The grand revival of Bok's pits

CHIPPA LEGODIMO
Staff Writer | Friday March 15, 2013 00:00

 

The first settlers of the area were mostly Afrikaans speakers of Khoi/Boer descent.  Migrating principally from South Africa and Namibia, these 'Great Trekkers' arrived in Botswana somewhere between 1912 and 1913.Unbeknown to them, their source of water would later become a part of their personal and geographical identity.Another group of people is said to have arrived from Gemsbok and Mabuasehuba national parks.   In 1938, the parks were incorporated to form the TransFrontier Park after indigenous people were driven out by British colonisers and apartheid masters in South Africa.

Bitter memories of this dark history are still harboured by some members of this community; they claim their eviction to pave way for wildlife and tourism activities, was inhumane and a flagrant violation of their fundamental human rights. Upon arrival at Bokspits, the first small group of settlers did not find any water. Searching for water in their newfound land, a group of men using an intriguingly simple method where a straight wire is placed on each arm to determine the direction of the water channel soon identified an area with underground water.Thus within days a 35-metre deep well was excavated for the community to use.  There are conflicting theories about whose well it was, with the most popular being that it belonged to one Bok, thus it was named after him and the village deriving its name from the same, hence Bokspits.

According to an 85-year-old resident of this Afrikaner speaking community Moses van Niel who claimed that his own father Piet van Niel was part of the expedition, the theory that the well belonged or was dug by Bok alone was untrue.'The Bechuanaland Protectorate official who was responsible for this area chose a certain captain Bok Jan to supervise the group that dug this well hence it was named after him,' he told Art & Culture through an interpreter.'I was not yet born but my parents told me that the well was dug by my father Peit, Pinaar, Matthys and Jacobs and were later joined by other members of the community,' van Niel said.

For many years the community in this area has relied on water from Bok's pits for survival until the Kgalagadi District Council supplied them with tap water later in the '80s.Perhaps the new development made them lose touch with their history, as the well would later be neglected.  As time went by the fine sand of the Kgalagadi filled the hole to a level where the water dried up.'Somehow we neglected our fathers' legacy ignoring their struggles and the fact that this village owes its existence to this well, and I believe government should preserve it as one of our monuments,' van Niel told Arts & Culture.But as fate would have it last year, the villagers most of whom are small stock farmers were reminded of their history.  The benefactors of government's Livestock Management and Infrastructure Development (LIMID) programme found themselves with no water to feed their animals after the authorities stopped them from using potable water for that purpose.

The idea of reviving the well cropped up and a group of 13 men led by David Matthys started removing the soil from the well. The group needed experienced individuals if the exercise was to become a success and as the pit is narrow only a single person could go in at a time. Hendrik Bok, having a wealth of experience in digging such wells, was the first person to take that gamble and while they had fear that dangerous snakes might have found new homes in the well after many years of neglect, 56-year-old Bok only found an owl in the pit. The seemingly 'hopeless' operation started on February 4 this year and within four days the group sighed with relief at the first signs of water. More water filled the well and the village now has a good source of water for their livestock. The diggers, however, are not yet convinced that they have reached the end of the pit.

'We need a generator to pump water out so that we can go deeper and unblock the other channels which carry more water,' Matthys said.The village chief Serai Esterhuizen has promised to engage authorities to help the group.'I really respect them for their commitment to ensuring that they follow in the spirit of self-reliance of our fathers.   It is gratifying that they revisited history when things got tough because our past often determines our destiny,' Esterhuizen said philosophically.