Last Updated on August 3, 2018
The Nharo-San People are about to be evicted from their lands in the Kgalagadi District of Botswana. It is believed that the eviction will take place sometime tomorrow (July 1st, 2011). However, the San, who are also known as the “Kalahari Bushmen,” have vowed to resist the eviction, saying they will have to be dragged from their homes ‘kicking and screaming.
BY SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL
Nharo Bushmen in south-west Botswana will be forcefully evicted from their land tomorrow, according to national newspaper The Voice.
The Bushmen have vowed to resist eviction from their homes in Xanagas, Kgalagadi District.
One local resident, Xase Tuxwa, was born in Xanagas in 1937. He told reporters, ‘We were born and raised in Xanagas, but farmers come and erect fences around our homesteads, and then we are ordered to move out.’
Fears were sparked after Permanent Secretary to the President, Eric Molale bought land on a neighboring farm; the eviction notice followed shortly after.
Molale is listed as director of Debswana diamond company, a joint venture between the Botswana government and De Beers, and the largest diamond producer in the world.
In 2002, Kalahari Bushmen were violently forced off their land in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve. At the same time, Molale was serving as permanent secretary to the Ministry of Local Government.
Pelaelo Lucas, a resident at Xanagas, said, ‘Ever since the arrival of this Molale gentleman… on the Xanagas farming scene, our lives have been hell.
‘Our children are forced to board at the primary school on the land, and we are expected to leave them in the care of government officials at the farm when we get evicted.’
Molale has refused comment.
There’s still some time left to speak up for the San! Just head over to Survival’s website and write a personal message to Botswana’s President, urging him to prevent the eviction. Visit http://www.survivalinternational.org/actnow/writealetter/bushmen
Alternatively, you can sent an email to President Ian Khama at op.registry@gov.bw
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