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| Bushman women, Namibia
© Mark Håkansson/Survival |
Has Survival's campaign for the Gana and Gwi Bushmen made things
worse'? What do the Bushmen think? A response from Survival to Radio 4's Crossing Continents
programme.
(You can download this article as a pdf at the bottom of the page).
Survival, keep campaigning. Don't listen when people say it's only
Survival, it's not, it's the Bushmen!' First People of the Kalahari
The accusation that Survival's Bushman campaign has actually made
things worse for the Bushmen was first made by Alice Mogwe of
Ditshwanelo, Botswana's Centre for Human Rights, in 2001. It has also
been made by the Botswana NGO Kuru.
The allegation is two-fold: that pressure from outside Botswana caused
the government to harden its attitude' towards the Bushmen, and that
foreign intervention wrecked negotiations between the government and
the Bushmen when they were on the point of succeeding.
We like Survival's campaign, and we want it to continue, so we can go
back… Please, we need Survival's campaign, and others to support us
on this issue. Maybe with this support we will get the chance to have
our land.' Speed Gaothobogwe
Survival's involvement with the Bushmen of the central part of Botswana
dates back to 1976, when Survival raised thousands of pounds to fund
both a handicraft centre to provide an income for adult Bushmen, and
the construction of a primary school hostel for Bushmen children.
That year government officials wrote to Survival saying, I would like
to take this opportunity to express, on behalf of the Botswana
government, our great appreciation for your help in contacting
potential donors on our behalf… Thank you again for your effort and we
hope to continue our good relations with Survival International in the
future.' And that same month, No mean part of the capital we have
received has arrived as a result of Survival International's efforts – thank you very much.'
In the early 1980s Survival first alerted the world to the fact that
government policy towards the Bushmen was becoming increasingly
heavy-handed in an article entitled, Botswana policy changes are
increasing the threat to the Bushmen.' By 1988 Survival was protesting
to the President at reports of forced removals.
During the1980s Survival published more articles about the threats to
the Bushmen, met Botswana's High Commissioner in London, Margaret
Nasha, to make representations in support of Bushmen rights, met one of
the mining companies exploring for diamonds in the Central Kalahari
Game Reserve (CKGR), and issued an urgent action bulletin entitled,
Kalahari peoples threatened with expulsion from game reserve.' The
Botswana government wrote to Survival promising that it does not
intend to move them [the Bushmen] by force.'
Survival continued throughout the 1990s to publicize government
statements that it intended to move the Bushmen out of the reserve.
Several letters were sent to the Local Government Ministry (the
department responsible for the Bushmen's welfare), meetings were held
with both the permanent secretary in the Ministry and the Minister
himself, and various articles and press releases were published.
In 1997 the government carried out the first wave of mass Bushman
evictions from the reserve, moving out around 1,000 Bushmen,
demolishing the Bushman community of Old Xade, and closing the school
and health clinic there.
Shortly afterwards, Survival wrote to Margaret Nasha (then Minister of
Local Government), supporting the conclusions of a recent workshop of
Botswana NGOs that there should be a moratorium on relocations.
There is no room for negotiating with them [the government] because
whatever we negotiate, they dump it and do a different thing.' Castro
In March 1998 a Survival press release welcomed the promise of outgoing
President Masire to meet with a Negotiating Team' formed the previous
year, saying Survival is encouraged that the government of Botswana is
prepared to negotiate with representatives of the CKGR residents.'
The main members of the team were Ditshwanelo (the Botswana centre for
human rights), Kuru (a Botswana NGO funding development projects with
largely landless Bushmen), the Botswana Council of Churches, WIMSA
(Working Group of Indigenous Minorities of southern Africa), and the
organization of the central Kalahari Bushmen, First People of the
Kalahari (FPK). Its legal advisor was a South African lawyer.
Although two Bushmen from each of the seven CKGR communities were also
nominally members of the team, in practice they were rarely involved in
the negotiations. Survival provided financial and logistical support to
the team in the hope that it would provide the government with a
face-saving way out of what was already a public-relations disaster.
