Namibian San to fight for Etosha

THIS week’s court victory for the San people in Botswana, in which they won the right to return to their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, is seen as a victory for all indigenous people, the regional organisation for the Bushmen said yesterday.

Botswana’s High Court on Wednesday ruled that the government had evicted more than 1 000 San people “illegally and unconstitutionally” from the reserve. Descendants of the Hai//kom, a San tribe that lived for centuries in what is known today as the Etosha National Park until they were chased out by apartheid South Africa in the ’60s, now feel inspired to claim their land rights in a Namibian court.Speaking to The Namibian yesterday, board members of the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) who held a meeting in Windhoek, said the judgement was indicative of an independent judiciary helping “David to fight Goliath”.”It is a historic and symbolic victory my people deserved,” said Matambo Ngakaeaja, WIMSA board member representing Botswana, “but the court case should not have been necessary, as we, the San people, have lived there for thousands of years.””I feel proud, as we are now free to return to our ancestral land in the Central Kalahari,” said Collin Tsima, WIMSA coordinator for Botswana.”It shows that small people like us can fight the big government, it was like David against Goliath.”Joram Useb, coordinator of the Windhoek-based WIMSA head office, noted that the court victory in Botswana had set an example for other countries where the marginalised San were living and fighting for their rights.”This also goes for Namibia, where the Hai//Kom could go to court regarding (land rights in) the Etosha National Park.”His sentiments were echoed by Hai//Kom descendant Naftali Soroseb.”The battle has only begun, we are starting from scratch and will fight for all land we lost in Southern Africa, including Etosha.”Collin Louw of the San communities living in the Northern Cape, who had their land returned by the new South African government a few years ago, told The Namibian that the San of Botswana should never have been evicted from their ancestral land.”It is also about dignity, the Botswana authorities evicted them like goods, the land belongs to the First People, who are the San.””The case is symbolic to the southern African region, as it represents the resilience of an otherwise marginalised and wholly disadvantaged group, one of the last in the region to stay in their traditional territories,” WIMSA said in an official statement issued after the outcome of the Botswana court case.”It is also historic in that it was one of the first groups of Bushmen to fully contest cultural erosion and fragmentation as a direct result of relocation from (their) land in the name of development.”Land dispossession and alienation from land was a widespread phenomenon among Bushmen in the southern African region, the organisation noted.”A similar case is busy brewing and fermenting (in Namibia) in the N#a Jaqna Conservancy in the Otjozondjupa Region and this is highly regrettable in modern independent Namibia,” WIMSA said.A court solution in such a dispute often results in more friction between governments and indigenous people, WIMSA feels.Descendants of the Hai//kom, a San tribe that lived for centuries in what is known today as the Etosha National Park until they were chased out by apartheid South Africa in the ’60s, now feel inspired to claim their land rights in a Namibian court.Speaking to The Namibian yesterday, board members of the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) who held a meeting in Windhoek, said the judgement was indicative of an independent judiciary helping “David to fight Goliath”.”It is a historic and symbolic victory my people deserved,” said Matambo Ngakaeaja, WIMSA board member representing Botswana, “but the court case should not have been necessary, as we, the San people, have lived there for thousands of years.””I feel proud, as we are now free to return to our ancestral land in the Central Kalahari,” said Collin Tsima, WIMSA coordinator for Botswana.”It shows that small people like us can fight the big government, it was like David against Goliath.”Joram Useb, coordinator of the Windhoek-based WIMSA head office, noted that the court victory in Botswana had set an example for other countries where the marginalised San were living and fighting for their rights.”This also goes for Namibia, where the Hai//Kom could go to court regarding (land rights in) the Etosha National Park.”His sentiments were echoed by Hai//Kom descendant Naftali Soroseb.”The battle has only begun, we are starting from scratch and will fight for all land we lost in Southern Africa, including Etosha.”Collin Louw of the San communities living in the Northern Cape, who had their land returned by the new South African government a few years ago, told The Namibian that the San of Botswana should never have been evicted from their ancestral land.”It is also about dignity, the Botswana authorities evicted them like goods, the land belongs to the First People, who are the San.””The case is symbolic to the southern African region, as it represents the resilience of an otherwise marginalised and wholly disadvantaged group, one of the last in the region to stay in their traditional territories,” WIMSA said in an official statement issued after the outcome of the Botswana court case.”It is also historic in that it was one of the first groups of Bushmen to fully contest cultural erosion and fragmentation as a direct result of relocation from (their) land in the name of development.”Land dispossession and alienation from land was a widespread phenomenon among Bushmen in the southern African region, the organisation noted.”A similar case is busy brewing and fermenting (in Namibia) in the N#a Jaqna Conservancy in the Otjozondjupa Region and this is highly regrettable in modern independent Namibia,” WIMSA said.A court solution in such a dispute often results in more friction between governments and indigenous people, WIMSA feels.