It is now twenty-five years ÔÇô practically a generation ÔÇô since the government first announced its intention to ‘relocate’ the Gana and Gwi Basarwa away from their homeland in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. As everyone now knows, it dumped them in dismal ‘camps’ outside their land, and forced them from their self-sufficient way of life into an abject dependency on handouts: in brief, it took what they had, including some of their pride, and reduced them to beggars. Diamonds had been discovered and more riches for already-rich businessmen and politicians always trump human rights.
A few weeks ago, the Basarwa borehole in one community was recommissioned, nearly ten years after the government wrecked it. Basarwa rights to live in their lands, and to open boreholes (they have to do it themselves, the government won’t help), have now been legally confirmed, and new boreholes are being drilled. Such rights were originally outlined by the country’s first President Khama, Sir Seretse, and then torn up by Festus Mogae. So have things turned full circle? Are we back to a happier state the Basarwa were in the 1970s?
I would say that Botswana’s minority peoples are in fact in a better situation today than they have been for years. Of course, to make this claim, we have to ignore the agony of the evictions, which undoubtedly hastened the deaths of many ÔÇô and we shouldn’t forget the events of 2005, when Botswana police shot at Basarwa. But however callous it sounds: all that is past and nothing can change it. We shouldn’t forget ÔÇô or we risk history repeating itself ÔÇô but we must now look to the future.
At least some Gana and Gwi are free, once again, to go in and out of their lands as and when they wish, just like others in Botswana, and harassment by park guards has diminished (let’s hope permanently). The government’s various and shifting claims that this was for ‘conservation’ or that it was about Basarwa ‘development’ have proved to be as false as government critics said they were.
But to return to my point about things being better now: the key to that, for me, is the degree to which many more Batswana now have a greater realisation of real Basarwa wants and needs. I believe that more people support the Basarwa, than did when the evictions happened. Needless to say, some Batswana always supported the Basarwa, and I have often repeated how encouraging it was to find many over the years who recognised these human rights abuses for what they really were. For example, many ordinary Batswana were way ahead of some British parliamentarians ÔÇô supposedly sophisticated VIPs ÔÇô who had the wool pulled over their eyes during brief and highly orchestrated visits to the showcase camp at New Xade.
There were many high points in the long years of the campaign ÔÇô which remains a victory for Botswana as a whole ÔÇô and the court rulings were obviously key, but another was the Mmegi article (1 February 2011) by Michael Dingake, the fearless frontline veteran from the long struggle against apartheid, who came down so firmly on the side of the dispossessed Basarwa.
There have been many other pieces published in Botswana showing the extent to which the authors support the struggle of minorities for their rights ÔÇô both for their lands and to make their own decisions about their own development. The fact that others, especially governments, arrogantly declare such minorities to be ‘backward’, and try and force them into the mainstream, is little different to a colonialist mentality.
The enforced separation of peoples, as in apartheid, as well as forcing minorities to become absorbed by the majority, as in policies towards the Basarwa, are two sides of the same coin: they are both political tools to create subjugation and they inevitably hurt a lot of people.
This week sees the birth of a book by me called, ‘Tribal peoples for tomorrow’s world’. It expands on these arguments, and details why people like the Basarwa are not ‘backward’ simply because they want to live differently. The book mentions Botswana in passing, but is really a sort of ‘beginner’s guide’ to tribal peoples worldwide. It is intended to challenge several stereotypes and is aimed at the general reader.
Anyone with internet will be able to read it online, for free, next year. A paperback, and eBook, are on sale now. It’s deliberately modestly priced to keep it accessible, but if any Batswana teacher or student wants to read it, just tell me what class you’re following or teaching, and I’ll see if I can send you one for nothing. (Of course, if too many ask, I won’t be able to do this!)
If invited, I would be more than happy to discuss the issues raised in the book with students in Botswana, though of course I have no idea whether the government would let me (or the book for that matter) into the country (or out again!).
Corry is Director of Survival International