Battling for space on the master�s land

Nnasaretha Kgamanyane | Monday March 3, 2014 15:27

There is an ongoing case at the Customary Court of Appeal in which Galebowe is fighting tooth and nail to win property right on land and he has grown to be no different from the animals he herded; he was owned by another man.

Galebowe is one of the many Basarwa who were born into servitude. His family lived under the shadow of his masters, the late Gaesejwe Bile and her husband Tlhase Bile and their offspring.  His mother was also born as a servant in 1925; in fact his relatives who died while in servitude are buried here at the Bile lands, where he most probably hopes to be buried when his time comes.

Now 59 years-old, Galebowe looks old beyond his age.  He is a third generation servant of the Bile family where he continues to bear children who also live cyclic life of servitude.

With no land to call his own Galebowe has settled on his master’s land, and has built his own shacks. But he could soon be relegated into the wild, literally. There is a court battle handled the traditional way in which the descendants of his masters now want to kick him off the plot, arguing that he is a squatter.

Besides working in the Bile family for most of his productive years, along with six siblings, Galebowe also worked as a cattle herder, before coming back to the family that has owned his forefathers.

Should the Court of Appeal rule against Galebowe, he may have to wander into the forest as a hunter-gatherer, and a life-style he has also not been accustomed to since childhood. 

With no education, Galebowe has been living the primitive life of a farmer who tills the land to feed his children; who are also not going to school.

Even though he seemed unsure of where his grandparents originated from, Galebowe gathers from oral tradition that his descendants came from Khudumelajwe.  Growing up in servitude, his mother followed in her parents’ footsteps. Unfortunately for her she was not married so she had to live with her parents but still bring up her children.

Born in 1955, Galebowe has never known his other relatives. He said that the only people he has known all his life are his master’s family and Mosinki Lands residents. He said that when he grew up, his parents lived with another San woman who was also a slave.

Galebowe thought he inherited a portion of the lands when his masters allowed him to till the land to take care of his new family. However, trouble started in 2006 after his master died, and the descendants of the master appeared and claimed the land; starting an eviction process through the traditional customary courts.

The Mosarwa man is not taking the fight lying down. He won the first few rounds, before his challenger registered the matter with the Customary Court of Appeal.

The long court process has so far thwarted Galebowe’s attempts to register the portion of land his former masters left him. The landboard authorities have told him that he cannot register the land until the courts have determined the case. And the case could even drag further and further, as one could still appeal at the high Court and the Court of Appeal, before the matter could be settled for good.

For Galebowe, the portion of land he has been living and tilling has also become a sentimental piece. All his relatives, including siblings, parents, and grandparents are buried here.

His concern has shifted from the desire to inherit the land of the masters who enslaved them for almost a century, to a moral reason; to be closer to his people, his ancestors.

Galebowe lives a ruined life, of no property, and is in a cycle of poverty that has also engulfed his children.

Perhaps the fight will end in his favour. His children might have something they call their own for the first time; a portion of land, fought for by their uneducated servant father, the land where their great grand parents lived as something between a servant and a slave.