US embassy cable - 05GABORONE913

UNCLAS  GABORONE 000913 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
AF/S FOR MALONEY 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PGOV, PREL, BC, SAN/CKGR Relocation 
SUBJECT: CKGR COURT CASE ADJOURNS, PROBLEMS FOR SAN 
CONTINUE 
 
REF (A) GABORONE 666 REF (B) GABORONE 738 
 
1. (SBU)  Summary:  On June 16, hearings in the case of 
the First People of the Kalahari against the Government 
of Botswana adjourned until August 3.  As the legal 
process drags on, residents of the relocation settlements 
continue to face grim circumstances.  Hearings by a 
mission of the African Commission on Indigenous People 
and Human Rights turned up fresh allegations of torture 
by government officials.  Sensitive to the increasing 
international attention to this issue, civil servants in 
the settlements are reluctant to speak to outsiders. 
Some San groups are working on long-term strategies to 
eliminate poverty and marginalization of the San through 
education and advocacy.  Mission will investigate and 
report on allegations of torture and explore 
opportunities to support efforts to protect the rights 
and improve the situation of the San in Botswana.  End 
Summary. 
 
COURT CASE DRAGS ON 
 
2. (U)  On June 16, hearings in the court case in which 
First People of the Kalahari has challenged the 
constitutionality of the GOB's policy to relocate former 
residents of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) 
were adjourned until August 3.  Earlier that week, lead 
state counsel Sidney Pilane persuaded the judges that a 
trip to Gope, located inside the CKGR, was necessary to 
demonstrate that no preparations were underway to begin 
diamond mining there.  Gordon Bennet, attorney for FPK, 
argued to no avail that no one had suggested that such 
work had begun.  This site visit will further prolong the 
litigation, which is the apparent strategy the GOB 
employs to exhaust the resources of FPK (Ref A).  When 
hearings resume on August 3, the court will continue to 
hear evidence from state witnesses. 
 
NEW ALLEGATIONS OF TORTURE 
 
3. (U)  A delegation from the African Commission on 
Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights has been in Botswana 
the past week investigating allegations of human rights 
violations against the San.  While meeting with the 
residents of the relocation settlement Kaudwane on June 
18, the group heard fresh allegations of torture at the 
hands of government officials.  Jumanda Gakalebone of 
First People of the Kalahari told PolOff on June 21 that 
four residents of Kaudwane had been tortured by scouts of 
the Department of Wildlife and National Parks who 
suspected them of poaching.  Program Administrator of the 
Basarwa Research Project at the University of Botswana 
Mr. Molefe, who coordinated the delegation's trip to 
Kaudwane, confirmed this report.  When the victims 
attempted to register a complaint with the local police, 
the officers refused to do so saying that the matter was 
too big for them and telling them to travel to 
Letlhakane, two hours away by car, to file a report. 
Neither Gakalebone nor Molefe could provide names or 
dates but both said victims had been severely injured and 
some were urinating blood as a result.  Mission will 
further investigate these allegations and report results 
septel. 
 
SITUATION GRIM IN SETTLEMENTS 
 
4. (U)  Meanwhile, the residents of New Xade, to which 
many former CKGR residents were relocated in 2002 after 
the GOB terminated the provision of services within the 
Reserve, continue to face grim circumstances.  The 
Government has provided a large clinic and a primary 
school and, through its contributions to a local NGO, is 
funding the construction of some houses and pit latrines. 
Employment opportunities, however, are virtually nil, 
meaning that most depend on destitute rations, which 
include a food allowance and P61 (approximately USD 12) 
each month.  As two New Xade residents observed to PolOff 
on June 21, this income primarily goes to the numerous 
bars in this village of 2,000 or to clothing vendors who 
truck in garments from Ghanzi township and sell them at a 
mark up of as much as 600 percent. 
 
POOR POLICYMAKING AT DISTRICT LEVEL 
 
5. (SBU)  The Ghanzi District Council, the local 
government body with jurisdiction over Ghanzi township, 
New Xade, and several other settlements in western 
 
 
Botswana where San are most numerous, appears to be 
obstructing development in remote areas as much as 
facilitating it.  According to Ditshwanelo Makwati, 
Executive Director of the local development NGO 
Permaculture Trust and member of the Ghanzi District 
Development Committee, the Committee recently vetoed two 
proposed projects that would have created employment in 
some remote areas.  Committee members rejected the 
initiatives, Makwati reported, because they feared that 
the projects might reduce the number of tourists 
travelling to Ghanzi township.  Yet District Officer for 
Administration Mr. Mochanang told PolOff on June 22 that 
the local authorities are struggling to deal with the 
influx of squatters from remote areas to Ghanzi township, 
which is exacerbated by the policy of reserving 
development funds exclusively for Ghanzi township. 
 
