Don't destroy the "heart of Africa". You would think the government would know better, but I guess not.
Posted on 09/12/2005 5:44:35 PM PDT by REactor
THE Bushmen of the Kalahari — among Africa’s last indigenous peoples — are on the verge of losing their ancestral homeland after the Government of Botswana stepped up a campaign to force them into squalid resettlement camps.
The Government has sent heavily armed wildlife guards into the Central Kalahari Game Reserve — an area promised to the Bushmen “in perpetuity”. Some 200 to 250 Gana and Gwi Bushmen live in the area, having drifted back after previous evictions.
The Government banned all outsiders, including journalists, from the area. It said a disease had been discovered in the Bushmen’s goats, which could be fatal. Vets said that the disease, sarcoptic mange, is common and poses no real threat to wild animals or humans.
The authorities’ action was timed to coincide with the start of the Bushmen’s final appeal against the evictions in 1997 and 2002.
Stephen Corry, director of Survival International, which has been highlighting the Bushmen’s plight, said: “The Government seems hellbent on finishing them off this time. The situation is very urgent. Unless circumstances change through outside intervention, this could very well be the end of these particular people.”
A Bill removing a clause in the constitution that guaranteed the Bushmen, Africa’s oldest inhabitants, the right to live in the Kalahari in perpetuity, the basis of their case against the Government, is before Parliament. Once passed, the appeal is expected to collapse.
Botswana, which has a reputation as one of Africa’s success stories, first began moving the Bushmen off the land in the mid-1990s. It said that it could no longer afford the paltry costs of providing them with basic services. It also accused the Bushmen of threatening game through hunting. Mr Corry said: “The excuses given were ludicrous, and the Government changed its arguments several times.”
Squeezed together in resettlement camps and unable to live their traditional life, many Bushmen developed serious health problems, while drunkenness and prostitution were also rife. Several hundred returned to the Kalahari.
Most people, including seve-ral government ministers who went public on the issue, said the real reason for the evictions was that deposits of diamonds were discovered in the area.
The state diamond company, which is an offshoot of the De Beers diamond conglomerate, maintains that even the richest diamond deposits, which lay at the heart of the Bushmen’s land, are currently uneconomic to mine. However, De Beers does not rule out mining them at a later date.
Many leading figures in the state mining company, Debswana, are senior ministers in the recently re-elected Government of President Mogae.
Bushmen are treated with disdain by Botswana’s farming tribes. Mr Corry, who called for British intervention, said: “There is very deep-seated racism on the part of the Government clique.”
FEMA's fault.
The state diamond company, which is an offshoot of the De Beers diamond conglomerate, maintains that even the richest diamond deposits, which lay at the heart of the Bushmen’s land, are currently uneconomic to mine. However, De Beers does not rule out mining them at a later date.
** Hmmmmmmm....
(Been waiting for that one for a long time)
Give them all a glass coke bottle and let them fight for their freedom
What a shame that a country with a gazillion dollars worth of diamonds underfoot has such poor people.
Don't destroy the "heart of Africa". You would think the government would know better, but I guess not.
Jesse Jackson, call your office.
Debeers doesnt want to mine tham , They have enough in storage now to last 50 years. If Debeers released all the diamonds they have they would be cheaper than coal.They keep the price up by keeping diamonds scarce.
You may be right but I'm sure they don't want competitors getting that stash either. I remember the story on FR last year about the faux diamond that is exactly like a 'natural' diamond. Conspiracy theories abound!
Next door in Namibia the government is nationalizing the large farms that have served as a fence against unlimited killing of wildlife. Hundreds of families will be settled and the Europeans will be expelled. As one can imagine, there goes Namibia.
What was the comment no.5 about? They deleted it before I could read it. Is it possible that there at large is some psycho who does not like BUSHmen??
Severely wounded, Hallet drove over 100 miles across dirt roads in Africa to a hospital after blowing his hands off with dynamite while attempting to obtain fish while helping the starving locals.
Hallet lived with the Bushmen for quite some time back in the 1950s and paints a vivid picture of these proud people.
Water in a desert country is so precious that for those who depend on it, it can assume divine properties. To the Bushman water is the ancient symbol of life. In it he can revitalize himself and make a fresh start. His legendary hero, Mantis, appears at the time of the beginning of the world, when the face of the earth was covered with water.Mantis was carried over the tumult of the dark and turbulent waters by a bee (bees, as honeymakers, are an image of wisdom). The bee, however, became wearier and colder as he searched for solid ground, and Mantis felt heavier and heavier. He flew slower and sank down towards the water. At last, while floating on the water, the bee saw a great white flower, half-open, awaiting the sun's first rays. He laid Mantis in the heart of the flower and planted within him the seed of the first human being. Then the bee died. But as the sun rose and warmed the flower, Mantis awoke, and there, from the seed left by the bee, the first Bushman was born.
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