Dark Clouds - The Treatment of the Bushmen
Our next dark cloud concerns what is happening to the Bushmen of Botswana. We’ve seen already that the Bushmen were subject to the violently applied power of neighbouring groups when Khama III, when he was young, forced them to pay tribute he would use in his hunting trade arrangements. Further, many Tswana had Bushmen slaves. And certainly, over many centuries they've been forced deeper and deeper into the extremely unwelcoming Kalahari.
One of the main areas to which the Bushmen have been forced is what is now known as the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). I hasten to add that no-one owns up to regarding the Bushmen as "game", and this has actually been one of their problems. The government has used the Bushmen's alleged threat to the "game" of the CKGR to seriously maltreat them. The claim is, of course, mostly rubbish, but it's one also, rather shamefully shortsightedly, taken up by some major international environmental groups.
But, in 1997 around three quarters of the CKGR Bushmen (apparently 1739 people) were forcibly moved. We note the Botswanan government denies the movements were forced, however there is a substantial amount of alternative evidence indicates the government is undoubtedly out-and-out lying. Further forced resettlement took place in 2002 and 2005. Ditto the government.
The government says it's working in the name of animal and environmental conservation. That may, in at least part, be true. But as we shall see below, opening diamond mines and encouraging fracking (see an explanation below) are a strange way of doing this.
And while we in no way compare the Bushmen to animals (although accepting, of course, that all humans are animals), they are as much a part of their environment as any other creature or plant, and have just as much right to be present in it as any other creature or plant, if that is what they wish to do.
In 2006, the courts declared the resettlements to be illegal, and that the Bushmen could return. However, the Botswanan government chose to interpret the court’s decision extremely narrowly, and set up processes which severely limited the numbers allowed to return, the time for which they could return, and their access to that most important thing in the Kalahari, water.
However, once again, we note the government claims otherwise, but once again the substantial evidence is against it. The government even concreted over the Bushmen’s only water bore, while allowing a nearby tourist safari park to build a swimming pool. At least one elderly Bushman lady is said to have died as a result. As we shall see, it very much seems Ian Khama, the president at the time of writing (2016), and son of Seretse and Ruth Khama, holds shares in the company that owns the company that owns the tourist park.
Further, the government has required permits from Bushmen wanting to hunt in the Park (only one month permits would be granted, if any were actually granted, which of course they weren’t), even though the courts have ruled this to be illegal.
Many Bushmen have been arrested by police and parks officers for “illegal” hunting and several have been beaten and tortured, and some apparently killed, including a boy shot in the stomach trying to prevent police entering his hut without a warrant. Reportedly, a man was also buried alive as part of a torture process to find “illegal” bush meat. As far as we can gather, he didn't die. Torture to find bush meat has been unfortunately common.
The dislocation of the Bushmen and the removal of their traditional way of life has led to increased drunkenness, depression, and sexually transmitted disease, in ways familiar to anyone living in a country originally settled by a first people. Although, of course, the Botswanan government unbelievably denies they are a first people - let alone recognise them as the closest we have to THE first "people". Or, indeed, appear to care one way or the other.
But, as we saw in an earlier web page, it seems probable that the Bushmen are, in fact, the ultimate first people, indeed such an important first people that their situation is one which is a responsibility for every human on earth.
In 2011, the Botswanan High Court upheld a case brought by the Bushmen to gain access to bore water in the CKGR. Of course, little happened on the ground and the Bushmen are powerless numerically and financially to force the government to implement the courts' decisions, and the courts, sadly, are likewise powerless.
One of the main areas to which the Bushmen have been forced is what is now known as the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). I hasten to add that no-one owns up to regarding the Bushmen as "game", and this has actually been one of their problems. The government has used the Bushmen's alleged threat to the "game" of the CKGR to seriously maltreat them. The claim is, of course, mostly rubbish, but it's one also, rather shamefully shortsightedly, taken up by some major international environmental groups.
But, in 1997 around three quarters of the CKGR Bushmen (apparently 1739 people) were forcibly moved. We note the Botswanan government denies the movements were forced, however there is a substantial amount of alternative evidence indicates the government is undoubtedly out-and-out lying. Further forced resettlement took place in 2002 and 2005. Ditto the government.
