Botswana: People of the Kalahari illegally stopped from returning home

 

December saw the first anniversary of a historic victory for the Khwe people of the Kalahari Desert in Botswana. In 2006 they won back their right to go back to their Ancestral homeland. A year later however, they are still not able to go home.

Led by Traditional Healer, Tobee Tcori (also known as Roy Sesana) from the resistance group The First People of the Kalahari, the Khwe were told by the Botswana High Court that the government illegally forced them off the land of their Ancestors and were now allowed to return. It was Botswana’s most expensive case ever and brought criticism of attempted european influence.

Despite the ruling, the Botswana government has continued to persecute, torture and arrest the indigenous people when they have tried to access their land. The Khwe have been forced to remain imprisoned in colonial pseudo-homes thereby infringing on their human rights through their suppressed ability to fully live their lives according to their traditional culture.

Up until 2006, the Botswana government was allowed to cut off the Khwe’s water supply, withdraw their hunting licenses and distribute food rations in order to end their traditional reliance on the Kalahari plains. The Khwe were forced to leave their homes and move into the british colonialist created ‘homes’ inherited by the government. Allegations were made against the government and the police of threatening to burn down the homes of the Khwe to make way for diamond mine exploration. A civil lawsuit was launched in 2002 but after being thrown out on a technicality, the First People of the Kalahari brought their case to the High Court in 2004.

The case saw the government of Botswana admitting to illegally trying to evict the Khwe from their homeland. A panel of three judges voted 2-1 in favour of the Khwe on 13 December 2006. One of the panel, Botswana’s first female judge, Unity Dow pushed for damages to be paid to the Khwe but was out-voted by her other two colleagues.

Gaining international momentum, the high profile case became a cause célèbre for some well-known personalities and organisations particularly the british based Survival International. This brought a criticism of unwanted western interference on Botswana affairs. The ruling did however, set a precedent for all other peoples who wish to claim the right to live on their indigenous land.

In August 2007, the Nama, Khomani, Xun, Khwe, Khoi and Griqua indigenous peoples formed a permanent collective working group to help resist further colonialisation. This alliance would increase the negotiating power of these Southern African peoples and the fight for their human rights.

Support also came from the Maasai of Kenya and Innu of Canada, as they protested outside the Botswana High Commission in London. In spite of other indigenous people’s support, the Botswana government reportedly allowed a $2.2 billion diamond mine to be excavated on Khwe land. The exploration for diamonds is being led by the De Beers group but Petra Diamonds is also known to be drilling illegally in the Gope (Kalahari indigenous land) area. The De Beers diamond company, which was established by the british mass-murderer Cecil Rhodes, has long had financial influence over the fate of indigenous lands in southern Africa. Tobee Tcori once asked African people in Britain to not buy diamonds from the De Beers company to show support for the Khwe’s campaign.

On 13 September 2007, the United Nations approved the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. This meant that UN law supported the Botswana courts in its ruling allowing the indigenous people of the Kalahari to live on their land. However, the Botswana government has still refused to let the Khwe use their water boreholes, therefore denying them a basic human right and condemning them to hugely reduced quality of life.

An open letter was sent to Botswana’s President Mogae from the First People of the Kalahari, demanding his government allow them their safe return home. Recently plans for illegal drilling were progressed.

Tobee Tcori who battled for the liberation of the Khwe for six years, previously stated the necessity of a people having a home, "Without land we are not secure. The reason I am saying land is important, is that when you look at the trees, you feel satisfied. Not because you have eaten, but because it is your land. Without land you are like a bird that is flying from one place to another without a nest. That is why land is important.”