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Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
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Regional Representatives :
Regional Representative : Vacant due to the death of Kabo MOSWEU
Deputy Regional Representative : Cgare CGAASE, Naro San, Botswana
Women’s Representative : Annetta BOK, ‡Khomani San, South Africa
Background and Ethnic context
In southern Africa, there is a recognised distinction between the first peoples of Southern Africa and other Africans who migrated into the region in recent times. The cultural presence of the San hunter-gatherers has been attested to in rock art and archaeology for over 20 000 years. Human occupation of the region stretches back over 150 000 years.
The aboriginal San, and their related herding neighbours, the Khoekhoe (also Khoikhoi), are according to geneticist the people who carry the genetic material which indicates that their ancestors are the ancestors of all living human beings. The San are distinguished rich knowledge of biodiversity and by their complex languages that include a range of click sounds.
San peoples were colonised first by the arrival of Bantu-speaking Black agro-pastoralists from East and Central Africa, then more aggressively by European settlers. The impact of European settlement in South Africa included an almost complete destruction of San civilisations in that country. Today there are some 100 000 San living in the region. Only about 15 people have graduated from tertiary education, the majority live in situations of poverty and marginalisation.
Certain Khoe peoples adopted sheep pastoralism more than 2000 years ago. They spread throughout the subcontinent and were able to negotiate their relationship with the European settlers somewhat more successfully than the San. In South Africa, many Khoekhoe assimilated into Afrikaans speaking, so called “Coloured” farming society, though the Nama people of the Richtersveld and Orange River managed to keep their language and culture alive. In Namibia, Nama people number over 100 000 and have a degree of representation in government. The largest Afrikaans-speaking Khoekhoe group is the Griqua of South Africa.
South Africa
South Africa is fully engaged with transforming itself into a socially and economically viable democracy. It is deconstructing its legacy of racist governance and attempting to create new opportunities for all its citizens. The President and other senior officials have made important positive statements about indigenous peoples. In 2004, the Government created an interdepartmental working group on Khoe and San issues. Indigenous peoples are attempting to strengthening their own civil society so that they can actively claim rights and work with government on implementing the UN Declaration and related UN instruments.
In July 2005, the South African government hosted the visit of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, Professor Rodolfo Stavenhagen. The visit was a major event for Africa and for the indigenous peoples of South Africa. It was the first formal recognition by an African state of the UN’s mechanisms for protecting the rights of indigenous peoples.
IPACC assisted the government, the UN and the civil society to ensure that the Special Rapporteur would visit grassroots communities where they live and hold broad consultations with representative organisations. His main conclusions were that South Africa is a democracy where the full range of human and civil rights may be expressed and enjoyed by all, including indigenous peoples. Several important policy initiatives have been taken with regards indigenous peoples, however the implementation has been inadequate and people remain in vulnerable situations.
An important observation by the Special Rapporteur was that there is little co-ordination on indigenous issues between the different levels of government: national, provincial and local, and there is even less co-ordination between United Nations agencies in the region.
The South African government started negotiating with Khoe and San groups in 1998 about constitutional accommodation. In November 2004, the South African cabinet adopted a ‘policy tools’ memorandum that sets out mechanisms for creating policy on the rights of indigenous peoples. To date, little progress has been made on substantive policy and administration. Some activists are concerned that the Government sees indigenous rights as a form of ethnic nationalism which will be dealt with through endless dialogue on no real changes.
A gap in the Interdepartmental Working Group on Khoe and San Issues is the absence of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT). DEAT handles the international and domestic aspects of key UN agreements on indigenous peoples, including Agenda 21, the three Rio Conventions (Biodiversity, Climate Change and Desertification), and the creation and management agreements on World Heritage Sites, two of which are due to be on indigenous peoples lands. DEAT to date has not had any formal contact with South African indigenous peoples.
2007 update
- San, Nama and Griqua organisations created an Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas Working Group. The network, supported by IPACC, includes peoples from the Richtersveld National Park, Augrabies Falls National Park, Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park and the Griqua Biosphere at Ratelsgat.
The Protected Areas working group has been studying the Convention on Biological Diversity and entered into dialogue with the Department for Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT) and the Department of Science and Technology. DST has created a directorate dedicated to Indigenous Knowledge Systems.
Members of the Protected Areas Working Group participated in the Open Ended Working Group on Article 8J of the CBD, southern Africa's workshop on Access and Benefit Sharing with GTZ, IPACC's strategic planning in Bujumbura, and the Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of Parties in Bali.
-IPACC member and gender representative for Southern Africa Annetta Bok and local community groups are working to establish a drop-in centre with the government’s help. This will be somewhere which they hope will provide a space and opportunities for youth. Hopefully the new centre will host a community based organisation which will, among other things, run victim empowerment training sessions, for people who live with trauma such as loss of livelihood, dispossession and rape.