The government says it's working in the name of animal and environmental conservation. That may, in at least part, be true. But as we shall see below, opening diamond mines and encouraging fracking (see an explanation below) are a strange way of doing this.
And while we in no way compare the Bushmen to animals (although accepting, of course, that all humans are animals), they are as much a part of their environment as any other creature or plant, and have just as much right to be present in it as any other creature or plant, if that is what they wish to do.
In 2006, the courts declared the resettlements to be illegal, and that the Bushmen could return. However, the Botswanan government chose to interpret the court’s decision extremely narrowly, and set up processes which severely limited the numbers allowed to return, the time for which they could return, and their access to that most important thing in the Kalahari, water.
However, once again, we note the government claims otherwise, but once again the substantial evidence is against it. The government even concreted over the Bushmen’s only water bore, while allowing a nearby tourist safari park to build a swimming pool. At least one elderly Bushman lady is said to have died as a result. As we shall see, it very much seems Ian Khama, the president at the time of writing (2016), and son of Seretse and Ruth Khama, holds shares in the company that owns the company that owns the tourist park.
Further, the government has required permits from Bushmen wanting to hunt in the Park (only one month permits would be granted, if any were actually granted, which of course they weren’t), even though the courts have ruled this to be illegal.
Many Bushmen have been arrested by police and parks officers for “illegal” hunting and several have been beaten and tortured, and some apparently killed, including a boy shot in the stomach trying to prevent police entering his hut without a warrant. Reportedly, a man was also buried alive as part of a torture process to find “illegal” bush meat. As far as we can gather, he didn't die. Torture to find bush meat has been unfortunately common.
The dislocation of the Bushmen and the removal of their traditional way of life has led to increased drunkenness, depression, and sexually transmitted disease, in ways familiar to anyone living in a country originally settled by a first people. Although, of course, the Botswanan government unbelievably denies they are a first people - let alone recognise them as the closest we have to THE first "people". Or, indeed, appear to care one way or the other.
But, as we saw in an earlier web page, it seems probable that the Bushmen are, in fact, the ultimate first people, indeed such an important first people that their situation is one which is a responsibility for every human on earth.
In 2011, the Botswanan High Court upheld a case brought by the Bushmen to gain access to bore water in the CKGR. Of course, little happened on the ground and the Bushmen are powerless numerically and financially to force the government to implement the courts' decisions, and the courts, sadly, are likewise powerless.
In 2013, a leaked map (see above) showed around half the CKGR was opened to international companies for the very highly controversial practice of ‘fracking’, raising fears of land loss, dropping water levels, and irreparable damage to the fragile ecosystem. The government has denied any fracking, but at least one company has already started drilling exploratory wells for coalbed methane on the Bushmen's hunting territory.
Sadly, it has to be said the Botswanan government persistently and consistently and quite knowingly lies about these matters. This official Botswana Government map, for example, is in itself proof that half of the CKGR has been leased out to energy companies for fracking concessions.
One of the major groups fighting for the rights of the Bushmen is Survival International. It is controversial in some fields, but without this organisation there's every chance the Bushmen might disappear without trace.
For the information of those of you who have not caught up with all the fuss about fracking, here’s some information. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release any natural gas inside. Each gas well requires hundreds of tanker trucks (possibly up to 400) to carry water and supplies to and from the site.
These tankers are for the 4.5-36 million litres (around 1-8 million US gallons; if you want UK gallons, work it out for yourself) of water needed for each project – a horrendous amount in Botswana, especially in the Kalahari. The water would need to be carted an immense distance, adding to overall costs, both financially and environmentally. Or, of course, taken from bores, therefore draining the finite water source available there. The same water source the government locked the Bushmen out of.
The water brought in is mixed with sand and chemicals to create the fluid forced down the drill holes. Approximately 150,000 litres ( some 40,000 gallons) of chemicals are used for each fracturing. There can be up to 18 frackings for each bore hole. Up to 600 chemicals are used in fracking fluid, including known carcinogens and toxins such as lead, uranium, mercury, ethylene glycol, radium, methanol, hydrochloric acid, and formaldehyde.
During this process, methane gas and toxic chemicals are said by fracking opponents (denied, of course, by the industry) to leach out from the system and contaminate nearby groundwater. Methane concentrations are said in some places to have increased by as much as seventeen times in drinking-water wells near fracking sites. This is also of considerable concern to farmers who use bore water to feed their stock and/or water their food crops.
