Fragile San under threat again

2001-03-20 21:51

"Once again we are being robbed of our freedom," was the message !Kung Vasekele and Mpungu San traditional leader, Captain !Xai Aoshe from Western Bushmanland in Namibia, wanted to convey on Human Rights Day.

South Africa celebrates its cultural and ethnic diversity on this day - including that of the San, whose history and traditions are reflected on the country's national coat of arms.

However, these Stone Age people's last hunting fields in the neighbouring countries of Namibia and Botswana are being threatened for the umpteenth time.

Contrary to the case in South Africa, the ethnic identity and unique needs of the sub-continent's oldest inhabitants are not entrenched in the constitutions of those countries.

The lifestyle of Aoshe and his people is being threatened by the Namibian government's plans to resettle 20 000 Angolan refugees on San land. They fear the refugees would completely exhaust their meagre resources - wild plants and game - and also that the Angolan war would be brought right to their doorstep.

And as on countless occasions in their past history, they would be driven from their land by the presence of a bigger and stronger group of people.

In Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve San communities have broached stories of human rights abuses perpetrated by a government which wants to drive them from their traditional land and resettle them in places where alcohol addiction is a sure fate.

- Beeld