Not much has changed in Andriesvale in the five years since the Khomani San won the land claim that awarded them 36 000ha of the surrounding Kalahari, plus a further 25 000ha inside the park.
Most of the millions of rands worth of game that came with the land has long since been poached or sold off.
Initial hopes that the land would be used for ecotourism and to support the San’s return to their traditional hunter-gatherer existence have disappeared along with the game.
The majority of San people have no income besides government grants and the selling of trinkets to tourists, while the town of about 700 still lacks a school, clinic or any infrastructure.
Not only has there been little progress or development, but the future of the Khomani San is in question.
Despair and ready supplies of cheap alcohol have taken a toll. The emaciated appearance of many of the people is owing to malnutrition, but TB is widespread and HIV infections are rising.
As many see it, the last hope for the community may lie with a Human Rights Commission inquiry that was set in motion after the death of local man Optel Rooi, allegedly at the hands of the police.
This week the commission is holding a hearing in Andriesvale to consider evidence it has been gathering since August about the mistreatment of the San people. The future of the community may depend on what emerges at the hearing .
Commissioner Leon Wessels and two lawyers from the Human Rights Commission travelled to the Kalahari in August. They were accompanied by Bernard Venter, an NGO worker who has been assisting the Khomani San since meeting them two years ago.
After interviewing stakeholders it became clear that the inquiry would need to broaden its focus.
“The shooting was like a little hole into everything else,” Venter said.
“Everything else” included allegations of abuse and neglect of San children at the closest school in Askham. As the school is 16km away and there is no affordable transport, the children have to board. According to Claire Barry, an HIV/Aids educator who helped parents draft their complaints to the commission, the children are often left unsupervised at night and are abused by older children.
The Department of Agriculture and Land Affairs has also been implicated in the complaints for its failure to provide the community with follow-up support and oversight according to the terms of the original land agreement.
The department is also facing criticism for not holding the Communal Property Association (CPA) accountable for mismanaging development funds and selling off game. The CPA committee is charged with maintaining and developing the six farms that comprise the land claim, but soon after the claim was won, there was a split between those who wanted to use the land to live traditionally and those who wanted to pursue livestock ranching.
The land was divided to accommodate both groups but the conflict has persisted and, according to an ecologist who has been working with the community for the past six years, has hamstrung development on both sides.
“The underlying problem is that the people don’t have anything to do because the development process that they wanted … hasn’t got off the ground,” he said. “I think the commission is virtually the last gasp.”
Other issues include the lack of health services. At present the nearest clinic is in Askham, where one nurse provides basic care. There is a shortage of water pumps, particularly on the land assigned to the “traditional” group. Residents collect water from a tap near the general store and use donkey carts to transport it to their homes.
The inquiry has moved too slowly for Khomani San leader, Dawid Kruiper, who hitchhiked to Cape Town in August to seek a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki.
The meeting did not take place, although Mbeki’s secretary has promised that Kruiper will get his audience with the president at some future date.
Kruiper did meet with Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs Thoko Didiza, who promised to visit the community within the next month. Two months later they are still waiting.
Although there is frustration at the lack of change in their circumstances since Rooi’s death, the community has hopes that the outcome of the inquiry will put pressure in the right places.
“We had a chance to talk and tell them our grievances and I told them we are living under sorrows here. So now we’ve got hope,” said Deon Noubitson, who claimed he was assaulted by police last year.
Venter says the commission’s findings will have the potential to be both beneficial to the Khomani San and hugely embarrassing for the government, particularly given its emphasis on diversity and heritage preservation.
“The Bushmen are the world’s first people, we are all descended from them and they’re dying,” he said. “If we can’t take care of them, there’s not much hope for the rest of us.”