Wildlife official quizzed over Reserve's management plan

Cross-examined by the Bushmen's legal team, the civil servant responsible for wildlife parks admitted being mistaken in his assumption that the Cabinet had to approve the management plan for the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

In fact, there is no legal requirement for Cabinet to approve such plans.

The issue is important because the Bushmen were closely involved in early drafts of the plan, under which they could live and hunt inside the Reserve.

Only when the plan was submitted to Cabinet was it changed, and all references to the Bushmen being allowed to live in the Reserve were removed.