14 DAY TRIAL // Although the Bushmen living in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve already have a difficult time finding water and are facing severe shortages, a new ruling by the Botswana government says that the Gem Diamonds company can only operate in the region if it denies water supplies to the indigenous people. The central authorities also reserved all rights on the boreholes that will result from the company's industrial activities and say that they will most likely use them for wildlife.
The Bushmen were also unlawfully evicted from their lands by the army and the police, because most of the country still looks at them driven by a great deal of racism. In fact, the Botswana authorities used about the same excuses to kick them off their lands as they used centuries ago to justify the enslavement of thousands by white colonists.
“It’s absolutely scandalous that the Botswana government is insisting that Gem Diamonds does not provide the Bushmen with water. The government is clearly determined to go to any lengths to keep the Bushmen off their land,” says Stephen Corry, director of Survival International.
An independent company surveyed the Bushmen earlier this year and asked them for their opinion on the opening of the new exploitations. But, seeing how the leader of the assessment team moved to the board of Gem Diamonds Co soon after the study was completed, it goes without saying that all their results are fake.
“As to whether the Bushmen are in favor of the mine – the lack of information provided to them means they are in no position to be able to say. It is likely that they don’t even know they will not be able to access water from the mine site,” Corry argues.
The UN has harshly criticized the nation for its behavior on issues related to the Bushmen, and did not miss this occasion to do it again, saying that the Botswana government was treating the natives as no more than a pest, seeing how even wild animals get a place to drink water from.