Country: Botswana

Group: Sesarwa

Date Finalized: 7/13/2020

Team: Kimberly Prete (lead), Arisha Khan, Alicia Hernandez

The Sesarwa, also called the San people, are an indigenous group in Botswana that has lived there for more than a thousand years. Sesarwa people have a strong connection to their ancestral land (Zips-Mairitsch, 2007). There have been multiple threats to their lands over the years including diamond mining and tourism. Diamond mining began in the 1980s with three big clearances, in 1997, 2002 and 2005 (Survival International, 2004). “Their homes were dismantled, their school and health posts were closed, their water supply was destroyed and the people were threatened and trucked away (Survival International, 2004). The government forcefully pushed the San people out and put them into resettlement camps that were outside of their ancestral lands. The government also enforced regulations around hunting. When they did hunt, they were arrested and beaten (Survival International, 2004). The San went to court in 2006 and won back the right to their lands (Survival International, 2004). However, the government has made it virtually impossible to survive on their lands. The government cemented over their only water source making it hard for the San to find water (Survival International, 2004). In 2011, the government granted permission to the San to drill waterholes (Minority Rights, 2011). Tourism is also becoming a growing problem that is threatening their land. A company called Wilderness Safaris came into their ancestral lands, again threatening their way of life (Survival International, 2004). In 1966, they were excluded from the constitution, thereby not granting them rights (Hitchcock and Biesele, 2002).  The Sesarwa were forced from their ancestral lands and forced to assimilate into a new life without hunting and gathering. It has been said that “unless they are able to live on their ancestral lands, their unique societies and way of life will be destroyed, and many of them will die” (Survival International, 2004. The data quality score is a 2. There is a much information about the destruction of their land, however, there is less information on the group themselves.

Sources

  1. Survival International (2007). “Bushman”. https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/bushmen
  2. Minority Rights (2011). Botswana appeal court gives Bushmen access to water in the Kalahari desert. Retrieved from: https://minorityrights.org/2011/01/28/botswana-appeal-court-gives-bushmen-access-to-water-in-kalahari-desert/
  3. Lee, R. B., Hitchcock, R., & Biesele, M. (2002, March 1). Foragers to First Peoples: The Kalahari San Today. Retrieved from https://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/foragers-first-peoples-kalahari-san-today
  4. Zips-Mairitsch, M. (2007). Lost lands? (Land) rights of the San in Botswana and legal concepts of indigeneity in Africa. IWGIA. Retrieved from: https://www.iwgia.org/images/publications/0618_LostLands_ZipsMairitsch.pdf