Only 30-50% of the fracking fluid is recovered, the rest is left in the ground and is not biodegradable. The waste fluid is often left in open air pits to evaporate, releasing, according to opponents (not, according to industry), harmful volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere.
Further, it has been claimed (and, of course, denied by the industry) that fracking can cause earthquakes of varying intensity. In Oklahoma, a State of the US, for example, since the start of fracking the number of earthquakes has increased from less than a hundred a year, to several thousand a year, with some of these "running" earthquakes, that is they continue without stopping for some time. The industry claims this is coincidence and there are other causes. That may be so, but the same consequences are being experienced elsewhere fracking has started. That's one heck of a series of coincidences.
This is not, however, the time and place to argue the point about the benefits versus the disbenefits of fracking. We simply want to outline what the Bushmen are up against in a country where their President, Ian Khama of course, at least at the time of writing (2015) has described their culture as extinct, and where, not so long ago, Tswana tribespeople referred to their Bushmen servants and slaves as “bulls” and “heifers”.
Sadly, it has to be said the Botswanan government persistently and consistently and quite knowingly lies about these matters. This official Botswana Government map, for example, is in itself proof that half of the CKGR has been leased out to energy companies for fracking concessions.
One of the major groups fighting for the rights of the Bushmen is Survival International. It is controversial in some fields, but without this organisation there's every chance the Bushmen might disappear without trace.
For the information of those of you who have not caught up with all the fuss about fracking, here’s some information. Fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks to release any natural gas inside. Each gas well requires hundreds of tanker trucks (possibly up to 400) to carry water and supplies to and from the site.
These tankers are for the 4.5-36 million litres (around 1-8 million US gallons; if you want UK gallons, work it out for yourself) of water needed for each project – a horrendous amount in Botswana, especially in the Kalahari. The water would need to be carted an immense distance, adding to overall costs, both financially and environmentally. Or, of course, taken from bores, therefore draining the finite water source available there. The same water source the government locked the Bushmen out of.
The water brought in is mixed with sand and chemicals to create the fluid forced down the drill holes. Approximately 150,000 litres ( some 40,000 gallons) of chemicals are used for each fracturing. There can be up to 18 frackings for each bore hole. Up to 600 chemicals are used in fracking fluid, including known carcinogens and toxins such as lead, uranium, mercury, ethylene glycol, radium, methanol, hydrochloric acid, and formaldehyde.
During this process, methane gas and toxic chemicals are said by fracking opponents (denied, of course, by the industry) to leach out from the system and contaminate nearby groundwater. Methane concentrations are said in some places to have increased by as much as seventeen times in drinking-water wells near fracking sites. This is also of considerable concern to farmers who use bore water to feed their stock and/or water their food crops.
Only 30-50% of the fracking fluid is recovered, the rest is left in the ground and is not biodegradable. The waste fluid is often left in open air pits to evaporate, releasing, according to opponents (not, according to industry), harmful volatile organic compounds into the atmosphere.
Further, it has been claimed (and, of course, denied by the industry) that fracking can cause earthquakes of varying intensity. In Oklahoma, a State of the US, for example, since the start of fracking the number of earthquakes has increased from less than a hundred a year, to several thousand a year, with some of these "running" earthquakes, that is they continue without stopping for some time. The industry claims this is coincidence and there are other causes. That may be so, but the same consequences are being experienced elsewhere fracking has started. That's one heck of a series of coincidences.
This is not, however, the time and place to argue the point about the benefits versus the disbenefits of fracking. We simply want to outline what the Bushmen are up against in a country where their President, Ian Khama of course, at least at the time of writing (2015) has described their culture as extinct, and where, not so long ago, Tswana tribespeople referred to their Bushmen servants and slaves as “bulls” and “heifers”.
Again, the government was up to its old tricks in an area known as the Western Kgalagadi Conservation Corridor. On May 28, 2013, the High Court was presented with a case demanding a halt to the removal of Bushmen from that area. The government, as usual, denied it was planning any such thing, even though work on developing the Corridor started in 2007.
The Court ordered that any removal be halted until the matter came back to court on 28 June, 2013. Despite the government’s denial, a local council official admitted he had been in discussions with the government over a removal that was to occur on 27 May, 2013.
