Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Introduction: Indigenous Identity in Africa

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Indigenousness in Africa

Abstract

In a judgment rendered on 13 December 2006 by the High Court of Botswana, Roy Sesana was described as a ‘member of the Kgei band of the San or Basarwa people’, whose ancestors ‘are indigenous to the Central Kgalagadi region’. A San rights activist and early member of the First People of the Kalahari (FPK), Roy Sesana acquired international fame since the mid-1990s due to the events surrounding the removal of his people from the Central Kgalagadi (Kalahari) Game Reserve (CKGR). He was the first among the 242 initial Applicants before the High Court in the highly publicized, ‘longest and most expensive court case in Botswana’s history’.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Roy Sesana Keiwa Setlhobogwa and Others v. The Attorney General (hereafter, Roy Sesana v. Attorney General) High Court of Botswana held at Lobatse, Misca. No. 52 of 2002, 13 December 2006, para E.2.2 (Justice Dow judgment), http://www.iwant2gohome.org/files/ruling.doc. Accessed 16 August 2007.

  2. 2.

    DITSHWANELO (Botswana Centre for Human Rights) 1996, p. 1.

  3. 3.

    Taylor 2007, p. 3; Olmsted 2004, pp. 799–866.

  4. 4.

    Cassidy et al. 2001, p. 6.

  5. 5.

    See UN, Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations Secretariat, World Population Prospects: The 2008 Revision, http://esa.un.org/unpp. Accessed 8 June 2009.

  6. 6.

    Taylor 2004, p. 153.

  7. 7.

    Ibid. See also Cassidy et al. 2001, pp. 4–5. For a history of San and Botswana in general, see Tlou and Campbell 1997, pp. 22 et seq.

  8. 8.

    Mogwe 1992, p. 2.

  9. 9.

    Cassidy et al. 2001, p. 5 (see also p. 7, on cultural diversity among the San in Botswana).

  10. 10.

    Ibid., p. 26.

  11. 11.

    Regulation 3(1) quoted in Roy Sesana v. Attorney General, para 139 in fine (Justice Phumaphi judgment).

  12. 12.

    Cassidy et al. 2001, p. 26. Other publications refer to the presence of the San in the area for more than 11,000 years (Biesele et al. 1989, pp. 109–151), or 20,000 years (see, for instance, Lawson 2006.

  13. 13.

    Cassidy et al. 2001, p. 26. See also http://www.gov.bw/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=52. Accessed 3 June 2009.

  14. 14.

    Cassidy et al. 2001, pp. 26–27; Roy Sesana v. Attorney General, para E.3.7 (Justice Dow judgment.

  15. 15.

    Suzman 2002, p. 2.

  16. 16.

    Ibid. See also Cassidy et al. 2001, pp. 7, 27.

  17. 17.

    DITSHWANELO 1996, pp. 16 et seq.; Cassidy et al. 2001, pp. 27 et seq.

  18. 18.

    DITSHWANELO 1996, pp. 1–28. See also Cassidy et al. 2001, pp. 27–28; Roy Sesana v. Attorney General, paras E.1–E.3 (Justice Dow judgment).

  19. 19.

    DITSHWANELO 1996, p. 4; Roy Sesana v. Attorney General, paras E.2.9 and E.3.1. The said settlements are Guqamma, Kikao, Mothomelo, Metsiamanong, Molapo and Gope.

  20. 20.

    Roy Sesana v. Attorney General, para E.2.10. It refers to between 17 and 35 people.

  21. 21.

    See DITSHWANELO 1996, pp. 5–7; Taylor 2007, p. 3, for governmental arguments on the moves.

  22. 22.

    Ibid.

  23. 23.

    Roy Sesana v. Attorney General, para 1 (Justice Dibotelo judgment).

  24. 24.

    Ibid., para 55 (3–4).

  25. 25.

    Ibid., para 55 (5–7).

  26. 26.

    Ibid., para 55 (1–2).

  27. 27.

    Ibid., para 9.

  28. 28.

    See, for instance, IWGIA 2006.

  29. 29.

    Taylor 2007, pp. 3–5.

  30. 30.

    See, e.g., Taylor 2004, pp. 152–165; Cassidy et al. 2001, pp. 17–40; Taylor 2007, pp. 3–5.

  31. 31.

    Ng’ong’ola 2007, pp. 110 et seq.

  32. 32.

    See, for instance, Segobye 2006, pp. 52–72.

  33. 33.

    Ibid., p. 59.

  34. 34.

    Saugestad 2001, pp. 175 et seq.

  35. 35.

    See, for instance, Survival International 2006.

  36. 36.

    As in the evocative title in a publication by the organization’s representative: Corry 2003, pp. 1–4.

