Africa-Press – Botswana. President Advocate Duma Boko spoke with a warm heart as he recounted the many court struggles and victories he had with the Basarwa of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR).
Speaking during a short fireside chat with Basarwa elder men at the late Mr Pitseng Gaoberekwe homestead Monday night, President Boko said the bond he had with the Basarwa community was entrenched in the annals of history as a bitter sweet memory.
President Boko, Vice President Mr Ndaba Gaolathe and several cabinet ministers had visited the family during a night vigil ahead of Mr Gaoberekwe’s funeral in Metsiamanong yesterday.
Mr Gaoberekwe’s body had been lying in a mortuary for almost three years following a long-drawn-out battle between his family and government over his burial site.
Following the state of events, President Boko had announced that government would, therefore, honour Mr Gaoberekwe’s wishes and bury him at his ancestral land.
“We are here after a long journey, we used to meet in Lobatse as we were fighting for your rights,” he said.
President Boko recalled the case of Mr Amogelang Segootsane who had challenged his family’s relocation from the reserve.
Government and the Basarwa living inside the reserve engaged in a legal scuffle over what the court termed unconstitutional relocations.
He said they celebrated the victory after the High Court allowed Segootsane and his family to enter, remain and exit the CKGR pending the final determination of the case where residents were challenging the relocations.
Adv. Boko said the court ordered that Segootsane and his family had the right to keep goats at Gugamma in the CKGR.
He said Basarwa endured long periods of hardships with some forbidden to hunt to feed themselves and their families, which was their way of life.
President Boko said he recalled a matter in which Roy Sesana and other applicants also filed a case that challenged government’s decision to deny them use of water from some boreholes in the reserve.
He said he was at some point airlifted to Maun, then travelled to Ghanzi were he found some Basarwa men beaten and bruised after detention because all they wanted was to retrace their steps back into the CKGR.
“We fought all these legal battles, it was a long and painful journey. I told them what they were doing were acts of inhumane thinking,” President Boko said.
He said Basarwa had lived miserably during the past administrations and grappled with challenges like lack of access to their ancestral land and generally deteriorating living conditions.
He cited Mr Pitseng Gaoberekwe case as a matter that did not require legal brains but a human heart to understand and resolve.
President Boko said Basarwa roped in attorney Nelson Ramaotwana to assist in the case. He said the attorney pleaded with him to assist in final submissions of the case at the court of appeal where he asked the bench that justice should prevail in the case.
The High Court had dismissed the family application and ordered them to bury Gaoberekwe outside the reserve in 10 days.
He said the family was issued with stern warning that failure to bury the old man would mean the deceased son Lesiame Pitseng would be incarcerated.
President Boko told mourners that the late Gaoberekwe was entitled to be buried inside the CKGR where he was born and raised.
He promised human rights based approach to governance and indicated that his government would promote the rights of citizens.
For his part, Mr Nare Gaoberekwe said the Basarwa community was thankful of President Boko’s good heart.
He said the President had endeared himself to the Basarwa as they fought battles that were eventually won.
Mr Gaoberekwe said the presidency of Adv. Boko was the culmination of a new lease in life.
He said they hoped to enjoy the privileges of being Batswana as rightful owners of their ancestral land.
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