Scenes of jubilation greeted the Botswana High Court’s ruling at Lobatse on Wednesday  in favour of the Kalahari Bushmen.
The court ruled that the Botswana government’s eviction of the
Bushmen was “unlawful and unconstitutional”, and that they have the
right to live on their ancestral land inside the Central Kalahari
Game Reserve.
The court also ruled that the Bushmen applicants have the right to hunt and gather in the reserve, and should not have to apply forpermits to enter it. One of the judges, Justice Phumaphi, said the government’s refusal to allow the Bushmen to hunt “was tantamount to condemning theresidents of the CKGR to death by starvation.”
However, the judges also said that the government is not obliged to
provide services to Bushmen in the reserve.
Bushman spokesman Roy Sesana said outside the court, “Today is the
happiest day for us Bushmen. We have been crying for so long, but
today we are crying with happiness. Finally we have been set free.
The evictions have been very, very painful for my people.
I hope that now we can go home to our land.”
Survival’s director Stephen Corry said Wendesday: “The court’s ruling is
a victory for the Bushmen and for indigenous peoples everywhere in
Africa. It is also a victory for Botswana. If the government quickly enacts the court ruling, then the campaign will end and the country really will have something to be proud of.”
The court case has been the longest and most expensive in Botswana’s history.