Bullying Basarwa is no big deal in Botswana

kealeboga Dihutso | Thursday June 27, 2013 00:00

 

The government would like you to believe that this was an out-of-court settlement and there is really no issue here seeing as they agree in principle and they were not really forcing anyone out.  Do not believe any of it. The government for whatever reason does not want Basarwa there and whether we can believe their reasons or not is a story for another day.  What is the real story is the silence of the so-called liberal forces in Botswana.

The silence of NGOs has been embarrassing to say the least.  Other than a release from Ditshwanelo Centre for Human rights, civil society Churches and indeed political parties have been very quiet on the issue of Basarwa. This is a concern. It is not a concern so much because people are being made to leave their homes, that appears to be the mantra of this government so we have come to accept that this government is hell-bent on making as many of Batswana homeless as possible as evidenced by the demolition of homesteads around the country.

It is because Basarwa are among the most vulnerable people in this country.  This area appears to cause no amount of distress to Batswana.  We appear unwilling to accept that by and large we do discriminate against Basarwa. Even other minority groups in Botswana look down on Basarwa. The silence on the government's latest bullying of Basarwa should therefore not come as a surprise; after all it is business as usual.

Bullying Basarwa is no big deal here in Botswana as it is something we all do.  Generally bad manners in this country are referred to as 'sesarwa'. 

The general persecution of Basarwa as such is viewed as a very normal thing hence the silence of the very groups that claim to stand for all that is good.  This is a country that got some South Africans arrested for suggesting that the country's President looked like a Mosarwa. As a nation we react violently to the idea that we discriminate against Basarwa.

The idea that they are being moved is often dismissed as a non issue as 'they are Batswana' and deserves no special treatment. This is dishonest. Basarwa are not 'just like other Batswana' they are a special group with a special approach required to deal with them.A one size fits all Batswana and therefore Basarwa approach is not ideal. It perpetuates the unfair treatment on them. The argument that some of them moved 'voluntarily' is disingenuous, a people who  were brought up as second class citizens, taught to be fearful of authority cannot be seen to be volunteering for anything. 

So long as they are being asked to do something by someone in authority, they cannot be expected to act with some independence. It is an alien concept as they have been beaten down over the years.

It is on this basis that the government's story that some people moved voluntarily should be dismissed. The issue of how this country treats Basarwa will forever remain a blot on Botswana's so called exemplary human rights record human rights.  Botswana will one day like the US and Australia be forced to apologise for the ill-treatment of Basarwa. 

For all their talk of civil liberties in Botswana opposition parties have been strangely quiet on this matter.This is made all the more glaring by the fact that one of the opposition parties has a known Basarwa rights activist Roy Sesana as a member is he just a token to be peddled around so they can claim to be sensitive to Basarwa rights.

Indeed the BMD, for that is the party, has all the more reason, more than any other organisation in this country to hang its head in shame in their failure to at least show some modicum of outrage.The silence of the opposition parties indeed shows that for Basarwa, a change of government will not mean a change for their lot. The business of persecution will continue as always.  Can the future be any bleaker for Basarwa than this?  Which other group in Botswana can say they face similar dire straits? For more blogs visit www.mmegi.bw/blogs