For full details of the IPACC Executive Committee meeting in Bujumbura see this IPACC article.
- In May 2006 a cultural week, funded by SASI, was held for San organisations, and there are hopes that a similar event can be organised for 2007. The Ghanzi dance festival held in Botswana in August (see entry onhref='http://www.ipacc.org.za/eng/calendar.asp' target='link'>IPACC's calendar) promises to be a cultural and social highlight for San groups.
Botswana
In November 2007, IPACC Regional Representative, Mr Kabo MOSWEU tragically died in a fire at his home in Shakawe, Botswana. Mosweu was one of the few Khwe San people who had received a university education and was working to strengthen his community's organisations.
The Republic of Botswana appeared strongly opposed to the passage of the UN Declaration during 2007. In January 2007, Botswana attempted to convince the African Union to actively oppose the Declaration, but when the vote came in September, Botswana along with most African states voted in favour of the Declaration. Botswana-watchers are expecting major policy shifts in 2008 when the current President steps down and a new generation of leaders takes over.
Botswana San hosted a highly successful Kuru Dance Festival in D'kar, Ghanzi District in August 2007. The annual event has grown over the years with 1500 guests this year, including the Deputy President, Ian Khama who is likely to be the new President of the Republic in 2008. The event brings together traditional and contemporary San dancers, as well others including Himba people from northern Namibia. The event is a showcase of San culture, talent and traditional culture.
IPACC ran two workshops in August 2007 with the Trust for Okavango Culture and Development Initiative (TOCADI) and the Komku Trust in Shakawe and D'kar respectively. The workshops involved feedback on the 2006 workshop in Tsumkwe Namibia on the certification and formalisation of tracking, as well as an introduction to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Komku and WIMSA Botswana have requested IPACC's support in 2008 to host a major conference on indigenous women, leadership and violence to be held in D'Kar.
Threats and conflicts
Despite the important court victory in 2006, most San people displaced from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve remain in a vulnerable situation. The crisis in the CKGR is a small part of a much more serious land and development crisis for indigenous peoples in Botswana. Tens of thousands of San people are losing their homes and territories as the Government allocates land to dominant ethnic groups to be ‘productive’. Sustainable traditional economic activities of hunting and collecting wild foods are seen as primitive by the Government and hunting has become so regulated that families cannot get licenses and feed themselves. Nationally, land allocations which privilege agro-pastoralists over hunting and fishing peoples has put many other San in vulnerable situations of land loss and displacement.
The Botswana story is complex. In Gabarone, the view is that the government is treating all citizens equally and providing housing, water and schools to remote rural areas. The problem is related to the structure of government where local chiefs, invariably from dominant Bantu groups, represent the whole constituency, effectively leaving the San and minorities without a voice in local government.
HIV / AIDS is a major concern for San communities in Botswana. Whereas cultural and language policies may be anachronistic, the health programme is progressive. The Government of Botswana is moving to make anti-retroviral treatment widely available. The concern of San groups is that these treatments will not be accessible or affordable for them in the remote areas.
Alliances and opportunities
The area where there is mutual interest and increasing dialogue between the government and indigenous peoples is on nature conservation. The San are holders of rich indigenous knowledge about biodiversity, animal behaviour, and the climate. The Government is interested in developing nature conservation and tourism as part of its national development plan. San elders report that the massive displacement of San from their territories means that knowledge of plants, soil, animals and fish is rapidly declining.
Despite the political and economic challenges in Botswana, it has a vibrant indigenous civil society. Rooted in contact with Mission stations, there are now San NGOs and Community Based Organisations (CBOs). The network is united under the umbrella structure of the Kuru Family of Organisations. This includes craft marketing projects, art projects, literacy, bible translation, mother tongue instruction, tourism and other economic development activities, primarly in Ghanzi and Ngamiland Districts. Komku, based in Ghanzi makes outreach into the Kgalagadi District. Letloa, based in Shakawe, is an expert skills organisation that services the network and particularly CBOs in the region.
San organisations in co-operation with the University of Botswana and the University of Tromsø sponsored the Mother Tongue Education for Southern African Minorities conference. The full report by WIMSA is entitled For the Benefit of All. Botswana has resisted acknowledging the ethnic and linguistic diversity of its citizens. Of the over dozen local languages spoken in the Republic, only one, Setswana, may be taught in schools and used in media. According to a 1994 Education policy statement, it is theoretically possible for other languages to be introduced to schools. San peoples are standardising their languages and introducing them into schools but without the support of the Department of Education.
A major initiative in 2005 was the setting up of a GIS map training centre in Shakawe, Ngamiland. Nathaniel Nuulimba and Thlokomelang Ngako, work with local San people to map their territories, and knowledge of wild foods. They will provide GIS mapping support to a number of San projects around the country. The project is supported by the Trust for Okavango Cultural and Development Initiatives (TOCADI) along with foreign partners Open Channels and Strata360.
