Sesana and Jumanta Gakelebone are presently in Norway to meet the Saami community, an indigenous Norwegian people who attended the Basarwa case in New Xade. Sesana and Gakelebone left for the United States in late August for a publicity and fund-raising campaign. They then proceeded to the United Kingdom.
Their High Court case, in which the Basarwa are protesting their removal from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, was postponed in July when the tribe ran out of funds. When the case resumes in Lobatse, Basarwa witnesses will continue to give evidence. Government witnesses will then get the chance to testify, after which lawyers from both sides will address the court on points of law. The case is set to be a long one, as it involves a lot of interpretation and several witnesses, both experts and lay people. In the USA, the two Basarwa representatives visited the United Nations and Hollywood and met lawmakers and celebrities. They also addressed a press conference. In the UK they held a demonstration at the Botswana High Commission and the De Beers diamond shop.
It has not been possible to determine how much money Sesana and Gakelebone have raised to date.
Some of the media houses that featured Basarwa in their news are The Star (South Africa), Mail and Guardian (South Africa), Reuters, The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times (USA), Chinese News Agency, Turkish News, and The Daily Telegraph (UK).
The Socialist Worker, a UK leftist newspaper, asked the British people to support Basarwa. “We want people to protest. Allow the Bushmen to return to their lands.”
Reuters reported that: “The Bushmen are descended from the earliest inhabitants of Southern Africa but have been driven from most of their original territory by black pastoral tribes like the present rulers of Botswana, and white settlers.” Reuters also said they were “ousted from their traditional lands.”
The Los Angeles Times quoted a crying Sesana speaking of eviction of Basarwa from their ancestral land. The Southern African Press Agency (SAPA) quotes Survival International saying: “Mining work had already begun in Gope but the installations were dismantled after the Bushmen filed their case”.
A US-based journalist supporting Basarwa is quoted by The Associated Press as calling Basarwa relocation “cultural genocide”. He called Basarwa “our common ancestors” and said, “If we lose them, the cost is immeasurable”.
De Beers, on the other hand, is quoted by SAPA as denying the link between diamonds and the relocation of Basarwa. “De Beers as a company respects the land rights of peoples wherever it operates. However, there is absolutely no connection between the resettlement policies of the Botswana government and diamond mining and prospecting in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve,” a company spokesperson said.
In the US, John Moreti of the Botswana Embassy, asked Sesana: “My question is, how many Basarwa does Roy represent. I think he represents one percent.”
Sesana said he represents them all.
