Basarwa of Ranyane settlement, 300 km from Ghanzi in the southwest, are not quite sure where to begin their litany of grievances and tales of sorrow. Termination of servicers such as the drought relief programme (Ipelegeng), the broken down engine, devised strategies to drive them off their land, or threats of their houses being flattened by bulldozers are among their complaints.
Off the tarred Trans Kalahari High Way road, roughly 230 km from Ghanzi, is the turn off to the gravel that leads to Ranyane, a semi desolate and semi arid area. To reach the area one has to traverse difficult terrain using a 4×4 by carefully negotiating the deep ruts.
Like most of their tribesmen in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) who had their water taps capped before the court allowed them to drill boreholes, the holdouts here have remained without water for many months, surviving on supplies from far off farms.
Basarwa’s love for their ancestral land and their culture have converged to create a storm of problems.
While Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) Chief Executive Officer, Godfrey Mudanga’s immediate concern is the water level in dams across the country, the Ranyane community worries about lack of income to buy fuel for their newly installed engine. The engine cost them more than P22 000.
“We were forced to contribute our meager resources as a community to buy the engine you see there,” explained Kashe Gadisele as we stood in the open, outside a structure that houses the engine he speaks of. This was after the Ghanzi District Council authorities turned a deaf ear to the residents’ request to repair the one that the residents had been using for many years. A standpipe lies idle next to the engine structure. Gadisele further explains that some residents relocated to Bere, after authorities from Ghanzi District Council had threatened them that they would use the unpopular yellow monster or bulldozer to “uproot us out of Ranyane.”
Stories of how one of their own tribesmen, Qoroxloo Duxee, who had resisted relocation from CKGR and reportedly died of dehydration and starvation should have been a lesson that could have forced Basarwa out of Ranyane.
Furthermore, the latest military scotched earth strategy adopted by the Ghanzi District Council and aimed at starving them out of Ranyane should have brought the desired results. But Basarwa have remained resolute and are clinging to their ancestral land with tenacity as they responded by buying their own engine in an effort to restore the terminated services.
“Should we relocate, our culture will be eroded and that is why we are against relocation,” says Gadisele with a flicker in his eyes. He adds that since relocation started some residents had been trekking to areas such as Metsimantsho which is roughly 36 kilometres from Ranyane in search of water for their livestock. Gadisele is part of the holdouts who have vowed not to leave Ranyane.
As we tour the village, he points to a herd of well fed cattle and explains that the thriving livestock once roamed freely, without their owners worrying about where they would water them.
Before Basarwa learnt about the imminent relocation from Ranyane, they never went thirsty. They could count on help from government. The authorities would provide them with fuel every month.
Through coordination from the local authority, they built a two-door toilet block at the kgotla. Plans were also underway to bring more amenities, they say. But their resistant to relocation changed all that. Government does not want to provide them with water. Nor does it want to employ them in Ipelegeng programme in Ranyane anymore.
“Before we resisted relocation there was Ipelegeng in Ranyane. For instance before the issue of relocation cropped up, we were de-bushing a road that links our area with other settlements and villages in Kgalagadi District. But to our surprise, that was stopped before the work could be completed” explains Tlhogwe Moreetsane. With a dejected face, Tlhogwe says the relocation has created many problems for Ranyane residents.
“Ever since the issue of relocation was announced, we have never known peace in Ranyane; starvation and thirst are the order of the day, we are dying here,” he says despondency apparent on his face.
With the shake of his head he asks, “What wrong have we done to deserve this from our government? Please tell the authorities that our plea is that they should restore the normal life that we used to live in Ranyane by restoring services.”
According to Tlhogwe, unlike in the past, the authorities now only talk of relocation and not of providing or restoring services whenever they visit. “We have been left to die in Ranyane. As I speak to you now a number of us have not eaten anything since morning; there is no money with which to buy food. Our suffering is taking its toll on us,” he says.
There was a sense of relief for those supporting the Basarwa cause when the High Court barred the Ghanzi District Council and other government officials from entering the settlement and address the residents on the relocation at the kgotla. In June this year the Ranyane community successfully challenged government attempts in court to remove them from their land and destroy their homes.
