Basarwa launch appeal over right to water

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.