An early indication of likely government attitudes towards the idea of
allowing Bushmen to stay in the reserve was the fact that the British
consultant brought in to devise a management plan for the reserve was
threatened with expulsion by the government for being seen to push too
hard for this objective; he was only reprieved when his funders, the
European Union, intervened.
Throughout the rest of that decade, Survival issued press releases,
bulletins, petitions and articles, highlighting the government's
intention to exploit both the reserve's diamond wealth, and its
potential for tourism.
(The rich diamond deposits in the reserve are believed to be the
principal reason for the government's resolute determination to force
the Bushmen out. Government ministers and other officials who visited
the reserve to tell the Bushmen to leave gave as the reason the fact
that diamonds had been found there. The largest deposit found so far in
the reserve is held under licence by De Beers, which also owns all
Botswana's existing diamond mines. The company is intimately associated
with the Botswana government, and its managing director in Botswana
publicly backed the Bushmen's eviction. For this reason, the company
has been targeted by Survival and other organizations.)
Survival continued to raise issues of concern with the Botswana
authorities, writing to Botswana's UK High Commissioner, for example,
in September 2000 about reports of Bushmen being tortured by wildlife
scouts, and calling for an independent investigation. Despite the fact
that comprehensive information on this incident (in which twenty men
and four women were beaten up, and some tortured, over a period of
several days) was sent by Survival to the government and Ditshwanelo,
no investigation ever took place. One of the men died a week later.
In March 2001 the District Council nearest the reserve, which had been
funding basic provision of water and rations to Bushmen in the reserve,
voted to stop all such services. (In fact, the water supplied to the
communities in the reserve came from the Bushmen's own borehole in
their community of Mothomelo; the government simply trucked some of
this water to other Bushman communities in the reserve.)
The following month Local Government Minister Nasha announced that she would not approve such measures.
We were trying to negotiate and solve the issue locally. That has
failed… FPK tried, but the government did not listen. So that's why we
asked Survival to help.' Roy Sesana, First People of the Kalahari
By now, the Negotiating Team' discussions with the Wildlife Department
had produced a third draft management plan' for the reserve. Under
this plan, the Bushmen would have been allowed to continue to hunt and
gather in parts of the reserve. However, these usage rights' could
have been cancelled by the Director of Wildlife at any time, with no
appeal.
By May 2001 the negotiating team' had finished its work - there
were no further meetings. At the final meeting, the Director of
Wildlife and the negotiating team agreed the boundaries of the
community use zones' that were to be dedicated to the seven Bushman
communities that remained inside the reserve. A detailed map was
prepared to define these boundaries.
Crucially, only now were government ministers made aware of the plan's contents.
The negotiating team's strategy of holding discussions only with the
Wildlife Department had been against the inclinations of the Bushmen
themselves, who knew that such talks were pointless without the
involvement of high-ranking ministers. In June 2000 the team's South
African lawyer had written to the Bushmen saying, I must seriously
urge you to reconsider the position adopted at our meeting on 10 June
2000, namely that you will not meet with DWNP [Wildlife Department]
without ministers Nasha and Kwelagobe being present. I am sincerely of
the view that if negotiations with DWNP are played correctly, we may be
able to conclude an agreement with the department that is binding on
the government.'
This view was also held by Alice Mogwe of Ditshwanelo. Writing to
Survival on 1 August 2001 she voiced her concern at the danger that
politicians [might] wake up to the fact' that negotiations are still
going on and something has been happening'!'
This advice, against the Bushmen's own instincts, was fundamentally
flawed. If the plan had been allowed to proceed any further, it would
have made a nonsense of the Government's policy of encouraging' the
Bushmen to leave the reserve. (The government has always maintained the
fiction that it is simply encouraging' Bushmen to leave the Reserve,
not forcing them out. All independent journalists who have talked to
the Bushmen have seen through this.) The plan would have encouraged'
residents to remain in the Reserve rather than to leave it.
On 13 August 2001, shortly after the full implications of the
negotiations' became clear, the government announced that it would,
after
all, withdraw all services to the Bushmen living in the reserve.