But the remaining families in Ranyane had no illusions; they knew that authorities from the Ghanzi District Council and Land Board would come for them. And they did. This was despite the Court order stating that they should seek consent from Basarwa through their lawyers before they could address them on relocation.
Mpho Barakaath says as part of its refusal to provide services, apart from terminating the Ipelegeng programme, the Ghanzi District Council has stopped sending social workers who used to assess social welfare.
“We have been left to suffer; we can’t access health facilities; there is no medical care,” he says as he points to an abandoned structure which was a satellite clinic before a mobile clinic was introduced. But it too has been terminated. Barakaath points out that they are facing pressure from Ghanzi District Council authorities to leave Ranyane.
“The result is that families have broken down. Some of us have been forced to go and look for jobs elsewhere since Ipelegeng was terminated in our area,” he says. He says the Charleshill Sub District Council used to provide 210 litres of fuel every month. But that is a thing of the past. “What surprises us is that in Metsimanong and Bere the government is supplying them with water using mobile tanks,” says Barakaath.
The newly installed engine by the community does not only demonstrate a spirit of self reliance but it is also a story of comfort in desolation.
“We wonder what we have done to government to merit this punishment. Though the government continues to toss us around, we will soldier on,” he warned. Barakaath says they decided to buy five litres of fuel for the engine which waters the residents and livestock; but it is not enough.
The settlement’s uncertain future has temporarily kept most holdouts out. Early this year, a number of them streamed towards the east of Ranyane to surrounding farms with their cattle in search of water.
Former leader of the Village Development Committee (VDC), Madala Dipholo, is among those who returned to Ranyane after two months away to participate in a latest court case that Basarwa intend to launch against the Botswana Government. He will always remember the day he saw a vehicle with a Charleshill Sub District Council logo. That was in 08 December 2012.
“The officers arrived and requested to see the security guard at the structure that houses the engine. They claimed that they were here to repair it. Without a word, they loaded the engine and drove away,” he said.
Dipholo explains that according to their culture they should stay where they had buried their ancestors.
Leading the tour through the vast and semi desolate settlement, he points at the old standpipe which broke down many months ago. Thirty years ago, before the authorities decide to empty the ancestral land of its people, the cattle would not have been mooing and scrabbling around for a drop of water.
“Ever since the government decided to betray its policy of taking services to the people, we have spent sleepless nights looking for water, to feed our cattle,” he says.
Some former residents were relocated to Bere. Sunday Standard visited those who had relocated there. They live in a new ward which they had christened Khumbulekhaya, perhaps named after a popular South African Broadcasting Corporation television program, Khumbulekhaya (longing for home) which is used to locate prodigal sons and daughters.
One of the ‘evictees’ who did not want to be named said people were worse off in Bere since they mostly live on food handouts from government and roam around the village aimlessly.
“Some of us drink a lot unlike when we were at Ranyane because there people did not brew alcohol and there was no readily available alcohol,” he says. He adds that if it was not for termination of services such as Ipelegeng programme and lack of water supply he would not have relocated to Bere.
“We did not have choice, did we? Those who are still resisting relocation will bear the brunt of leaving without necessities such as water and health services,” he claims.
Back in Ranyane, former area Councillor Paul Mokgethisi says the Director of Wildlife and National Parks, Ghanzi Police Station Commander, and other authorities from Ghanzi District Council and Landboard held a meeting on 22 October this year. “They were booed by the residents. In no uncertain terms, we told them that coming to this place was a waste of resources. We understand that even intelligence officers were present,” he says.
Mokgethisi says the Ghanzi District Council’s attorney at the meeting wanted to know why they bought and installed the new engine.
He also adds that some residents were scattered all over surrounding farms when the engine broke down. But they have since returned when they learnt those resisting relocation had replaced it with a new one.
In a previous interview, government spokesmen Dr. Jeff Ramsay denied that the government was on course to terminate services to Basarwa saying, “There haven’t been cut off of any service. What is happening is that an assessment is being done regarding the Ipelegeng programme.”
Despite their litany of grievances, residents of Ranyane pin their hopes on the courts to resolve the matter as the battle for the soul of Ranyane settlement remains a saga replete with edicts and court cases.
