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| Bushman elder, CKGR, Botswana 2004
© 2004 Stephen Corry/Survival |
The Gana and Gwi Bushmen's
court case against the Botswana government restarts on Monday 8 August
after a seven-week adjournment. The case is being fought over the
Bushmen's right to live on their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari
Game Reserve and to hunt and gather freely.
Before the case was adjourned in June, a government witness admitted
that there was no evidence that Bushmen living in the Central Kalahari
Game Reserve had been hunting using guns and vehicles, or hunting too
many animals. Another government witness admitted that a proposal to
provide water to the Bushmen in the reserve at zero cost to the
government had been ignored. The government has repeatedly claimed that
it evicted the Bushmen because they had been overhunting' using guns
and vehicles, and that providing water to them was too expensive'.
The case is being heard at Botswana's High Court in Lobatse. The
Bushmen first filed the case in April 2002, following the evictions in
February that year, but it was thrown out on a technicality. The
Bushmen appealed and won the right to have the case heard, and it began
in July 2004. The case has since faced long delays.
Photos and footage available. For more information contact Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or email mr@survival-international.org