  37. 37.

    This sensitivity was first-hand experienced when the present author made a research trip to the country in August 2008 with the intention of visiting Basarwa communities in Ghanzi. He was unable to secure a required research permit. For more on the attitude of the government, see Taylor and Mokhawa 2003, pp. 279 et seq.

  38. 38.

    Those included DITSHWANELO, and the then Kuru Development Trust. Disagreements between these and other actors such as Survival International 2005; WIMSA, p. 69.

  39. 39.

    WIMSA (Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (2009)), p. 91.

  40. 40.

    DITSHWANELO 2006, pp. 6 et seq.; Nthomang 2006.

  41. 41.

    Taylor 2007, p. 4.

  42. 42.

    See, for instance, Nthomang 2004, pp. 415–435; Taylor and Mokhawa 2003, pp. 261–283; Taylor 2007, pp. 3–5.

  43. 43.

    See Mphinyane 2005, pp. 157–158. The author comments that ‘Roy Sesana… has come to be perceived in many quarters in the country as a sell out who, while enjoying the fruits of modernity, is being bribed by outsiders to prevent development reaching his people so they remain tourist attractions’.

  44. 44.

    Roy Sesana v. Attorney General, para E.1.11.c.

  45. 45.

    On indigenous peoples’ rights in international law, see, e.g., Anaya 2004, Xanthaki 2007, Donders 2002, van Genugten and Perez-Bustillo 2004, pp. 379–409.

  46. 46.

    The terminology ‘native v. settler’ is borrowed from Mamdani 2001, pp. 19 et seq.

  47. 47.

    ACHPR and IWGIA 2005, p. 86.

  48. 48.

    Ibid., p. 15.

  49. 49.

    Ngugi 2002, pp. 297 et seq.

  50. 50.

    Ibid., pp. 321–322.

  51. 51.

    Mamdani 2001, pp. 24 et seq.

  52. 52.

    ACHPR and IWGIA 2005, p. 92.

  53. 53.

    Mamdani 2001, pp. 24 et seq.

  54. 54.

    See ACHPR and IWGIA 2005, ECOSOC 2000.

  55. 55.

    See ACHPR and IWGIA 2005; various periodic and non-periodic publications by IWGIA, http://www.iwgia.org/sw160.asp. Accessed 15 June 2009.

  56. 56.

    See infra for an elaborations on the role of such organizations as IWGIA, Cultural Survival, Survival International and, Netherlands Centre for Indigenous Peoples (NCIV).

  57. 57.

    The present study has adopted a flexible approach to terminological uses due to the lack of (authoritative) definitions of some concepts used or their implications in terms of policy and (international) law. Thus, the chapters to follow will, generally, refer to ‘(claimant) indigenous peoples/groups/communities in Africa’, to mark the contested nature of this identification or to such notions as ‘ethnicity’, ‘tribe’, ‘nation’, ‘community’, with or without qualification.

  58. 58.

    In D.R. Congo and Rwanda, the present author lived in environments where there were Twa communities. He witnessed patterns of marginality, discrimination and the overt poverty of members of these communities.

References

  • ACHPR and IWGIA (2005) African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs. Report of the African Commission’s Working Group of Experts on Indigenous Populations/Communities. www.iwgia.org/graphics/Synkron-Library/Documents/publications/Downloadpublications/Books/AfricanCommissionbookEnglish.pdf. Accessed 29 Apr 2006

  • Anaya SJ (2004) Indigenous peoples in international law, 2nd edn. Oxford University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Biesele M et al (1989) Hunters, clients and squatters: the contemporary socioeconomic status of Botswana Basarwa. Afr Study Monogr 9(3):109–151

    Google Scholar 

  • Cassidy L et al (2001) Regional assessment of the status of the San in Southern Africa: an assessment of the status of the San/Basarwa in Botswana. Legal Assistance Centre, Report No. 3

    Google Scholar 

  • Corry S (2003) Bushmen: the final solution and blaming the messenger. Before Farming 14(2):1–4

    Google Scholar 

  • DITSHWANELO (Botswana Centre for Human Rights) (1996) When will this moving stop? (Report on a Fact-Finding Mission of the Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve), 10–14 April 1996. Copy with the author

    Google Scholar 

  • DITSHWANELO (Botswana Centre for Human Rights) (2006) Shadow Report to the United Nations’ Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, 68 session, Geneva, 3–6 March 2006. http://www.ditshwanelo.org.bw/images/CERD%20Shadow%20Report%202006.pdf. Accessed 9 June 2009

  • Donders YM (2002) Towards a right to cultural identity. Intersentia, Antwerp

    Google Scholar 

  • ECOSOC (2000) Establishment of a Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). 45th Plenary Meeting, UN Doc. E/RES/2000/22, 28 July 2000

