Conflict erupts between San and NGOs

TENSION between the San and donor organisations is simmering as a result of deep suspicions on how donor money is spent.

Senior Hai//om headman, Petro //Gam//Gaebeb last week accused non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working with the San of spending donor money in a way that does not benefit the community. //Gam//Gaebeb, who lives amongst the resettled San community on farms in the Outjo area, says that the ‘NGOs do not help us right’. He added that the funding is not used to directly aid development on the resettlement farms.’For the past three years we have not made any progress on the land … I just want to ask that the people who work with the San should become serious about helping us develop and to progress’.According to the headman, there is also a lack of consultation between the NGOs, the San community and the San traditional authorities. He claims that while organisations rake in funds in the name of the ‘repressed San … they do not come to us. They don’t come and see what we really need. They must become serious about the real development of the San’.//Gam//Gaebeb refused to name the NGOs he says are using the donor purse on projects that do not directly help his community. Several NGOs approached by The Namibian confirmed that tensions exist, and have for a number of years. A consultant who has worked extensively with the Hai//om communities in the Etosha district for the past decade, explained the problem is exaggerated by internal conflicts between the community and traditional authorities. She added that at recent meetings it became obvious that the community was ‘suspicious’ and that they feel ‘hostile because they feel they are not represented in the right way’.She said that ‘we all agree that we have to come up with a better integrated approach where efforts are better coordinated’. But, she added, several attempts have been made in the past to ‘decrease suspicion about how the money is used’. These efforts have not had far-reaching impact however. Eva Weitz, the regional coordinator of the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) said the organisation is ‘fully controlled by San communities’ and as such, ‘all our plans and actions are under their view and control’. She added that WIMSA ‘regard[s] the input from the San community as crucial and strive to handle and treat them accordingly’. Brian Gaomab, International Labour Organisation’s national programme coordinator for the San, says that the suspicions surrounding the way in which funds are distributed by the NGOs in development projects, is especially tricky these days.He explained that most donors are experiencing budget cuts and with the ‘small chunk of money’ available, implementation of projects are impacted. A NGO co-ordinator who works with the San community said last week that one of the problems is that ‘the needs of the traditional authorities do not always align with the needs of the communities’. A ‘multi-stakeholder platform’ could iron out a lot of these issues, he said. Gerson Kamatuka, Special Advisor to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and in charge of the office’s San project, agrees that conflicts exist between the NGOs and the San communities they help.He emphasised that while his office ‘appreciates the efforts of the NGOs’, there is a ‘need to coordinate more’. He says that a platform has to be created to ensure that ‘the right hand knows what the left hand is doing’.

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