The Attorney General, who represents government in the matter, is the respondent. Basarwa, who are the applicants, are returning to court for the third time. In the first, in 2006, they won the right to return to their ancestral land. In the second, in 2011, they won the right to drill their own water boreholes after government attempted to stop them doing so.
They are returning now because government continues to disregard the 2006 ruling and requires Basarwa to apply for special permits to enter their own land. But their lawyer, Bennet, was put on a 'visa list' after he successfully prevented the eviction of the Basarwa community of Ranyane in court in June.The last time we checked, Botswana had three branches of government - the Executive, the Legislature and the Judiciary. Presumably, these structures were meant to ensure a system of checks and balances in accordance with democratic best practices.