Botswana High Court ruling reinstates San rights in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve
On 13 December 2006 the High Court in Lobatse ruled that the Botswana government illegally evicted the San people from their ancestral lands in what is now the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).
After the longest and most expensive legal case in Botswana's history a panel of three judges ruled two-to-one that the eviction was unconstitutional and that the San named in the case were entitled to return to their lands.
The Government of Botswana began moving San out of the CKGR and into resettlement villages in 1997 and the San people filed their suit in 2002, when the eviction took full effect.
See IPACC's article on the CKGR case for details of and reactions to the case.
Namibia
Namibia has a reputation of progressive innovations in land tenure. The Conservancy system in Namibia allows communities to manage rural areas as protected areas where they are still allowed to continue traditional economies, including hunting and gathering. Conservancies benefit from tourism, trophy hunting as well as the active participation of local and indigenous peoples in wildlife management.
IPACC's pilot project in Namibia is concerned with helping indigenous peoples engage with the Government over the recognition of the traditional knowledge and competency of tracking. Tracking (identifying tracks of animals, predicting animal behaviour and being able to follow spoor) is a sophisticated skill which traditionally is transmitted from elders to younger people in the course of hunting and gathering. The skill can also be used in tourism, anti-poaching and conservation work.
In 2006, IPACC cooperated with Cybertracker Conservation, WWF Namibia, the Nyae Nyae Conservancy, the N‡a Jaqna Conservancy, Mount Burgess Mining to host a regional workshop on how to assess and certify tracking skills. The workshop was opened by the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of the Environment and Tourism. The report is available from IPACC or downloadable on the website.
San groups in Outjo (Etosha National Park) and West Caprivi (Bwabwata Conservancy) have requested further support to set up their own tracking assessment and training projects.
Threats and conflicts
The Khwe have the ongoing problem that the central government does not recognise them as an ethnic group with representation in government due to the absence of a recognised traditional leader. Both WWF and WIMSA have worked with the Khwe to help promote non-traditional leadership representation which will secure the Khwe a seat at the subregional planning processes, notably on the theme of conservancies and sustainable natural resource use.
Alliances and opportunities
Politically, Namibia is moving ahead faster than its neighbours. Though San are still in a vulnerable and under-represented situation compared to their Bantu-speaking neighbours and the White minority, there are signs of changing attitudes in Windhoek. Notably, the current Deputy President has expressed an interest in the efforts by San communities to create sustainable livelihoods based on environmental management and tourism.
The Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) is both a development agency and a network of San leaders throughout Southern Africa. WIMSA supports San organisations in various aspects of advocacy, including land rights, economic livelihoods, education, language and culture, and intellectual property rights.
WIMSA co-operated with the Evangelische Entwicklungs Diens (EED), a Protestant service organisation in Germany, to produce a guide to indigenous peoples' intellectual property rights. WIMSA worked with the South African San Council and South African San Institute to secure intellectual property rights over the exploitation of hoodia gordonii, a medicinal desert plant from the Kalahari which can be used for weight loss.
WIMSA’s efforts in educational advocacy led to the creation of the South African San Education Forum (SASEF). SASEF in co-operation with the Universities of Botswana and Tromsø hosted the second major conference on education for San learners. The event brought together San from across the region to present case studies on the successes and blockages to mother-tongue education in schools.
Another major player in Namibia is the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF). WWF is supporting capacity building and eco-tourism opportunities linked to traditional and commercial sustainable use of natural resources with San communities in several parts of Namibia. WWF supports the NyaeNyae and N=a Jaqna Conservancies in Tsumkwe East and West respectively. This is linked to further development efforts in Kaudom National Park. WWF is also involved in the Caprivi Strip supporting amongst others Khwe speaking peoples trying to set up conservancies. For more information see WWF's publication on community-based natural resource management (CBNRM).
The Integrated Rural Development and Nature Conservation (IRDNC) is a field-based Namibian NGO that evolved out of a partnership with community leaders in the early 1980s.
WIMSA has been working with Christian NGOs in southern Angola to make contact !Xun and Khwe communities there. Most of these San groups were either killed or driven into exile during the protracted civil war in Angola. With the advent of peace in Angola, there is new hope that these vulnerable groups may have a future. Norwegian Church Aid sponsored support and a fact-finding mission. WIMSA has released a video and booklet on the situation of San in southern Angola.
San activists are working on various strategies to protect their cultures and livelihoods through nature conservancy. There are two San run conservancies in the Tsumkwe are with plans for others in the Caprivi Strip. San activists are asking the Namibian government to give more support to community conservancies, include more financial training and recognition of traditional knowledge and skills, such as advanced tracking skills.
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