In an apparent attempt to bounce' the government into reversing its
position, the contents of the third draft management plan were leaked
by the negotiating team to the South African paper the Mail and
Guardian. In an article published on 31 August 2001 entitled Going
back to their roots', the agreement was described as revolutionary',
and a stunning victory for the Bushmen'.
The strategy did not work: despite countless historic government
promises to the contrary, in February 2002 the basic services' being
provided to the Bushmen were cut off, and their borehole rendered
unusable. The vast majority of the Bushmen still in the reserve were
trucked out, and all hunting in the reserve was prohibited.
The Department of Wildlife was told to shelve the draft plan, and did.
It later produced a final draft management plan' in which all
references to the Bushmen being allowed to stay in the reserve were
taken out.
Survival was doing nothing throughout this crucial period that it had
not been doing for many years before, namely attempting to garner as
much worldwide publicity as possible to the Bushmen's plight, whilst at
the same time making representations to government ministers and
officials when possible.
In 2005 the government pushed through Parliament a bill to delete from
the Constitution the clause that protected the Bushmen's rights to live
in the reserve. Towards the end of the year it sealed off the reserve,
sent in armed wildlife scouts and police, removed the Bushmen's goats,
removed many Bushmen who had returned to the reserve, and arrested and
jailed all the Bushmen's leaders. It also confiscated for a second time
the radio transmitters used by the Bushmen in the reserve to
communicate with the outside world. All hunting and gathering in the
reserve were banned.
Survival continues its 25-year-long campaign, in close consultation
with the affected Bushmen. In recent months it has held meetings with
government officials and De Beers executives, and helped the Bushmen
take the government to court for the right to return to their land.
Its work has resulted in the account of the Bushmen's expulsion from
their ancestral land becoming the most widely-known story concerning
indigenous people anywhere in the world.
We, FPK, represent the CKGR people. We tried negotiations but they
failed. We did our level best, that's why we are asking Survival to
campaign. We mandate you. Carry on!' Qose Xhukuri
Apart from First People of the Kalahari (the organization representing
the central Kalahari Bushmen), the only other organization involved in
the CKGR case that is actually run by Bushmen is WIMSA-Botswana. Its
Coordinator has said, The government of Botswana does not recognize
Basarwa [the Botswana term for Bushmen] at all. That is why none of the
negotiations were ever of any value that took place with government',
and We dismiss as false any claims that the Survival campaign has
directly hardened attitudes of the Botswana government in dealing with
the CKGR issue.'
I'm giving Survival the mandate to carry on supporting and lobbying on
the issue of CKGR and the Bushmen until we get our land.' Molathwe
In its evidence given during the continuing court case between the
Bushmen and the government, the government witnesses have repeatedly
denied that there were ever any negotiations' at all. Negotiate'
means a process in which the parties confer to come to a mutual
agreement. The Government itself says that it never had this in mind.
Rather, it has always said that it merely consulted' with the CKGR
communities, just as it consulted' with a number of other parties
interested in the future of the Reserve. It remained free
to reject the views of those it consulted. This is exactly what it has
done. (It may have only consulted with the Bushmen at all because this
was a condition of a large EU donation, and the consultation may have
been a sham from the start.)
This attitude was clearly put by Mr E.S. Mpofu, permanent secretary at
the Foreign Affairs Ministry: Government took a decision after it felt
it had adequately consulted. I don't think anyone can talk about talks
breaking down.'
Survival please work hard on this issue. Don't stop talking about
this issue. We will tell you when to stop. I thank and am happy about
the work of Survival. Survival is helping us and it's talking about our
life. If Survival was our government, it could have been very, very
nice.' Mogolodi Moeti
The allegation that there were negotiations', and that Survival's work
to publicise the campaign of forced relocation wrecked them, has been
made by two organizations, Ditshwanelo and Kuru. Both have a financial
interest in attacking Survival's work. None of them has produced any
evidence at all to back it up, despite requests by Survival to do so.
