Should we boycott Botswana?

Several tour operators are now boycotting Botswana over the alleged persecution of the Bushmen. Richard Madden examines the key issues behind the dispute

Having spent the past three months in Botswana, writing the Bush Telegraph column for this paper, I was saddened to hear a fragile truce between Survival International (SI) and the Botswana government has broken out once more into open warfare. SI, a global campaigner on behalf of tribal people, is demanding a boycott of tourism to Botswana due to the “ongoing persecution of the country’s first inhabitants, the Bushmen”.

The organisation claims that harassment of the Bushmen is now “greater than ever”, even after a landmark 2006 High Court ruling which found the government had been “unlawful and unconstitutional” in trying to relocate the remaining inhabitants of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). The government has responded, claiming it has restored the rights of the Bushmen who brought the case and given them “unfettered access and residence rights in the reserve”.

The roots of the dispute go back to the mid-Eighties when most of the 5,000 or so Bushmen living in the Kalahari were “voluntarily” relocated to settlements outside the reserve, where they were provided with better access to modern health and education facilities. SI accused the government of forcing the Bushmen to leave, using beatings and the capping of a waterhole as a means of coercion. Many say the relocations resulted in the alcohol abuse and cultural disintegration that frequently occurs when indigenous peoples are brought into contact with the modern world.

While most agree the government’s actions have been heavy-handed in the past, I have seen for myself how well its conservation policies have protected Botswana’s unique and fragile ecosystems, including the Kalahari Desert and the Okavango Delta. It has also gone to great lengths to ensure local Botswanans and indigenous groups, including the Bushmen, are employed in tourism and benefit from it, along with their communities. This progress is now under threat following SI’s call for a tourist boycott.