After a month-long American fundraising tour, San activists from Botswana and South Africa will return to press their land claim against the government of Botswana. And they’re determined to take the fight to the international level if they lose.
The San were evicted from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in early 2002 after decades of dispossession in favor of ranching and prospecting interests (background on the evictions). Together with Xhomani San activists from South Africa, Roy Sesana from the CKGR and his translator Jumanda Gakelebone spent two days on Capitol Hill this month to lobby for support among members of Congress.
The U.S. State Department released a report earlier this year calling the 2002 evictions a forcible resettlement. Survival International Director Stephen Corry said the report was "hugely significant because it confirms that no independent observers, not even Botswana’s closest allies, believe the government’s claims that the Bushmen relocated voluntarily."
The San activists also met with International Finance Corporation (IFC) officials while in Washington. At a talk hosted by the American Museum of Natural History in New York on September 26th, Sesana said the meeting went well. "I was worried that they would invest without consultation," he said, "but the IFC has promised to follow-up with BHP Billiton and make sure the San are consulted in connection with any diamond investment."
The case
With help from a human rights law firm, Chennels Albertyn of South Africa, the San have been fighting for the right to return to their lands in the CKGR. The case was initially brought before the Botswana High Court in 2002 but was dismissed on a technicality regarding document preparation in April of that year.
According to the African Eye News Service, Botswana first tried to have the case dismissed by arguing that Sesana, the primary applicant in the suit, had no right to represent the San community because he no longer lived on the reserve. "They said I wasn’t fit to represent the community because I wasn’t educated," said Sesana, who has since brought a new case against the government on behalf of more than 200 San. "I think that as the leader of the group First Peoples of the Kalahari I have the right to speak," he said.
The case against the government, brought by a coalition of San organizations first formed after major resettlements in 1997, is the culmination of years of San organizing around the issue of displacement. The Kalahari Peoples Fund points to efforts by San communities in the past several years to establish their own non-governmental organizations and to participate in international meetings, particularly regional conferences on San peoples. Dr. Megan Biesele of the Kalahari Peoples Fund said the San activists would finish their U.S. tour by meeting with the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
The San have been looking for pro bono legal support, but they were forced to adjourn their case until November to raise the money to pay for legal fees. "The case has to be fought in Botswana," said Rupert Isaacson, an organizer for the San visit.
"I’ve come here to ask for your support," Sesana told a crown a supporters at the event in New York. "This is the first time for the Bushmen of the CKGR to stand up for our land rights."
The next step
Though Botswana’s constitution guarantees every citizen the right to live wherever he or she chooses, and though a land claim was won by Chennels Albertyn on behalf of the Xhomani San in South Africa in 1999, Isaacson said the San are likely to lose the case in Botswana. "In South Africa, you can have legal freehold title to land, and the San won that right there," he said. "In Botswana, the most you can have is secure leasehold, which the San already have. But their rights have been violated under this agreement. All they’re asking for is the resumption of their existing rights."
If the San lose in November, the next step would be to take the case to the International Court of Human Rights or to the International Criminal Court. "A case exists for cultural genocide," said Isaacson.
Financing such a move would be a challenge for the San and their supporters, but they are building strong ties with other indigenous groups in preparation for a fight at the international level. Their U.S. tour included time spent with the Diné and Hopi in the American southwest.
The San share concerns about structural injustice with indigenous groups the world over. "Traditionally, we Bushmen had democracy," said Sesana. "With the current president, there’s no democracy. And this applies to Bushmen all over the country, not just in the CKGR."
"The government is waging war on the Bushmen," he said. "They are trying to kill our culture."
For more information on the San’s case, see http://www.survivalinternational.org/bushman_home.htm. Donations to the campaign can be made through Survival International’s website or sent directly to The Indigenous Land Rights Fund, P.O. Box 923, Malibu, CA 90265.
