Some Basarwa of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) risk imprisonment should they fail to comply with a Court of Appeal judgement directing them to bury a family member who had been lying in a mortuary for more than a year now.
Gaoberekwe Pitsengs’ son, Lesiame and some of his family members are likely to be imprisoned should they fail to bury his father after a Court of Appeal judgement by Justice Mercy Gaarekwe ruled in favour of the State.
Justices Lakhvinder Walia and Leatile Dambe agreed on the findings contained in Gaarekwe’s judgement.
Gaarekwe found that Lesiame or his father have failed to establish any right to bury him in the CKGR.
“Neither did he challenge the decision by the Council and the Department (of Wildlife) to refuse to bury the deceased in the CKGR. This appeal as such is unmerited,” said Gaarekwe.
She directed Lesiame to bury “the deceased’s body either in New Xade where the deceased was resident or any other place of choice, outside the CKGR, and in a place designated cemetery within seven (7) days from this decision.”
In a brief interview with this publication, family spokesperson, Smith Moeti said they were disappointed by the judgment. Regarding the way forward, Moeti said they were still studying the judgement with the lawyers.
He did not rule out the possibility of ‘refusing’ to bury Pitseng as directed by the Court. This publication has it on good authority that chances are that Lesiame and his family won’t bury their father in any place other than CKGR.
The family believes that it should be the government’s responsibility to bury the family at the place outside the reserve.
“Lesiame is ready to go to jail and this issue is going to blow up in the government’s face and dent the country’s already dented record as far as its ill-treatment of Basarwa is concerned,” said a family member briefly after the judgement.
Before mounting a spirited appeal application, Lesiame who has since not made any appearance before the Court since the launch of the appeal was quoted as saying; “Maybe it’s better if I’m jailed.”
By if it was better being imprisoned, Lesiame was fielding questions from reporters who sought to establish if he would comply with the High Court which had directed that he should bury his father in the Reserve within 10 days or face imprisonment.
At the time he had vowed not to bury his father outside the Reserve. The Pitseng family had dragged government to the High Court after the Director of Wildlife and National Parks denied them entry into the Reserve to bury him.
The Gaborone High Court Itumeleng Segopolo had ruled in favour of government that Gaoberekwe is not a resident of CKGR and was never part of the landmark case where some Basarwa families won against government after resisting relocation from a place which is a game reserve.
Basarwa argued that the land is their ancestral land and Pitseng was one of the applicants in the Sesana judgement. The 2006 High Court decision found that the relocation of Basarwa from the Reserve by Government was illegal.
