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Botswana Bushmen Win Right to Access Water on Ancestral Land

   Joe DeCapua  January 27, 2011

   In   Botswana,   Bushmen  of  the  Central  Kalahari  are  celebrating
   Thursdayâs   court  decision  granting  them  water  rights  on  their
   ancestral lands.

   In  2002,  the  Bushmen  were  evicted  from the Central Kalahari Game
   Reserve.   While they won the right to return in 2006, the government
   said they could no longer use a vital water borehole.

   Now  the  Court  of  Appeal  has struck down a lower court ruling that
   denied  them  access  to  the  borehole.  At the same time, the court
   described government treatment of the Bushmen as âdegrading.â

   Fantasticâ¦wonderful

   âThis  is  a  wonderful  ruling  from the appeal court of five judges,
   which  basically has found the Botswana government guilty of degrading
   treatment  towards the Bushmen,â says Fiona Watson, field and research
   director for Survival International.

   The  ruling, she says, gives the Bushmen access to the borehole, which
   the government has sealed, and the right to drill new boreholes.

   âSo  this  is  a  fantastic  ruling because it completely supports the
   Bushmen  and  we really hope that now this will draw a line under what
   has  been  several  years of total misery and despair for the Bushmen,
   who have been denied access to water in one of the driest and harshest
   places in the world,â says Watson.

Survival International

   Central Kalahari Bushmen celebrate appeals court victory granting them
   water rights on ancestral lands

   Watson  says itâs unlikely the government has any further legal action
   it can take to again block access.  âThis is the highest court in the
   land,  with  five  judges who come from Commonwealth countries and who
   were sitting at the Court of Appeal in Lobatse,â she says.

   How many?

   While  Bushmen won the right to return to the game reserve, getting an
   exact count on how many actually have can be difficult.

   Watson  says,  âBushmen  come  and  go,  partly because it has been so
   difficult,  if not impossible, to access water on their land.  But at
   any  one  time we estimate there are probably about 300 to 400 Bushmen
   currently  living  in  the Central Kalahari, but I think now with this
   wonderful   ruling   many   Bushmen  will  return  to  exercise  their
   constitutional right to live on their ancestral lands.â

   Finding water

   The  borehole  must  be  inspected to learn whether it can actually be
   reopened  after  being  sealed by the government.  âNobody knows what
   the condition of the borehole is,â says Watson.

   Also,  drilling  new boreholes would be expensive.  âFinding water in
   the Kalahari is a bit like finding a needle in a haystack,â she says.

   Survival  International  says  the  Botswana  government  continues to
   âprevent  the  Bushmen  from  hunting  for foodâ in the reserve.  The
   government  recently  awarded  a  contract  to  Gem  Diamonds for a $3
   billion dollar mine near a Bushmen community.

   The  Botswanan  government  had  said it relocated the Bushmen to give
   them better access to health, education and other services.

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