The Bushmen of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve have been forced from their ancestral lands in a wave of evictions by the Botswana government. In 2006 they won an historic legal victory when Botswana’s High Court ruled that their eviction was ‘unlawful and unconstitutional’.
Since then the government has arrested more than 50 Bushmen for hunting to feed their families, and banned the Bushmen from using their water borehole during one of the fiercest droughts in years.
Hundreds still languish in resettlement camps, unable or scared to return home.
The Bushmen, Survival and many other observers believe that the Bushmen were evicted because their land is rich in diamonds.
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| Bushmen at Gope before being evicted |
Their reserve lies in the middle of the richest diamond-producing area in the world. There is known to be at least one major diamond deposit in the reserve, at a Bushman community called Gope. Many other ‘kimberlites’ (volcanic rock in which diamonds are found) are present in the reserve.
In May 2007 De Beers sold its deposit at Gope to Gem Diamonds, for $34 million. Gem Diamonds’ chief executive called the Gope deposit ‘a problematic asset for De Beers’ because of the Bushmen campaign.
Although De Beers had repeatedly claimed that the find was ‘sub-economic’, Gem Diamonds has stated publicly that it contains more than $2.2 billion-worth of diamonds, and it plans to develop a mine at Gope as quickly as possible.
Gem Diamonds is currently formulating its policy regarding obtaining the Bushmen’s free and informed consent before the Gope mine goes ahead. Survival has made it clear that such consent cannot be freely given until the Bushmen are allowed back on to their land, and are in a position to talk as equals. This is also Gem’s position.
Other companies are also involved. Petra Diamonds is exploring throughout the reserve and has identified the Gope and Kukama areas as priorities.
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