well as that of the Bushmen, that the process is as calm and problem-free as possible.”The Bushmen or San won a court order last month allowing them to return to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) from which the government had expelled them five years ago.The government shut the main water well in 2002 there and water resources are scarce.The Botswana government argued that it must protect the CKGR as a national tourism resource.The government had said that only the 189 people who filed the lawsuit would be given automatic right of return with their children, but about 2 000 the Bushmen want to go home to the CKGR.According to Keratwaemang Kekailwe, one of the 189 Kalahari San who filed the suit, officials said they would determine amounts of water they were allowed to take into the CKGR.In September 2005, he and 22 other San were prevented from re-entering the reserve by Botswana police firing rubber bullets.Now he lives in an isolated resettlement camp known as Kaudwane.On December 31 2006 government game guards refused entry to the Bushmen who staged a first attempt to return to their ancestral land, which is the reserve.Ironically, the CKGR was created for the San in the 1960s.Last week, President Festus Mogae asked them to stay where they are until tomorrow, when he intends to speak to them at New Xade about the way forward after the judgement.Backed by Survival International, the Bushmen fought the longest running legal battle in Botswana’s post-colonial history to return to the reserve.The verdict by the Botswana High Court that the government’s eviction of the Bushmen was “unlawful and unconstitutional” was hailed as a victory for indigenous peoples around the world.The court also ruled that the Bushmen had the right to hunt and gather in the reserve, and should not have to apply for permits to enter.The government announced shortly afterwards that it accepted the ruling and would not appeal against it.Additional reporting by AP”Plainclothes police went into the reserve ahead of the Bushmen, but have now left,” the London-based rights organisation for indigenous peoples’ rights, Survival International, said yesterday.”The police attempted to persuade the Bushmen not to leave New Xade by telling them that President Festus Mogae first wanted to talk to them, but the Bushmen insisted on going home.””We hope that the authorities will not try to make life difficult for the Bushmen wanting to return home,” Survival’s director Stephen Corry said.”We will see that it is in their own interest, as well as that of the Bushmen, that the process is as calm and problem-free as possible.”The Bushmen or San won a court order last month allowing them to return to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) from which the government had expelled them five years ago.The government shut the main water well in 2002 there and water resources are scarce.The Botswana government argued that it must protect the CKGR as a national tourism resource.The government had said that only the 189 people who filed the lawsuit would be given automatic right of return with their children, but about 2 000 the Bushmen want to go home to the CKGR.According to Keratwaemang Kekailwe, one of the 189 Kalahari San who filed the suit, officials said they would determine amounts of water they were allowed to take into the CKGR.In September 2005, he and 22 other San were prevented from re-entering the reserve by Botswana police firing rubber bullets.Now he lives in an isolated resettlement camp known as Kaudwane.On December 31 2006 government game guards refused entry to the Bushmen who staged a first attempt to return to their ancestral land, which is the reserve.Ironically, the CKGR was created for the San in the 1960s.Last week, President Festus Mogae asked them to stay where they are until tomorrow, when he intends to speak to them at New Xade about the way forward after the judgement.Backed by Survival International, the Bushmen fought the longest running legal battle in Botswana’s post-colonial history to return to the reserve.The verdict by the Botswana High Court that the government’s eviction of the Bushmen was “unlawful and unconstitutional” was hailed as a victory for indigenous peoples around the world.The court also ruled that the Bushmen had the right to hunt and gather in the reserve, and should not have to apply for permits to enter.The government announced shortly afterwards that it accepted the ruling and would not appeal against it.Additional reporting by AP