Basarwa launch appeal over right to water

| Friday September 3, 2010 00:00

 

In July, Justice Walia dismissed the Basarwa's application for permission to use a well on their lands inside the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, expressing sympathy for the government's position that 'having chosen to settle at an uncomfortably distant location, [the Basarwa] have brought upon themselves any discomfort they may endure.'

The ruling came a week before the UN formally recognised water as a fundamental human right. It has also been condemned by the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Africa's key human rights body, for denying the 'right to life' enshrined in the African Charter.

In 2002, the Basarwa were evicted from their lands by the Botswana government; a move declared by the High Court as illegal and unconstitutional. However, despite the ruling, the government continues to prevent Basarwa from returning home by banning them from accessing a well which they rely on for water. Without it, they are forced to make arduous journeys to fetch water from outside their reserve. The Basarwa launched legal proceedings in a bid to gain access to the well, which the government sealed and capped during the 2002 evictions. Even though the Basarwa have said they will raise the funds required to operate the well, the government claims that they need permission to do so and has refused to give it.

At the same time, the government has created new wells for wildlife in the reserve, allowed the opening of a Wilderness Safaris tourist lodge with swimming pool on Basarwa land, and is due to give the go ahead for a diamond mine at one of the Basarwa communities.

Botswana's president, Ian Khama, who sits on the board of Conservation International, has described the Basarwa's way of life as 'an archaic fantasy'.

Recently Xoroxloo Duxee died of dehydration after the Basarwa' s water borehole was disabled.

Basarwa spokesman, Jumanda Gakelebone, said, 'Like all human beings, we can't live without water. We, the Basarwa, are appealing for our basic human right, and the world is watching'.  Survival (c)