By Virginia Muwanigwa – SANF 04 no 34
Southern African countries home to the San have been challenged to address the latter’s concerns to reduce social exclusion.
Statistics provided by the Working Group on Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA), a regional organization working with San, reveal that there are at least 100,000 of this ethic group in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The largest group, 46,000, is found in Botswana followed by 38,000 in Namibia, 6,500 in South Africa and 3,400 in Angola. Zambia and Zimbabwe are home to at least 3,500.
In all countries, the San are conspicuous in that they exist on the fringes of mainstream society, “with a history of discrimination, poverty, social exclusion, erosion of cultural identity and denial of rights as a group.”
Some continue to hunt and gather part time, while most others work for low wages on farms. Rising HIV and AIDS rates, shifts in health, fertility and mortality patterns, sedentary lives and inadequate access to education, social organization and local-level development are other challenges.
These challenges have motivated the San towards political mobilization. As members of various local, national and regional organisations, the San have been able to overcome many obstacles in an effort to retain their languages, cultures, and religious beliefs.
The South African San Council acts as that country’s chapter of WIMSA and it has committees on development, heritage, finance and media. One long-term WIMSA aim is to put in place national San councils and eventually a regional San council to oversee development of this minority group. To date only the South African San Council has been established.
The council calls for interventions to be made by African governments, the international public and human rights bodies to bring about: security of land tenure for indigenous peoples in Africa; an improvement of basic services to indigenous communities in Africa; and sensitisation of mainstream African populations to the equality of all citizens and the right of all indigenous African peoples to develop themselves and to determine their own pace and forms of development.
Some progress towards recognising the rights of the San has been made in South Africa in recent years, through negotiated settlement and court action. In 1999, South Africa restored land rights and benefits to the Khomani San in the Kalahari Gemsbok Park.
In October last year, 3,000 Nama people from the Richtersveld area in the Northern Cape Province also won a case involving a diamond company. The Constitutional Court ruled that indigenous people have land and mineral rights over their territory, and laws that dispossess them amount to racial discrimination. Recognition of rights has however not been easy for San residing in Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
A significant concern of Namibian San residing in north-eastern Namibia over the past several years was the possibility of the establishment of a large refugee resettlement facility with as many as 21,000 refugees in the Tsumkwe District West where some of the San reside. This however fell off with the advent of peace in Angola.
Botswana has for several years now been trying to shake off accusations that its removal of San, called Basarwa in the country, from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) was prompted not so much by the government’s wish to develop their lives than to enable prospecting for diamonds.
The resettlement of an estimated 2,500 CKGR residents, has attracted local and international protest over the rights of the indigenous people, threatening to tarnish the image of Botswana, one of Africa’s longest-running democracies.
Botswana questions the dubbing of some people more indigenous than others, arguing that “every Motswana, not just Basarwa, is indigenous to Botswana.” It has thus refused to sign an International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention on the rights of indigenous people.
WIMSA says the San of Angola were seriously affected by the drawn out conflicts in the country. Some San moved across the border as refugees into Zambia and Namibia, while a few went to Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo. A needs assessment survey commissioned by WIMSA in partnership with a local organisation, the Christian Organisation Supporting Community Development (OCADEC) found that the San in Angola “require focussed interventions aimed at ensuring their survival and protecting their human rights.”
The survey aimed at determining the location, conditions and needs of the San in Angola to inform assistance and development planning. Access to food, health, education and other basic services were found to be among some of the challenges.
“San communities throughout southern Angola experience social exclusion, discrimination and economic exploitation… human rights are routinely disrespected and violated,” states the report.
In the words of SADC Executive Secretary, Prega Ramsamy, “It certainly has now become more than evident that our joint efforts to tackle common concerns and threats such as global marginalisation, insecurity, social deprivation and exclusion, will only bear fruits if all the key stakeholders are fully involved in various developmental endeavours.” (SARDC)