Kuru has been in negotiations with De Beers to receive a very large sum
of money for its work. At a meeting between Survival and Braam LeRoux,
the Dutch Reformed Church missionary who is Kuru's coordinator, the sum
mentioned was $5 million. Mr LeRoux and Bushmen from his organization
toured Europe and Africa on a PR trip organized by De Beers to
announce that De Beers has recently become one of our major donor
partners'. As De Beers is, together with the Botswana government, the
target of the Survival/ Bushman campaign, Mr LeRoux is clearly, at the
very least, not a neutral observer.
Kuru's Patron is Mr Ponatshego Kedikilwe MP, one of the most powerful
members of the ruling elite. Mr Kedikilwe has held several ministerial
posts, and was until 2003 the chairman of the Botswana Democratic
Party, the party that has ruled Botswana since independence. Mr
Kedikilwe has accused Survival of wanting the Bushmen to continue
leading a primitive life', and has said the idea that Botswana
discriminates against Bushmen is a myth'.
Ditshwanelo is run by the daughter of an ex-Minister for Minerals who
is still a special advisor to the president, and who is also the
director of a diamond exploration company with concessions covering a
large part of the Bushman reserve. The organization received an
enormous amount of money from European donors for the purpose of
conducting the negotiations'. In addition, Ms Mogwe requested $660
consultancy fee' per meeting for attending negotiations'. Why the
director of a human rights NGO was charging consultancy fees for
carrying out human rights work was not explained.
Ditshwanelo clearly had a vested interest in alleging that an outside
body such as Survival was responsible for the fact that the
negotiations' did not achieve political results, rather than admitting
that a great deal of time and money was spent on a process which
government ministers torpedoed as soon as they became aware of what it
had produced.
Curiously for a human rights organization, it has always downplayed the
threat to the existence of the central Kalahari Bushmen. In 1996, for
example, less than 12 months before the total eviction of the Bushman
community of Xade, it declared that reports of a planned mass forced
removal were overstated.'
Both De Beers and the Botswana government employ a multinational PR
company called Hill and Knowlton to counteract the Bushmen's campaign.
The company is highly controversial, having reportedly previously
worked for, amongst others, the military dictatorship of Guatemala
during the 1980s, the Chinese government shortly after the Tiananmen
Square massacre, the (pro)-Asbestos Council and Idi Amin.
Hill and Knowlton set up and paid for a UK Parliamentary all-party
group on Botswana, which has organized several visits to the country,
with itineraries organised by the government. (The group was chaired by
Nigel Jones MP (now Lord Jones) who recently announced that he was
moving to Botswana, to live in a luxury golf resort. His house there is
owned by a company of which he is a director called Dolce Vita – 'the
Good Life'.)
In 2005, in the face of continuing, extensive international coverage of
the Bushmen's plight, the company's key account handler' for the
anti-Survival/Bushman campaign moved permanently into the offices of
the Botswana High Commission, at an apparent cost to the government of
£50,000 a year for three years (a sum that, by the government's own
figures, would have funded the continuing provision of basic services
to the Bushmen inside the reserve for 27 years).
It is not hard to see a coincidence of timing, at the very least,
between the escalation of Hill and Knowlton's campaign, De Beers's
decision to donate $5 million to Kuru, and the increasingly public
attacks on Survival and the central Kalahari Bushmen, such as the
recent BBC Radio 4 Crossing Continents programme.
Ditshwanelo says Survival has been interfering and caused the relocation. That is not the truth.' First People of the Kalahari
As the attacks on Survival's campaigning work became more public, the
central Kalahari Bushmen responded. In a press release entitled The
Bushmen of the CKGR say - Survival please continue to help us'
First People of the Kalahari said, Some NGOs are making conflicts
between the Bushmen of this country because they take the decisions of
the Bushmen away from them… People were taken from CKGR and now they
are dying of HIV/AIDS [many Bushmen in the relocation camps have been
infected with HIV, and some have already died of AIDS]. Is that
development? FPK says that is genocide. They [the government] take
people to places like New Xade and Kaudwane [relocation camps], where
they are killing us with AIDS and killing our culture. What they have
done to the Bushmen is wrong. People should be saying that is wrong…
Instead of trying to help us they [Braam LeRoux of Kuru, etc] try to
ruin our campaign. And they have also sabotaged us with the donors.