Trucks arrived and removed some Bushmen on 4 June, 2013, yet on 11 June the government again denied it was doing any such thing, and made no explanation about who was responsible for the 4 June actions. However, on 14 June, 2013 it admitted some had been moved, but not forcibly.
On 18 June, 2013, the High Court ruled in favour of the Bushmen. Nonetheless, in January, 2014, the government banned all but very limited hunting, which does not allow for Bushmen hunting. Guess who announced the ban?
No, not Ian Khama. It was the Botswanan Minister of Wildlife, Environment and Tourism. None other than Ian's brother Tshekedi Khama, the would-be-if-he-could-be vice-president who isn’t. At least, not yet. Oh, we’ve just realised we haven’t told that story yet, it’s told a bit later on this website. We just wonder what Seretse and Ruth would make of their sons.
The government said it would comply with the 18 June, 2013 court order. However, the lawyer who so successfully represented the Bushmen in the High Court was a British barrister called Gordon Bennett. Mr Bennett had, like all British people, been able to travel back and forth without a visa. Now, the government placed Mr Bennett on a visa list, which required him to apply for a visa before returning to Botswana.
But when Mr Bennett applied for a visa, the government refused a visa on the basis that his application did not allow adequate time for consideration. It later claimed the decision was a national security matter - national security, for goodness sakes, as though he was a spy or a terrorist. The Bushmen lost a subsequent court case, principally because of a lack of proper legal representation.
There are only some 100,000 of these original humans left in the world. Most of them live in Botswana. Their treatment by the Botswana government is not just outrageous. We don’t want to overstate the situation, as some of you may think we're just being overly excitable. We also don’t want to make a claim that diminishes in some way the concept of human rights crimes, or what happened to the Jews, Romani, Slavic peoples, and others during the Holocaust.
However, in view of their status, the Botswanan government's actions against the Bushmen, and in particular the destruction of their culture and way of life, and the government’s clear and occasionally stated basic policy of complete assimilation, undoubtedly amount to a form of genocide, and most certainly amount to a major crime against the whole of humanity, not just the Bushmen.
The Court ordered that any removal be halted until the matter came back to court on 28 June, 2013. Despite the government’s denial, a local council official admitted he had been in discussions with the government over a removal that was to occur on 27 May, 2013.
Trucks arrived and removed some Bushmen on 4 June, 2013, yet on 11 June the government again denied it was doing any such thing, and made no explanation about who was responsible for the 4 June actions. However, on 14 June, 2013 it admitted some had been moved, but not forcibly.
On 18 June, 2013, the High Court ruled in favour of the Bushmen. Nonetheless, in January, 2014, the government banned all but very limited hunting, which does not allow for Bushmen hunting. Guess who announced the ban?
No, not Ian Khama. It was the Botswanan Minister of Wildlife, Environment and Tourism. None other than Ian's brother Tshekedi Khama, the would-be-if-he-could-be vice-president who isn’t. At least, not yet. Oh, we’ve just realised we haven’t told that story yet, it’s told a bit later on this website. We just wonder what Seretse and Ruth would make of their sons.
The government said it would comply with the 18 June, 2013 court order. However, the lawyer who so successfully represented the Bushmen in the High Court was a British barrister called Gordon Bennett. Mr Bennett had, like all British people, been able to travel back and forth without a visa. Now, the government placed Mr Bennett on a visa list, which required him to apply for a visa before returning to Botswana.
But when Mr Bennett applied for a visa, the government refused a visa on the basis that his application did not allow adequate time for consideration. It later claimed the decision was a national security matter - national security, for goodness sakes, as though he was a spy or a terrorist. The Bushmen lost a subsequent court case, principally because of a lack of proper legal representation.
There are only some 100,000 of these original humans left in the world. Most of them live in Botswana. Their treatment by the Botswana government is not just outrageous. We don’t want to overstate the situation, as some of you may think we're just being overly excitable. We also don’t want to make a claim that diminishes in some way the concept of human rights crimes, or what happened to the Jews, Romani, Slavic peoples, and others during the Holocaust.
However, in view of their status, the Botswanan government's actions against the Bushmen, and in particular the destruction of their culture and way of life, and the government’s clear and occasionally stated basic policy of complete assimilation, undoubtedly amount to a form of genocide, and most certainly amount to a major crime against the whole of humanity, not just the Bushmen.
Location
|
|