6. (U)  The decision on where to locate some remote area 
settlements was equally frustrating to some San and those 
who work with them.  Roughly ten years ago, the GOB 
decided to encourage residents of D'kar and Kuke 
villages, which are located on farms in Ghanzi District, 
to move to a settlement it created called Qabo.  Whereas 
D'Kar and Kuke were both located adjacent to a major 
highway and only about 30 minutes by car from Ghanzi 
township, Qabo was 80 kilometers west of this highway 
into the bush.  Although the road connecting Qabo to the 
highway was improved earlier this year, transportation 
remains a problem since very few vehicles travel to Qabo. 
Almost no residents of the settlement own a vehicle so 
most hitch a ride in the car belonging to the government 
clinic when it goes to Ghanzi, usually once a day.  When 
residents first arrived in Qabo, they lost much of their 
livestock before discovering that a poisonous plant grows 
in abundance in that area.  Since then the GOB fenced in 
a field to prevent livestock provided to some residents 
by the Government from eating the plants and dying. 
 
CIVIL SERVANTS TIGHT LIPPED 
 
7. (SBU)  While visiting Qabo and New Xade on June 21, 
PolOff encountered considerable reluctance among some 
civil servants to talk to outsiders without a letter from 
the local or central government granting permission to do 
so.  They could "get in trouble" for talking to someone 
without prior clearance, they said.  On a trip to the 
same area in December 2004, PolOff was not informed that 
such requirement for a letter existed.  (Comment:  The 
Ambassador did obtain the concurrence of the Office of 
the President for previous visits to the area.  End 
Comment).  The Executive Director of the Working Group 
for Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA) 
Botswana Mr. Matambo told PolOff on June 22 that in 
response to recent press attention to the circumstances 
facing the San, the local authorities had developed a 
procedure to control the flow of information out of the 
settlements.  This mechanism required a visitor to obtain 
permission from the local government before asking 
questions. 
 
8. (SBU)  When queried by PolOff, Ghanzi District Officer 
for Administration Mr. Mochanang denied that any 
regulation of this type had been established.  He 
conceded, however, that apprehension over the publicity 
surrounding the San relocation issue likely accounted for 
their reticence.  The fact that four individuals in two 
villages some three hours distant by car gave PolOff the 
same report indicated that the local authorities had 
issued some type of instruction, formal or informal, 
warning government employees against sharing information 
with outsiders. 
 
DELEGATION INVESTIGATES ALLEGED HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS 
 
9. (SBU)  This reluctance to divulge information nearly 
upset the work of the delegation from the African 
Commission on Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights.  After 
visiting the relocation settlement of Kaudwane on June 
19, the three-person team tried to consult with residents 
of New Xade on June 21.  Despite letters from the Office 
of the President and WIMSA informing him of this program, 
the chief in New Xade was not present in the settlement 
on June 21.  In his absence and without any relevant 
instructions from him, local officials refused to let the 
African Commission group hold a town meeting to consult 
with residents in the absence of Government employees. 
After contacting the Office of the President, the 
 
 
delegation returned to New Xade on June 22.  This episode 
reinforced the perception that the some local officials, 
including traditional leaders, were attempting to 
restrict the flow of information out of the settlements. 
 
WAYS FORWARD: EDUCATION AND ADVOCACY 
 
10. (SBU)  Kuru Development Trust, a development NGO 
working with San, and WIMSA are exploring possibilities 
for addressing the underlying causes of the poverty and 
marginalization of the San.  Hendrick Jerling and Bram 
Leroux of Kuru Development Trust told PolOff on June 20 
about their organization's negotiations with De Beers 
over the creation of a mother-tongue school for San kids. 
De Beers provided money for a feasibility study, they 
said, which is underway.  The corporation has not yet 
committed to a particular amount or duration of funding 
for the project.  Jerling told PolOff that a handful of 
successful San professionals have agreed to sit on the 
board of the planned school.  He hoped that these 
individuals would act as role models to inspire San 
children and their parents to appreciate the value of 
education. 
 
11. (U)  Kuru and WIMSA are also working with members of 
the San community to promote the idea of a national San 
council.  The various San communities would delegate 
representatives to this council, which would then act as 
a national platform for articulating the views and 
concerns of the San.  According to Matambo, participants 
in this process hope to meet in July to draft a 
constitution for the council.  If internal differences 
among the various San communities do not stymie this 
effort, the Council could be a meaningful vehicle for 
advocating appropriate policies toward the San. 
 
COMMENT 
 
12. (U)  President Mogae's June 10 comments to a press 
conference linked the deportation of Professor Ken Good 
to his role in the campaign against the GOB's CKGR 
relocation policy (Ref B) and his ties with the London- 
based NGO, Survival International.  As the situation of 
Botswana's San incrementally attracts more international 
attention, the GOB's inclination seems to be to control 
more tightly the flow of relevant information.  This 
strategy is likely to compound the problem, as it will 
further fuel suspicions regarding its policy and 
treatment of the San. 
 
13. (U)  Mission will continue to encourage the 
Government to ensure that the human rights of the San are 
guaranteed and to work with the San communities to 
resolve their differences and jointly chart a mutually 
acceptable path toward development.  In addition, Mission 
is looking at possibilities to support activities such as 
the planned San Council through the Democracy and Human 
Rights Fund. 
HUGGINS 
 
 
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