Those people that claim they work on our behalf, if they really
represent us, they would help with our court case.
Those guys want to sell our rights because of money given to Kuru by
De Beers. But our rights cannot be sold for money. We know about the
money De Beers has donated to Kuru. That money has been used to buy our
rights.
Because it has been to the CKGR many times and talked with the
Bushmen… the campaign of Survival is correct and Survival is doing what
the people have asked them to do… FPK and the affected Bushmen of CKGR
still continue to say that the work Survival has done is really a good
thing and everyone in the CKGR can see that and we do appreciate it and
want Survival to continue with the campaign.'
Survival's work to make the persecution of the central Kalahari
Bushmen better known, and focus the attendant concern into pressure on
the Botswana government to change its policies, has been at the
specific request of hundreds of the Bushmen concerned.
Survival has gone to enormous lengths to ensure that everything
we do has the backing and consent of the people concerned.
Unlike those NGOs (Ditshwanelo and Kuru) who have criticized
Survival's work, Survival has spent a great deal of time over many
years in the communities themselves, both inside the reserve before the
evictions, and in the resettlement camps since. It has countless hours
of video and audio recordings of interviews with affected Bushmen.
There is no evidence whatsoever to back up the claim that
Survival's campaign wrecked the negotiations. On the contrary, the
government took the decision to cut off all services to the Bushmen
living in the reserve once it became aware in the middle of 2001 of the
contents of the plan its own Wildlife Department had been negotiating.
Survival has made numerous attempts, in meetings with Ministers
and government officials dating back to the early 1980s, to convince
the government to amend its relocation policy. Numerous public promises
by the government (made also to both the Bushmen and Survival) that the
Bushmen would not be forced out have been broken.
Survival has made a commitment to the Bushmen of the central
Kalahari to continue campaigning with them until they can live on their
land in peace. Survival will not be diverted by attacks on its
character, or dirty tricks campaigns by PR companies. If the Botswana
authorities wish to resurrect their country's reputation, rather than
employ spin doctors, they should simply allow those Bushmen who wish to
return to their ancestral land, to do so.
The forced expulsion of indigenous people from their land was
commonplace in the 18th and 19th Centuries. It has no place in the
21st, and such a policy cannot be allowed to succeed, or we will have
learnt nothing from history, and the countless quiet genocides of
now-vanished indigenous people that passed unnoticed. Survival will do
everything in its power to ensure that history does not repeat itself.
'We are saying to those people who can help with campaigning not to
stop campaigning, talk to the government, make a hell of a noise, and
maybe it will change its policies. Organisations like Survival have to
carry on making campaigns, and making noise, and informing the whole
world what is happening with the Bushmen…. Please, if there are
people who are clever like the government, make campaigns, and help us,
rescue us from the government. The only thing we are doing now is
asking for support internationally from people who have ideas for
helping us, with what the government is doing. We do praise what
Survival is doing, because always on the radio we get news about
Survival, so what Survival is doing, please do it.'
Mongwegi Gaoberekwe
'We like Survival's campaign, and we want it to continue, so we can go
back… Please, we need Survival's campaign, and others to support us
on this issue. Maybe with this support we will get the chance to have
our land.'
Speed Gaothobogwe
'When Survival offered us radio communication, we were very glad. We
could communicate with the other settlements. It was really nice. We
thought even our grandparents might come out from their graves… Thank
you for coming, and for all the good things Survival is doing. We
mandate you to continue.'
Molathwe Digobe
'I say, Survival, keep campaigning. Don't listen when people say it's
only Survival, it's not, it's the Bushmen! Survival has to work hard
and make a lot of noise. Every day when you go back to London I want to
hear the words of Survival talking about the CKGR issue. We will be
busy here turning on our radios as we know that the government will be
talking more about Survival if Survival does more campaigning.
