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| Bushman elder, CKGR, Botswana 2004
© 2004 Stephen Corry/Survival |
The Gana and Gwi 'Bushmen' and their neighbours the Bakgalagadi have received
significant support from three senior judges in the court of appeal. The Bushmen
were appealing against a high court decision to throw out their case against the
government because of technicalities to do with how the evidence was presented.
The appeal judges have recommended that the high court should now hear the
Bushmen's case, which contests the government's relocation of them from their
ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve to camps outside the
reserve.
The original case was brought in the name of Roy Sesana, a Gana leader, and
247 other former residents of the reserve. There were difficulties with
presenting the evidence because Roy Sesana and most of the other applicants
cannot read or write, and most were unable to attend the court hearing. Problems
with presenting the evidence prompted the high court judge to dismiss the case
on 19 April 2002.
But in the appeal, which began on 11 July 2002, the three judges, Mr Justice
Tebbutt, Lord Sutherland and Mr Justice Akiwumi, acknowledged the importance of
the case, and expressed the opinion that it should be heard by the high court.
Given the difficulties with written evidence, the judges gave the Bushmen the
option of having the case heard in Ghanzi, a town not far from the reserve and
fairly close to the largest of the relocation camps. Holding the case in Ghanzi
will make it possible for many more Bushmen to attend and give evidence in
person. If this is not possible in the end, the case will be heard further away,
in Lobatse, and written evidence will have to be provided.
The Gana, Gwi and Bakgalagadi are now hopeful that the case will be heard in
full, and that the court will recognise their right to return to their land.
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