The indigenous people of southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Basarwa, Kung, or Khwe. These people were traditionally hunter-gatherers, part of the Khoisan group and are related to the traditionally pastoral Khoikhoi. Starting in the 1950s, and lasting through the 1990s, they switched to farming as a result of government-mandated modernization programs as well as the increased risks of a hunting and gathering lifestyle in the face of technological development.
Today, only about 55,000 San or Bushmen remain and 60% of them live in Botswana.
Since the mid 1990s, the central government of Botswana has implemented a relocation policy, aiming to move the Bushmen out of their ancestral land on the Central Kalahari Game Reserve into newly created settlements. Although the government has categorically denied that relocation has been forced, a recent court ruling confirmed that the removal was unconstitutional and residents were forcibly removed.
Opponents to the relocation policy claim that the government's intent is to clear the area — an area the size of Denmark — for the lucrative tourist trade and diamond mining. This is strenuously denied on the government's official web site, stating that although exploration had taken place, it concluded that mining activity would not be viable and that the issue was not related to the relocation policy.
But the Botswana action has drawn strident opposition from Survival International, a UK-based organization supporting tribal communities and their rights to their land and to decide their own future. Survival says all the government's actions have made clear its contempt for the Bushmen and its tendency to regard them as inferior.
The Kalahari Bushmen, who have lived in Southern Africa for more than 20,000 years, are now being starved off their land to make way for lucrative diamond extraction, says Survival International.
In past years, the Bushmen have relied on water from a borehole in one of the Kalahari communities. The government provided a tanker that distributed water around the region once a month.
Survival claims that since the discovery of diamond deposits, worth up to $3.3 billion in one community, the government has halted the operation, removing the storage tanks and the pump that made water extraction possible. The Bushmen are banned from re-opening the borehole.
In past years, the Bushmen have relied on water from a borehole in one of the Kalahari communities. The government provided a tanker that distributed water around the region once a month.
Survival claims that since the discovery of diamond deposits, worth up to $3.3 billion in one community, the government has halted the operation, removing the storage tanks and the pump that made water extraction possible. The Bushmen are banned from re-opening the borehole.
The Kalahari Bushmen live in the middle of the richest diamond-producing area in the world. Many cite the country's mineral industry as the main driver behind Botswana's dramatic ascent from one of the poorest African nations to one of the wealthiest.
Kalahari Bushmen have faced escalating pressure from outside forces since diamonds were first discovered in the area in the early 1980s. Thousands were evicted from Gope in 2002, while the government denied any knowledge of diamond reserves.
Though the government claims that the operation was voluntary and natives were duly compensated, the Bushmen took the evictions to court that same year.
The case was the longest and most costly in Botswana history. In 2006, the judges determined the evictions to be "unlawful and unconstitutional", and the Bushmen were once again granted access to their land.
Survival International says the latest actions by the government are illegal, and clearly prejudiced against the Bushmen, who have been a traditionally marginalised and impoverished class in Southern Africa.
Kalahari Bushmen have faced escalating pressure from outside forces since diamonds were first discovered in the area in the early 1980s. Thousands were evicted from Gope in 2002, while the government denied any knowledge of diamond reserves.
Though the government claims that the operation was voluntary and natives were duly compensated, the Bushmen took the evictions to court that same year.
The case was the longest and most costly in Botswana history. In 2006, the judges determined the evictions to be "unlawful and unconstitutional", and the Bushmen were once again granted access to their land.
Survival International says the latest actions by the government are illegal, and clearly prejudiced against the Bushmen, who have been a traditionally marginalised and impoverished class in Southern Africa.
It is further claimed that the group as a whole has little voice in the national political process and is not one of the tribal groups recognized in the constitution of Botswana.
At the center of the dispute is the question whether the San are being moved from their ancestral land for purposes not of restoring the park's integrity as a nature reserve but rather to clear the way for diamond-prospecting companies.
The International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank based in Washington, D.C., has also been drawn into the issue with accusations from Survival International that it funded diamond exploration in the park without consulting indigenous communities about the project.
Survival International has produced government maps on its Web site which it says are evidence of how the game reserve has been divided into concessions for mining companies.
But the Botswana government has strenuously denied that diamond concessions are the reason for the Bushmen's removal. It says exploration for minerals in the park began in the 1960s, but the only kimberlite (volcanic pipes often bearing diamonds) discovered was found to be not commercially viable.
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