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| Bushman child, CKGR, Botswana 2004
© 2004 Stephen Corry/Survival |
Testifying in the Bushman
court case in Botswana yesterday, the government's expert witness in
ecology and wildlife management said he felt it unnecessary to advance
scientific reasons to back up the eviction of the Bushmen.
When asked whether there was any scientific reasoning behind his
proposition that the Bushmen had to be relocated to protect the game
reserve, witness Joseph Matlhare responded, It is government policy to
relocate the residents, so why should I put a scientific reason?'
Matlhare was expected to testify that humans caused an ecological
disturbance in the reserve. Instead, he admitted that the government
had carried out no recent studies to assess to what extent the
Bushmen's presence in the reserve caused an ecological disturbance, or
to assess the ecological impact of moving them to resettlement camps
outside the reserve.
Matlhare was Director of National Parks and Wildlife at the time that
the Bushmen were relocated from their ancestral homes in 2002.
