The January 4 fatal shooting of Optel Rooi, a Khomani San master tracker, has prompted the South Africa Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) to launch an inquiry into the alleged mistreatment by police forces of the Khomani San of Northern Cape Province. The Panafrican News Agency reported that the SAHRC first received complaints about police brutality in December 2003 and that the death of Optel Rooi prompted it to monitor the situation more closely. Rooi was killed while allegedly breaking into a bottle store with a friend, according to the recent documentary Death of a Bushman, by Richard Wicksteer and Stef Snel.
The inquiry will be held from October 26 to 29 in the Andriesvale-Askham area of the Kalahari near the Botswana border. A panel of no more than five people will preside over the inquiry and make recommendations based on written and oral presentations by the community. The inquiry will focus on police conduct toward the Khomani San, with particular attention on Rooi's death. Additionally, the inquiry will look into allegations of abuse and harassment against San children in Askham schools, and the roles played by public and private bodies such as the Departments of Agriculture and Land Affairs in the promotion and protection of the rights of the Khomani San.
In 1999, the Khomani San won a land claim to 37,000 hectares of formerly white-owned farms on the border of the Kgalagdi Transfrontier Park. In their documentary, Wicksteed and Snel say they believe that police in this area, along with white farmers and tourism operators, are abusing the San because they covet the land’s resources.
