• Botswana: Bushman Children Arrested Under Renewed Government Repression

    Survival International (London), 15 January 2013

    Three Bushman children have been arrested by paramilitary police in Botswana. The arrests are the latest signs of a new government policy to intimidate Bushmen who have returned to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).

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  • Alan
    Jan 17 2013, 01:33

    The irony is that under the present government wildlife numbers are reported to have been significantly depleted. The bushmen are not cited as the perpetrators. The authorities responsible for anti-poaching and wildlife management seem to have little effect on reducing poaching by well resourced and organised individuals. Allegations of collusion between wildlife officers and poachers seem increasingly plausible. That being the case, one wonders what the government hopes to achieve by persecuting and assaulting bushmen.

  • The JO
    Jan 17 2013, 18:09

    I am not a supporter of the Government of Botswana but I am well vested with information with regard to Botswana. One thing that I know and I am sure of is that children of the mentioned ages cannot be arrested in Botswana. I have done a lot of research in Botswana especially amongst the indigenous people. It hurts me to believe that in this era someone is still advocating for the traditional and ancestral rights of people wanting them to remain in the bush when it has become evident that it is hard to survive there. All people in Botswana used to live by hunting and gathering but that has proved not to be unsustainable any more. Botswana has built schools and other facilities to develop its citizens. Like we had a first woman pilot in Africa we want to have several Basarwa doctors and engineers. The Botswana government is not controlled by Khama alone. There are opposition parties and other individuals who have the welfare of Basarwa at heart and I believe it is wrong to want Basarwa to remain as tourists attraction. We call them Basarwa as their rightful tribe name not the degrading name Bushman please. we were once bushmen too when Botswana was still a bush. Resources in Botswana are not regionalised, they all contribute to the national coffers were every Motswana is set to benefit from. To relocate Basarwa from the CKGR is to develop them just like other people. The most educated Batswana today come from minor tribes in Botswana and it would be very unreasonable for the government of Botswana to ignored them under the pretence that they are living in their so called ancestral land. by the way many Batswana have been relocated. There is another group of Basarwa ana other tribes who gave way to the construction of the Dikgatong Dam in Mmadinare. Their ancestors burials were even exhumed which is a very sensitive exercise in African traditions. They found it fit to agree to their relocation for a good course. Where was Survival International if one can ask. Khama became President finding the Basarwa case still in progress and I wonder how being a member of Conservation International could make him hate Basarwa so much that he would make officers to arrest and harass them. Knowing him personally he cant tolerate that especially for the Basarwa. He naturally has a soft spot for them that any other people in Botswana. This year the office of the president issued a memo requesting the army and police to make sure that they recruit more Basarwa even if they don't meet the set criteria, a move that should be applauded. I am of the view that enough injustice has been done to the Basarwa by advocating for their return to the CKGR. In one of the excursions that I took through the land occupied by Basarwa in Botswana I realised that some tourists used to photo graph Basarwa nude. A certain video also was circulated under the title 'Stone age Creatures'. Any right thinking government cannot allow that to be done to its people. The only thing that Khama does not like is excessive consumption of alcohol and someone can accuse him for that I will agree and he imposes that on every Motswana. Is Survival International aware that some community trusts such as the Mmadinare one make millions out of wildlife hunting quotas every year? Why not help Basarwa to do the same in their areas maybe they can also pocket several millions. They definitely need money for other food stuffs because they cannot survive on meet alone. Hunting and gathering is a difficult task to undertake nowadays given the inadequate rainfall in Botswana. Animals too have become very few and by the time they realise that they are under threat they will migrate to other areas. A law in a country has to apply to everyone. Anyone who will become the President Of Botswana will just act in the same manner. because there are more that 34 Basarwa clans in Botswana why is the issue only about those in CKGR?