Diamonds are no friend to the Bushmen

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Bushmen and Diamonds: (Un)civil society in Botswana
Kenneth Good
2003
Nordic Africa Institute: discussion paper 23
40 pages

Reviewed by Richard Bartlett

When it comes to discussion of Africa’s success stories Botswana is one of those examples which shows that economic development, good governance and human rights can be found in good measure on the continent. This image of Botswana as a country where the population is happy, content and civil strife is an anathema is promoted by the success of Mma Ramotswe, that fictional detective created by Alexander McCall Smith.

Botswana’s place as prime example of African success was reaffirmed (June 2004) when the country was named as the continent’s most competitive economy. Also in the news at the same time, although not quite so prominent, is an appeal by Survival International (see www.survival-international.org), an non-government organisation fighting for minority rights, which is trying to raise £100,000 ($180,000) to support the court case of a bushman in Botswana who is fighting to return to his ancestral home in the Kalahari Central Game Reserve.

The plight of Botswana’s minority people, the Basarwa (also known as busmen or San), is alluded to in the No.1 Ladies Detective Agency series when Mma Ramotswe looks after some orphans, but her kind-heartedness is not the norm when it comes to treatment of the Basarwa in their own country. They are more likely to encounter racism, forced removals and marginalisation from the mainstream of economic and social life. This is all too obvious in Bushmen and Diamonds, made all the more powerful for its dry statement of fact, as is to be expected of an academic study.

"Bushmen are more likely to encounter racism, forced removals and marginalisation from the mainstream of economic and social life"

The most tantalising part of this discussion paper is the link that Good draws between diamond exploration in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the forced removal of the Basarwa from the land which they and their ancestors had inhabited for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. It is tantalising because this is not an in-depth study; it is a discussion paper. It raises the issue not just of the Basarwa, but of related issues of Botswana’s liberal democracy and its flaws, of the country’s inability to improve the living standards of the majority of its people or stem the rate of HIV/Aids infections despite being one of Africa’s richest countries and its government’s unwillingness to allow any form of overt criticism from civil society.

The state president of Botswana, Ketumile Masire, "is not directly elected by the people, either nationally or at the local, constituency level. Nonetheless, he may speak and vote in parliament, and is constitutionally empowered to decide alone". Good acknowledges that the country conducts much of its official planning on "a fairly broad and open basis", but consultation and accountability are severely restricted when it comes to matter the government does not wish to debate or fears criticism. This includes areas such as defence, labour rights, freedom of the press, and, of course, the allocation of mineral exploration rights.

Take the example of the Botswana Defence Force. While all governments are secretive when it comes to matters of national defence, a measure of accountability remains. Good mentions the military expansion programme Botswana undertook in the early to mid 1990s. It built the huge Thebephatshwa air base west of the capital of Gaborone. Its estimated cost was $600m in 1993. During its construction the press in neighbouring South Africa raised the possibility of it being used by the US military. Then early in 1996 "reports appeared…that Botswana was seeking to purchase fifty Leopard 1-V battle tanks". The deal fell through thanks to opposition in Germany, but it acquired 20 tanks from Austria instead. Botswana did, however, manage to buy "13 fighter bomber aircraft from Canada". All this for a country with no obvious external threat and seemingly at peace with itself. Nevertheless by "1994 the military was receiving 4.6 per cent of GDP, a sum large by both regional and world standards".

But what does the extent of Botswana’s military spending have to do with the evictions of Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve? What is at issue is the government’s lack of accountability, the limited voice of civil society organisations and the methods used by government? What Good points out is the more than co-incidental link between diamond companies seeking exploration rights and the eviction of the bushmen.

"Simultaneously with these removals, planned mining exploration in and near the Reserve has expanded enormously. It has also intensified….The intimate connection between the explusion of the San and the intensification of mining explorations cannot be ignored."

The Botswana government, and the mining companies, argue that the Basarwa have relocated to modern purpose built towns voluntarily, but Good unambiguously says the majority of these "voluntary" relocations were coerced. This has been done through a variety of methods. "In May 2002, for example, 400 head of cattle were said to have been given to 80 families who had left the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. …and over 600 were distributed at New Xade shortly after." Such inducements are the more respectable side of the evictions which are also carried out through forbidding all hunting and gathering, "boreholes were destroyed and precious stocks of water were emptied by officials." A further downside of the removals is that once in the resettlement camps "there is nothing to do but drink alcohol and await handouts from the government".

Good cites three reasons for such action by the Botswana government: a desire to preserve the pristine environment of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and its tourist potential, the superiority of the government in relation to the inferiority, even perceived backwardness, of the Basarwa, and diamonds.

There are three companies which have been awarded exploration rights in the game reserve; De Beers, the South African diamond miner which in Botswana is part owned by the government, Gope Exploration, a subsidiary of De Beers, and BHP Billiton, the Anglo-Australian resources group. President Festus Mogae describes the relationship between De Beers and the government as a marriage, or even them being Siamese twins.

This relationship is evident in the changing nature of statements regarding the undertaking of mining operations in the game reserve. The same game reserve from which the Basarwa were removed to preserve its pristine nature. Whereas five years ago both the government and mining companies were adamant that there were no plans to open mines in the game reserve, "In March [2002 De Beers’]…chairman Nicky Oppenheimer stated that it had no plans to mine ‘for the foreseeable future’, but in November a spokesperson added, ‘We can’t say we will never mine it.’" Kalahari Diamonds, a British company with exploration rights over 78 000 square kilometres in Botswana, says it could have a mine operational within four years after finding an economically viable deposit.

International protest against the removals and subordination of the Basarwa is increasing with it having been discussed in the British parliament, the UN Human Rights Commission, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ right, an organ of the African Union, and, as mentioned earlier, Survival International. But while Botswana accepted the charter of the African Commission it has never submitted a report and considers itself a "shining light" of African democracy.

President Mogae has previously described the Basarwa living in the game reserve as "stone age creature[s]" who would "die out like the dodo" and since the removals have begun has said any Basarwa who went back into the game reserve would be in breach of contract and be taken to court. The Basarwa who no longer live in the reserve have to apply for a visitors permit to visit their ancestral land, just like any other tourist. Now the Basarwa have taken a stand and called the president’s bluff. The court case is happening (July 2004) and Botswana is going to have to prove that it is a "shining light". It cannot be taken for granted.

Richard Bartlett is editor of the African Review of Books.