Bushmen freed as government clampdown backfires

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An attempt by the Botswana government to punish Bushmen for hunting to feed their families has backfired after a magistrate let them off with a caution, and ordered their release from prison.

Six Bushmen were arrested in 2007 for hunting without permits in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (their ancestral land), but were only recently charged.

The government’s decision to charge the men came shortly after the Bushmen started court proceedings over the water borehole that was their main source of water in the reserve.

The government sealed the borehole when it evicted the Bushmen in 2002, and has refused to allow the Bushmen to use it again, even at their own expense. Instead, the Bushmen are expected to make a round trip of up to 400km to collect water if they want to live in the reserve, and face arrest if they hunt there.

Although Botswana’s High Court ruled in 2006 that the government’s refusal to issue hunting permits to Bushmen was unlawful, not a single permit has been awarded for use in the reserve since.

Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘President Khama proudly proclaims his conservation credentials by sitting on the board of Conservation International, but he seems quite happy to treat the Bushmen worse than animals. It’s quite clear that his government is determined to defy its own High Court and make the Bushmen’s life in the reserve impossible.

'The Bushmen are not allowed access to their own water, they’re refused hunting permits, and they’re arrested when they do hunt, which is the only way they can feed their families. Thankfully the magistrate in this case takes a more humane view of how to treat people.’

For more information and images please contact Miriam Ross:
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