A split has emerged among groups campaigning against relocation of the San Bushmen from Botswana’s Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).
In a statement, the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (Wimsa), an umbrella group of rights NGOs, said the London-based NGO Survival International did not have a mandate to speak on behalf of all the San.
Survival International has run a vociferous campaign alleging that San rights in the reserve have been trampled in order to make way for diamond explorations — charges that both the government and its mining partner, De Beers, have denied.
Diamonds remain central to Botswana’s economic health, accounting for 70% of foreign currency earnings.
The statement noted that the ”San from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa and Angola request Survival International to understand that the CKGR San do not want to close the door [to] negotiations with the Botswana government”.
Wimsa claimed the San regarded diamond mining in the reserve as an option for development, as long as their rights were respected.
According to Wimsa ”the San do not claim the entire CKGR, only their ancestral territories. The San would like to enjoy the advantages of both traditional life in the CKGR and modern amenities provided in villages and towns.”
However, Wimsa’s Botswana chapter has dissociated itself from the statement. One of its affiliates, the First People of the Kalahari, said that Survival International is ”helping us with the campaign and speaking loudly for us”. Survival International has vowed to continue its campaign.
The San Bushmen court challenge to their removal from the reserve resumes next week.