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 The entourage is to be joined by two journalists from Botswana - The Voice publisher Beata Kasale and her colleague Archie Mokoka. Isaacson disclosed that the journalists are to act as translators and media liaison officers for the Basarwa. He told Mmegi that the Basarwa were in the US to raise awareness about “their situation” and seek solidarity for themselves. “They have not received support in Botswana and they have decided to look outward,” said Isaacson, who has spent a lot of time in South Africa, where he tracing part of his ancestry.
The visit comes against the background of a pending court case, which was postponed by the High Court towards the end of July this year. In the case, Sesana and 242 other Basarwa are challenging their relocation from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the termination of social services to the place. The Basarwa legal team pleaded with the court to adjourn the case for lack of funds. The case resumes on November 3 in Lobatse. Although Isaacson did not categorically say that Sesana and company were in the US to raise funds for the case, it is strongly believed that this is the main reason for the trip. All Isaacson could disclose was that it was up to Sesana and his colleagues to decide how they intend to spend the money for the trip. In the US, the Basarwa entourage will visit the South West, Washington and New York. They will attend a fund raising event organised by Amnesty International in Hollywood. “Roy Sesana and Jumanda Gakelebone will attend an event in Beverly Hills on August 27, hosted by singer-songwriter Jackson Browne, to raise awareness of the Botswana government’s eviction of their people from their ancestral land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. They will discuss their concern that they have been evicted to make way for future diamond mining. The USA is the largest market for Botswana diamonds,” adds a press release from Survival International, the NGO that has been backing Basarwa. However, in an interview with Mmegi from London yesterday, Survival’s Research Assistant Miriam Ross said that her organisation had not organised the visit. This was confirmed by Isaacson, who said the idea of the visit was hatched by a Mosarwa in South Africa, Dawid Kruiper. He said were it not for ill health, Kruiper, a traditional leader of the Xhomani San, would have also joined the trip.
While in the US, the Basarwa will meet the Red Indians who live in the South West. They will meet the African American community, the Black Caucus and some officials of the United Nations. They are also scheduled to attend a week long cultural ceremony outside Los Angeles, where they will convene with medicinemen, healers and elders. In between, they will speak to the media from television, radio and newspapers. At the end of September, they will proceed to Britain.
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