Govt Confirms Nationality Of Basarwa Group

By Nomsa Ndlovu
Correspondent | Monday March 12, 2007 00:00

 As a result, they will be re-issued with identity cards that were confiscated on suspicion that they were Namibians. She said the government team that investigated the issue, sat down with four elderly people in the group to get the history of the tribe. 'That is when we discovered that indeed they were Batswana. Additional support to their statements was their ruins that were found at Tsidzi settlement, a place close to Seshokora,' said Malala. Seshokora settlement is 10km south of the Namibian border. The Gudigwa Basarwa belong to BaBokakhwe tribe.

Malala explained that before the Botswana-Namibia boundary was set, the BaBokakhwe used to cross to Namibia in search of jobs and other means of survival.

During the liberation war in Namibia, most of them were recruited into the army where they served until the end. However in 1989, the Botswana government issued directive that all Batswana in Namibia should return home. Most of them came back through the gazetted points but the BaBokakhwe group used their old routes. They settled at Tsidzi but later moved to Gudigwa to benefit from the Remote Area Development (RAD) programme and other social services from government. On arrival at Gudigwa, they were identified by other people and the chief of the village assisted the four elderly people to obtain their Omang and benefits from the programmes. But later, immigration officers in the company of the police and soldiers went to the settlement and repossessed the Omangs (identity cards).

The Gudigwa Basarwa tribe moved out of their village because of hunger and other basic needs after their identity cards were repossessed. Without the identity cards, they could not benefit from the government destitute programmes. They have since been surviving on roots, tree barks and wild fruits.

Fifty-five adults and 11 minors were found at Seshokora out of which 22 were found in possession of Omang. Councillor Olatotswe Sarefo of Gudigwa, a Bokakhwe by tribe said the Basarwa who left Gudigwa stayed at a cattle post of one Aretoko Dubu from Ngarange where some of them worked as cattle herders in return for milk.

'Our fathers testify that they have long known these people. Before they came to Gudigwa, they used to lead a nomadic life from Muvumbi, Ndebere, Seshokora and Tsidzi settlement. All these places are in Botswana,' he said.