Roy Sesana
'We really need support, and we need to go back. We want to be in our
own land, we want help to be where we originate, in our ancestral land.
We are sending Roy, and asking for help from Survival. People say its
from Roy and Survival, but we send you. We say that.'
Gakebaralwe Thankane
'Thanks for your support. I say with all my heart, I don't like this area [relocation camp]. You're doing the right thing.'
Mokwaledi Sesana
'We want to go back. That's the only thing we want but the government
is reluctant to let us go back… Don't draw back. Carrying on
campaigning – you are reinforcing us. Go on campaigning.
The message for Survival and Survival supporters is carry on with the
campaign, increase the pace of the campaign – I think you have been
doing nothing. Survival still has to make more campaigns. I disagree
with what I heard about what Ditshwanelo is saying. Ditshwanelo says
Survival has been interfering and caused the relocation. That is not
the truth… Only when we have found our land is when we will tell you to
stop doing the campaign.
'Some people say that the government is being stubborn because of
Survival's campaign. But Survival is doing the right thing. We, the
community, have asked Survival to campaign… My last word is, keep on
campaigning, and let the campaign go higher now. I say, CAMPAIGN!'
Dauqoo Xukuri
'We are really happy about Survival's campaign, and we want more
support and more campaigning from Survival… We thank Survival for the
help we have. Survival is standing up, and doing all these things in
the TV and papers, campaigning. Let that information be passed all over
the world.
Moeti Gaoberekwe
'I'm giving Survival the mandate to carry on supporting and lobbying on
the issue of CKGR and the Bushmen until we get our land.'
Molathwe
So you outside must help because the situation is getting tight. The
government officials are saying Survival won't help us any more but we
told the government, 'You are not asking for Survival, we are ones who
are asking for help from Survival, so you can't interfere with us and
Survival. We are asking for help because we can't manage ourselves,
that's why we are asking for help from Survival because you the
government will never help us.'
Kumaneko
'Survival shouldn't be scared of what the Batswana [majority population
of Botswana] say because they know they are surviving well where they
are. You shouldn't be stopped by Batswana, by Alice [Mogwe, of
Ditshwanelo] and the government officials. They know they are living
well but we Bushmen are starving here. There is discrimination.
Botswana says it's a free country but what's happening to the Bushmen
you can see it's discrimination. My father Moeti is inside CKGR and
he's sick [he has since died] but I'm not allowed to visit my parents.
If I go there they chase me out and that's war. The San people are not
in a peaceful place we are not rested. It's war. Survival please work
hard on this issue. Don't stop talking about this issue. We will tell
you when to stop.
I thank and am happy about the work of Survival. Survival is helping us
and it's talking about our life. If Survival was our government, it
could have been very, very nice. Survival gave us very good help with
the radios because we communicated with each other over the radio. If
we had them now we would know how our parents are. With the radios, we
knew about our relatives in different areas, how they were feeling, who
was sick, who was well. What the government has done to us is very bad
and I give Survival the mandate to carry on supporting us and
campaigning for the land of the Bushmen in CKGR until we have won it
back.'
Mogolodi Moeti
'I think Survival's campaign is great – it's very good. Survival has to
take on doing the campaigning for the Bushmen inside CKGR, because
right now we are sitting here in Botswana and nothing is done. The
government keeps on doing whatever it likes. Like now people inside
CKGR don't have food or water to drink. The government has said if you
remain that's up to you but you can't gather and you can't hunt. It's
killing them. They are not allowed to survive because they are punished
so they feel pain so to they will go to where there is food where they
can survive. That is not voluntary – that is force, not force by
beating but force by deprivation – if you don't do this I will not give
you this food.
So what I say to Survival is that you have to keep on campaigning,
whatever the government is saying like 'Why is Survival
interfering?'. Survival is right. Survival is talking about the
Bushmen who are asking Survival to talk about their rights and talk
with the government of Botswana. So I give Survival the mandate to keep
on campaigning for the Bushmen of CKGR.