    Google Scholar 

  • IWGIA (2006) International Working Group for Indigenous Affairs. The High Court ruling in Botswana is a milestone for the recognition of Indigenous peoples rights in Africa. Public Statement, 15 December 2006. http://iwgia.synkron.com/graphics/Synkron-Library/Documents/Noticeboard/News/Africa/IWGIApublicstatementCKGRruling.htm. Accessed 8 June 2009

  • Lawson D (2006) Diamond warrior: Roy Sesana, spokesman for the Kalahari Bushmen. The Independent, 24 September 2006

    Google Scholar 

  • Mamdani M (2001) When victims become killers: colonialism, nativism and genocide in Rwanda. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Mogwe A (1992) Who was (T) here first? An assessment of the human rights situation of Basarwa in selected communities in the Gantsi District, Botswana. Commissioned by the Botswana Christian Council (BCC), March 1992. Copy with the author

    Google Scholar 

  • Mphinyane ST (2005) NEPAD and the digital divide: the case of Botswana and the silent marginalized minorities. XXX Afr Dev 1&2:152–162

    Google Scholar 

  • Ng’ong’ola C (2007) Sneaking aboriginal title into Botswana’s legal system through a side door: review of Sesana and other v. the attorney-general. Univ Botswana Law J 6:103–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Ngugi J (2002) The decolonization–modernization interface and the plight of indigenous peoples in post-colonial development discourse in Africa. Wis Int Law J 20:297–351

    Google Scholar 

  • Nthomang K (2004) Relentless colonialism: The case of the Remote Area Development Programme (RADP) and the Basarwa in Botswana. J Mod Afr Stud 42(3):415–435

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nthomang K (2006) Basarwa development at crossroads: contradictions and resistance-critical insights from the CKGR relocations. 20 PULA: Botswana J Afr Stud 2(35). http://kgotla.ub.bw:8080/dspace/bitstream/123456789/114/1/Nthomang_Pula_%20Article_%202007.pdf. Accessed 12 Aug 2009

  • Olmsted N (2004) Indigenous rights in Botswana: development, democracy and dispossession. Wash Univ Glob Stud Law Rev 3:799–866

    Google Scholar 

  • Saugestad S (2001) The inconvenient indigenous: remote area development in Botswana, donor assistance, and the first people of the Kalahari. Nordic Africa Institute, Borås

    Google Scholar 

  • Segobye AK (2006) Divided commons: the political economy of Southern Africa’s cultural heritage landscapes—observations of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana. Archaeologies 1(2):52–72

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Survival International (2005) Survival responds to radio 4 crossing continents programme, 14 November 2005. http://www.survival-international.org/news/1155. Accessed 8 June 2009

  • Survival International (2006) Bushmen aren’t forever: Botswana, diamonds in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and the eviction of Bushmen, 18 September 2006. http://www.survivalinternational.org/files/related_material/11_513_969_diamonds_facts.pdf. Accessed 3 June 2009

  • Suzman J (2002) Kalahari conundrums: relocation, resistance and international support in the Central Kalahari Botswana. Before Farming 12(3–4):1–10

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor M (2004) The past and future of San land rights in Botswana. In: Hitchcock R, Vinding D (eds) Indigenous peoples rights in Southern Africa. IWGIA, Doc. No. 110

    Google Scholar 

  • Taylor JJ (2007) Celebrating San victory too soon? Reflections on the outcome of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve case. Anthropol Today 23(5):3–5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Taylor I, Mokhawa G (2003) Not forever: Botswana, conflict diamonds and the Bushmen. Afr Aff 102:261–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tlou T, Campbell A (1997) History of Botswana. Macmillan, Gaborone

    Google Scholar 

  • van Genugten WJM, Perez-Bustillo C (2004) The emerging international architecture of indigenous rights: the interaction between the global, regional and national dimensions. Int J Minority Group Rights 11:379–409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • WIMSA (Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa). Annual Report 2004–2005. http://www.wimsanet.org/infpub%5Clibrary%5C06_Human%20Rights.pdf. Accessed 8 June 2009

  • Xanthaki A (2007) Indigenous rights and the United Nations standards: self-determination, culture, and land. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Victimology Institute Tilburg, Tilburg University, 5000 LE, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Felix Mukwiza Ndahinda

Authors
  1. Felix Mukwiza Ndahinda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Felix Mukwiza Ndahinda .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2011 T.M.C.ASSER PRESS and the author

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ndahinda, F.M. (2011). Introduction: Indigenous Identity in Africa. In: Indigenousness in Africa. T.M.C. Asser Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-6704-609-1_1

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Societies and partnerships

Search

Navigation