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VAN DER POST'S DAUGHTER
DENOUNCES BUSHMAN PERSECUTION IN THE TIMES
20 September 2007
Just three days after Survival International re-ignited its Bushman campaign,
a lengthy cover article in The Times has denounced the Botswana government's
continuing refusal to honour the terms of the Bushmen's court victory.
Lucia Van der Post, daughter of renowned author Laurens Van der Post,
travelled to the Bushmen's resettlement camps and into the Central Kalahari
Game Reserve for the article.
'Why', she writes, 'when I arrive to see for myself the happy sight of Bushmen
returning to their land, do I find so many of them still living in the hated,
dusty settlements? Why are they being prosecuted for hunting when that is
their time-honoured means of feeding themselves? Why is the Government
refusing to reopen the boreholes, schools and hospitals that they forcibly
closed?
'We are unable to find any family in New Xade [resettlement camp] that has the
means to return. Many of the young men have to appear in court in a few days'
time for hunting offences, and so cannot leave. Others have no cars, no
petrol'
Ms Van der Post concludes, 'The Botswana High Court judgment had it absolutely
right. "The case is, thus, ultimately about a people demanding dignity and
respect." It is a people saying, in essence: "Our way of life may be different
but it is worthy of respect."'
SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS
RELEASE
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