Ancestral land conflict in Botswana
The policy of relocation continued, however, and in 2012 the San people appealed to the United Nations to compel the government to recognize their land and resource rights.
The San people (or Basarwa[1], formerly known as "Bushmen"[2]), are one of the oldest cultures on Earth; they have lived in the area around the Kalahari Desert much longer than neighboring tribal groups.
Government policies beginning in the 1970s transferred a significant area of traditionally San land to White settlers and majority agro-pastoralist tribes.
[1]: 2 James Anaya, as the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people for the United Nations, describes loss of land as a major contributor to many of the problems facing Botswana's indigenous people, citing the San's eviction from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) as an especial example.
"[3] In 1958, the Bechuanaland Protectorate government designated George Silberbauer to perform research and find resolutions to the issues facing the San people.
As a result of his investigation, in 1961, the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) was established to give the San a place of their own and to protect the surrounding flora and fauna.
[3] However, the CKGR is "unique in that it was created not only as a nature reserve but also to protect the rights of around 5000 people, mostly San, living within its borders, who wanted to maintain their hunter-gatherer lifestyles.
"[5] Ultimately, these conferences led to the registration of the "First People of the Kalahari" as a recognized organization with the government of Botswana and the inauguration of their own office in Gaborone in 1994.
[7] In 2002, the San People, alongside their representatives, took the government of Botswana to court to fight for their right to remain in the CKGR and access the natural resources within it.
[9] There are claims that the GOB attempts to relocate the San people are motivated by the discovery of diamonds in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in the late 1980s.
[12] Although the establishment of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) was intended to protect the rights of minorities, between the 1970s and 1980s, an urge to relocate the San people started.
[13] On October 12, 1986, "the GOB announced that the settlements of its “Remote Area Dweller” (RAD) program, which provided services to the San, among others, would from that point forward be established only outside of the CKGR.
[14] However, occupants of the reserve attended what are known as "Kgotla," local council meetings at the Ghanzi township, where they expressed their concerns and, ultimately, were saved from relocating.
"[13]Additionally, Survival International and other human rights organizations wrote letters to the GOB, particularly the President's Office and the Ministry of Local Government, Lands and Housing, over their efforts for the San people's resettlement.
[13]Some residents did eventually relocate on their own; however, after some time, they returned to the reserve because they claimed that there was not enough land in the new settlement and that there was ongoing competition for the limited resources.
[15] In 1992, a meeting and a workshop, where the San, alongside their representatives, expressed their concerns and the problems they faced over relocation, led to world attention on the issue.
[1]: 17 Since the mid-1990s, the central government of Botswana has implemented a relocation policy aimed at moving the San out of XamKhomani Heartland, their ancestral land on and near the CKGR into newly created settlements such as New Xade.
[17][non-primary source needed] The government's official reason for adopting the policy states: Over time it has become clear that many residents of the CKGR already were or wished to become settled agriculturists, raising crops and tending livestock as opposed to hunting-gathering when the reserve was established in 1961.
[1]: 18 Jumanda Gakelebone, a spokesman for the San in Botswana, told The Guardian: We have survived for millennia in one of the world's driest areas but they treat us as stupid.
[21] The court held in Roy Sesana and Others v. The Attorney General that the San plaintiffs were, "forcibly or wrongly and without their consent", deprived of possession of land that they lawfully occupied.
[1]: 17 According to Anaya, the case "highlights the failure of the government to adequately consult with indigenous peoples in significant decisions affecting them and to respect their rights to traditional lands and resources".
[1]: 21 Opponents of the relocation policy claim that the government's intent is to clear the area—an area the size of Denmark—for the lucrative tourist trade and diamond mining.
As stated by the news division of the Rapaport Diamond Report, a diamond-industry pricing guide, "Ghaghoo's launch was not without controversy [...] given its location on the ancestral land of the Bushmen".
The government falsely claims that the Bushmen’s presence in the reserve is incompatible with wildlife conservation, while allowing a diamond mine and fracking (hydraulic fracturing) exploration to go ahead on their land.
[24] In a 2005 embassy communication released in 2011, United States Ambassador to Botswana Joseph Huggins condemned the forced evictions, saying: "While it is probably the case that two-three years on since the move, the greatest trauma is past, it is also clear that people have been dumped in economically absolutely unviable situations without forethought, and without follow-up support.
Legal scholars Donald K. Anton and Dinah L. Shelton write that the case "exemplfies what some consider a potential conflict between environmental protection and human rights".
[29]: 9–10 Barrister Gordon Bennett represented the San in court as the judges declared the Botswana government guilty of ‘degrading treatment’ and described the case as ‘a harrowing story of human suffering and despair’.
[29]: 10 In May 2012 the Basarwa appealed to the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, asking the United Nations to force the government to recognize their land and resource rights.
[29]: 7, 20 In a move criticized by civil society and local media, the government added the Basarwa applicants’ lawyer, a United Kingdom citizen affiliated with Survival International, to a list of individuals who must apply for visas to enter the country.
While the government denied allegations that it planned to bar the lawyer from the country, it did not grant his visa in time for him to participate in the August High Court hearing.