I don't think negotiations can still work according to what I hear
everyday from the parliament and the president himself. He's not going
to go back on the policy they have taken. So that shows me that
negotiations will not work.
Jumanda Gakelebone
'I have heard a lot about Survival and I hear on the radio that you are trying to help us.'
Gabusiso Thekiso
For us development is being on our land, being given water here on our
land and a clinic and school built on our land, not outside on another
person's land. New Xade [relocation camp] is not a place where a person
can survive, like my wife she went there and nearly died of hunger.
You have tried to help and gave us the radios and now we can't
communicate because the government people took away the radios and we
don't know why they are keeping them and for what purpose. Those radios
gave us a lot of help – we could talk to FPK in Ghanzi when we needed
help and they could even talk to you people in London.
The government is doing this because they don't want the Basarwa
[Bushmen] to live so that's why they are ripping everything from us.
The government is just trying to kill the Basarwa. Every time Survival
tries to help, the government tries to say it's not oppressing the
Bushmen while they are doing just that. So Survival should continue to
publicise this to the international world so they come here and see
what the government is doing. The government of Botswana says we are
trying to help these people and not oppressing them. They should come
here themselves and see what's happening. What Survival has done so far
is good and I think it would have been better if Survival was based
here in Botswana.'
Gakekgolele Gaoberewe
'Please carry on on with the campaign and talk to the government to let
us stay on our home lands, our fathers' lands. Please help us with food
and water as the government is reluctant to help.'
Kgwatiso Gaorapelwe
I urge Survival and the international world to help us and tell the
government to let us stay where we are and tell it whenever we want to
be developed, we should be developed here [in the CKGR] and our
children should go to school here so that they practice both their
culture and the new culture of the school.'
Bilathwe Phetladipou
'You shouldn't be afraid of people who say you shouldn't come here
again, which is the government… Please, if you want to help, please
tell the outside people to help us with water because that's all we
need to survive – the rest we can take care of ourselves… You
shouldn't care about the government and what it says against Survival…
I understand very well how you are campaigning and how you can't help
because the government won't let you in [to the reserve]. Thank you to
Survival for what you are doing.'
Lenkagetse Tshotlego
'The government doesn't want the Basarwa to live, just to die. The
government says we are doing well and are short of nothing, while we
are starving. They should be prosecuted and go to jail because they are
lying and stealing other people's money. When you go out tell the
people that when the president goes overseas he's telling lies – he's
throwing the Bushmen people around… He puts people in camps and says
he will develop them but they are starving. We want to stay here where
we were born. They are trying to force us out but even if we went to
the camps we would not be given the chance to live the way we used to,
the way we want to. The government is always on top of our heads. We
don't know of any other place where we would live better. We only know
how to live where we are. We don't think we will live better anywhere
else. You should carry on with your campaign and the Creator will help
you to achieve what you are trying to do with us.'
Letsema Mohelwang
A lot of people now are saying Survival is wrong to be campaigning.
Some people believe it's a good thing. We have to look at the situation
as it is. Why should Survival stand up and campaign? Who is Survival
campaigning for? Those are the questions we have to ask ourselves and
in this case I think it's not wrong at all because Survival actually
goes to the people on the ground and collects the information from
people and it's the communities which send Survival to stand up on
their behalf. Nobody should just sit down in Ghanzi and Gaborone and
say Survival is lying when they have never contacted people. As long as
Survival is campaigning and talking about people and speaking
people's ideas out loud I don't see any reason why we should say
Survival is wrong to be doing that. Only if Survival is creating
stories – but as far as I am concerned Survival is not. Survival has
visited the communities themselves on a number of occasions to get the
information from the people and get the go ahead from the people. So I
think Survival has been good campaigning.
I don't know how much the campaign has done, as I'm now out of touch,
and how it's turned the government officials. As much pressure as can
be put on the government will help as the whole problem here is that a
lot of people don't understand what Survival is talking about until
people sit down and have discussions with Survival or with the people
Survival is campaigning for. That is the only time people will
understand that Survival is not mad shouting every day. I think
Survival understands our situation and listens to us and understands us
and that is why Survival is campaigning for us. I don't think water and
essential services were cut because of Survival's campaign because one
of the ministers warned the CKGR residents services would be cut before
Survival grew up. Already the government had this in mind that they
would cut off services. It is not because of the campaign that they
were cut off. That's not correct.'
