The pain of losing our tribal lands

SHERIDAN GRISWOLD | Friday April 16, 2010 00:00

Tears for My Land: A Social History of the Kua of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), Tc'amnpoo is an amazing book. It is a welcome voice from within the CKGR and beyond. Kuela Kiema was born there sometime between 1966 and 1969, a Kua (not a Bushman, San, Khoisan or Mosarwa). 'Our oppression comes in different forms and one of these is what we are called'.  The CKGR is Tc'amnpoo to the people who live there. There are actually six Kua language groups who have lived from time immemorial in Tc'amnpoo - 'Our Land'. They were relocated to New Xade and Kaudwane between 1997 and 2002, and only a few have returned to live inside the reserve following the 206 High Court decision that entitled them to return home.

'Mistakes are made because many people, including researchers, do not realise that we identify ourselves differently according to whom we are speaking. If I meet a Tswana or Bantu I say I am a Moswara, but if I meet a Naro or any other of my people, I refer to myself as Dcuikhoe. When speaking Setswana I call myself a Mosarwa, but when speaking English, I use the term Bushman or San' (page 14). Kwela goes on to list nine San languages that represent distinct cultures and groups of Kua (other researchers have listed up to 16). That the Kua are a diverse group of people becomes negated when others think of them only as Basarwa - an imposed term that is resented - as is the label 'nomads'.

 Tears for My Land is divided into four parts. All are remarkable, but most impressive is the Prologue - don't skip it. It is March 1998 and Kuela Kiema is returning to Molepolole College of Education (MCE) for a break from his teaching practice at Mahupu CJSS in Takatokwane. He gets a lift from a young woman travelling with her grandfather. The old man interrogates Kuela in the most remarkable ways, challenging all his preconceptions and the attitudes he has acquired. Kuela is shocked into silence. 'Our government did not spend a single penny developing my own language. At school I had not been taught to write my language. I could not listen to a radio news bulletin in my own language. I had not learnt about my own history at school. Our tribal territories were not respected. At school we learned about Setswana chiefs and their taboos and totems ... about Setswana marriage customs. No one from our tribe was in the House of Chiefs to advise parliament on matters affecting our traditions. Tears rolled down my face because I had no other country to call my own, and I was suffering here in the country of my birth.' (page 19).

To introduce 'My People' Kuela tells two stories from his oral traditions. The first is about Hann!abo who tricked Amandebele warriors nearly two hundred years ago. The second is how an old woman dealt with a raiding party who were about to destroy a small hamlet and all within. Then the author traces his family tree and what it meant to live in Tc'amnpoo. His love of music developed spontaneously as he grew up among his people, the Dcuikhoe. His father was a great violinist, a master of the Segaba (xai).

His mother was also an accomplished musician on the women's guitar and mouth bow. His father's younger brother, small father, taught him how to play the Setinkane, the thumb piano, which has become Kwela's beloved instrument.  Kuela's personal path through formal education reflects the challenges and difficulties faced by many other marginalized peoples, except he became one of the rare few to complete senor secondary schools and then to go on to a tertiary institution.

Overall, it was not an easy road. He became disturbed when different relatives living in Tc'amnpoo suffered abuse and one was murdered (the early extra-judicial killings that still go unacknowledged and unaccounted for). This contributed to his youthful conviction that they might live better outside the CKGR.

'When we were relocated, I had a part in this relocation, which I will describe honestly'. As a Tirelo Setshaba participant (TSP) he was fortunate to spend a year working with Mambo Arts Commune in Gabane. Before he started at MCE he worked during his 'gap' at Gantsi Craft. Many people helped him along the way and they are honoured.

One was the late Ezra Molefe, Head of the Music Department at MCE and Deputy Principal, who helped change his future by allowing him to change his programme of study to music.  In 1999, instead of joining a school and teaching, Kuela followed a new route, introduced to him first in 1997. He met at the Botswana Music Camp held in Kanye, Mieke Vanderpost, then director of the Kuru Cultural Centre (KCC) at D'Kar.

 Kuela joined the centre and in 2000 became the deputy director. He has made many trips outside Botswana: to Germany to play; to Troms¯ as part of their programmes; to complete a Bachelor's Degree at the University of Namibia; and many other musical events overseas. He is now director of KCC.

 Hunters and gathers worldwide have shared a common destiny of invasion and land alienation, as their 'territories have been taken over by invading groups'. This realisation of patterns is both enlightening and empowering. In the next parts of this book Kuela explores in detail the development of resistance, the impact of colonialism, independence and the history of land expropriations from his perspective. These include the right to hunt, various deceptions used to destroy his people, the significance of mining, the remote area non-development experiences in so-called RADS (Remote Area Development Settlements), how the promise and vision have been corrupted. He became involved in the Botswana National Front (BNF), but felt betrayed by their subtle racism against the Kua.

Kuela treats the emerging forces that achieved public awareness first at a Botswana Society seminar at the Gaborone Sun in 1992. Komtsha Komtsha spoke and the late John Hardbattle translated. He covers the formation and rise of the First People of the Kalahari (FPK), the role of other NGOs, the work of Ditshwanelo, and the formation of WIMSA. He then blesses the work of UBTroms¯ and Sidsel Saugestad. He observes on the struggles, 'In the pursuit of material wealth, the elites have forgotten the grass roots and neglected the reason why the organisations were originally formed, and their economic interest is now over-riding attempts to find social justice' (page 105). Part Two concludes with a review of the High Court case, its aftermath, and the issue of so-called 'assimilation'.

If we are 'denied the right to acquire, own and use residential and commercial plots of land where those to be assimilated live [to whose standard, Washington? Sussex? Hong Kong?], what exactly does the government expect the process of assimilation to entail?' (page 118). 

The Third Part considers 'The Myth of Development' and then examines what life is like today at New Xade, a place now characterised by many social problems that have intensified, many that did not exist previously, including new forms of violence, increasing rates of school dropout, unemployment, alcoholism, poverty and crime (and as compared to old Xade where they were moved from). 'We want the government to scrap the Economic Promotion Fund and RADP programme that has seen us spiral down into abject poverty' (page 148).

In the Fourth Part, and final chapter, Kuela expresses his pain, shared by many others, of losing their tribal lands. We commend him for this book and his frank and honest revelations. It should become standard reading in senior secondary schools and elsewhere. We look forward to more such publications from UBTroms¯.  The book will be launched on April 19 at 5:30 pm at the University of Botswana (UB).  E-mail: sheridangriswold@yahoo.com