Basarwa coalition won't back SI call

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Tuesday December 7, 2010 00:00

 

Last week, the executive director of the Khwedom council Keikobile Mogodu told Mmegi in an interview  that they would not call on the global community to boycott Botswana diamonds, saying that they prefer to engage government on the issue.

The new San organisation launched in July has representation of Basarwa tribes from Chobe to the southern tip of the country and Kgalagadi. Representatives in the committee come from the Chobe/Ngamiland, Gantsi, Jamataka, Nata, Mababe in Chobe, Kweneng and Kgatleng, and the south and Kgalagadi regions.

'SI have their own campaign and their own principles; we also have our own principles, and campaign, which is completely different from theirs (SI); we have not yet taken a stand, and we do not see it (the boycotting of Botswana diamonds) as the right way to go about it; we feel the right way is to continue to engage our government about the issue not only the CKGR issue, but the Basarwa issues in general'.

However, the Khwedon Council is not all happy with the government's handling of the Basarwa situation in the CKGR.

In fact Mogodu says it has been five months since the Khwedom Council last wrote, requesting permission to visit the CKGR to see first hand the Basarwa situation there and make an informed opinion, but government officials are yet to give them the permit.

'First we were told that since we want to be part of the negotiations for the Basarwa issues in the CKGR, there have to be consultations with other stakeholders in the negotiating team; then we were told that a letter was sent to us; but up to now we have not received any letter; we are meeting today (Friday), about the request we made; we will be writing another letter to the government; we suspect that the government thinks we are sponsored by SI and so they are not sure about us,' Mogodu told Mmegi.

Although majority of the Basarwa of the CKGR live in villages of Xere, Kauduane, and New Xhade, it is estimated that about 50 Basarwa reside there. 'We wanted to go there and find out for ourselves the conditions of those people; as well as the exact figure, because the government says there are only 50 people there, but some say there could be as many as 144, the executive director said.