Mosodi
Survival is doing quite a good job and should carry on because we can
see that Survival is very keen to help us to the extent that they gave
us radios. We can see that people are worried about what is being done
to us. So I think Survival is doing a good job and Botswana is getting
jealous and it doesn't want Survival to do this because it wants the
Bushmen to die. The government won't help us but others will. Don't be
scared by the government – just carry on. The time will come when you
will manage to overpower the government. Then we will be able to go
back to our place. We hope you will carry on and don't be cheated by
the government because the government itself is a cheat.'
Dingongorego
You people at Survival should carry on. You international
organisations should try to help us with water as the government has
already decided it won't. A person can't survive without water.'
Tlhalehang Galitshipi
Survival has done a good job… I know that Survival has been
helping and I like your help because the government is supposed to help
us but it's not. It's punishing us. So you people are doing a great
job. You should put more pressure on the government.'
Segoko Moitshane
So I hope and I'd like Survival to increase its work – it shouldn't
draw back. It should increase its work and put pressure on the
government. The government is supposed to help us but it's trying to
kill us, that's why it's taken us out and put us in other people's
land. The people from Gugama are eating dog here – there's nothing for
them to eat. The children have nothing. That's why they are crying to
go back. They live on cattle which have long died – they go and collect
their skins in the bush and eat them. The government is doing very bad
things with Bushmen in general here in Botswana. It's not only us. I've
just recently heard that the government has cut the water off at
Jamakate in NE District. They are another Bushman people and I heard
the government cut the water and they have to move to another place. So
that's how Bushman are treated – they are not treated like other people
in Botswana. So I hope Survival will put pressure on this government as
it's doing very bad things to Bushmen in general here in Botswana.'
Amogoleng Segootsane
People were making noise during our relocation – I don't know who they
are. I would like those people to continue making a noise because maybe
in the long run the noise may help us in some way.'
Bithanona Mogoba
There is no room for negotiating with them [the government] because
whatever we negotiate, they dump it and do a different thing.
I heard of Survival International's support on the radio because the
ministers are crying everyday on the radio saying Survival is
campaigning for the diamond mining to be cut off. I think Survival's
campaign is OK and the government should support Survival. I call on
all other countries, Britain, America and Japan to support Survival
International in our campaign. All other governments should talk to the
Botswana government to stop relocating us and give us our tribal land
because we have stayed there for many, many years, even before Botswana
got its independence we were there, so we should be given the right to
stay on our land.
Survival International should continue to lobby and campaign for us
and campaign for all Bushmen in the world and to tell all NGOs to help
to try and persuade the government to let us back on our tribal land.
We should feel free in Botswana under the Botswana government. We are
the tribal owners of the land and I pray that Survival should succeed
in its campaign. I pray that… Survival will be strong and end up
persuading the government to stop relocating us and give us our tribal
land.'
Castro
Tell these people [the government] to leave us in our own place. They
are in their own place and nobody is troubling them. You people carry
on – it will be very good of you to make an effort and take our story
to the international people to talk to the government. Do that and let
us know. Let us go back to our land. Don't be sleepy – wake up and
stand on your feet!'
Mamo Mbohe
Help us please, we need your help. We people who were moved from CKGR
all of us need your help. You have to stand up and give us that help so
we can move back to our place because in our area we live well. Nothing
hurts us when we live there. We don't like this area [the relocation
camp] because most of the people get sick here, especially the people
from CKGR, most get sick.
I'm very happy with Survival International because it's trying to help
us. Survival is the one talking with the government saying you must not
take out the people in this way, You have to treat them as people. The
way the government acts is not good because it's forcing us. And
Survival is saying no, you don't have to force these people, you have
to talk to them.'
Oakantse Mmolayapudi Balbal
