A brief history of the San:

The San are the poorest and most marginalized group in Namibia. This marginalization is resulting from a series of events mainly the migration and colonization from South Africa. The San were pushed by the southward migration of Bantu cattle herders, starting around the 16th century. Ovambo, Kavango, Damara, and Herero peoples spread out over the northern half of Namibia with enormous amounts of cattle. These cattle destroyed the areas and drove game away that the San depend on. Additionally, the Bantu peoples pushed the San further outward to unlivable areas, and the San fought back. Many were killed during this period. In this German colonial era, the San were presumed to be bandits; eventually many San would come to work for cattle herders, first black, German and finally Afrikaner.
South African colonial policy would then disperse the San into “homelands” of the other groups in Namibia. Bushmanland was constituted for the San on the edge of the Kalahari, only a few hundred San lived there and it was never given self governing status. So really, this homeland was primarily for South African political purposes. The South African plan was to relocate all San from wherever they lived to Bushmanland. This is the basis of apartheid; severe racial separation for both whites and blacks. This was the purpose of these “homelands” 1

Devastatingly, during the Namibia war of independence many San enlisted in the South African armed forces, where they fought against SWAPO (South West Africa People’s Organization- the current governing party). So although the end of the war SWAPO initiated land reform, not much has happened 20 years after independence. Most black Namibians still live in these “homelands” though they are now designated as “communal lands”. Between 3,000-4,000 white Namibians occupy ½ the country’s farmland, while over 1 million blacks own the other half. Since independence thousands of blacks have moved from the communal lands to informal settlements on the edges of every city in the country. 2

Nyae Nyae Conservancy:

The vast majority of San settled at Tsumkwe, where they are living off government food. Because this area is remote and these communal lands were set aside for the Ju/’hoansi, these are the only San in Namibia living uncontested on their own lands, lands administered by their own government-recognized Traditional Authority, headed by our own chief. (His name is Chief Bobo- and he is really a great leader, more on this later)

While many Ju/’hoansi still live in Tsumkwe, more live in about 20 surrounding bush settlements, most with just a few huts and a few dozen people. There is no economy for these villages, while some traditional hunting and gathering still goes on it is mainly for hunger. Most hunting is illegal because game in the conservancy is reserved for trophy hunting.- Isn’t that nice?-

Where does that leave us today?

The claim of aboriginal title of the Ju/’hoansi is probably the strongest in Namibia. Since the San have lived in this region, since before time, and these lands were set aside as the communal lands of the Ju/’hoansi, it seems highly doubtful that even the government could make any sort of claim to these lands.

In 1993, the resettlement of more than 1,000 Herero from Botswana, with their cattle, at Gam, south of Nyae Nyae created considerable encroachment of cattle into the conservancy. The government then put up a cattle gate together with game rangers to stop this spread. Well today, we still have this problem where the Herero’s are coming into this land with their cattle. A couple years ago, they cut a hole into this fence and came in. The government then confiscated these cattle, and now the Herero’s want compensation. They are also asking for the government food supple (Drought relief). They have this available to them at Gam. Chief Bobo has said that they are not welcome here and he will not allow them to come into his land. We had a meeting with the Herero Tradional Authority and the Ju/’hoansi Traditional Authority where for me, it was so interesting to see the politics behind it. Everyone was smiling and shaking hands with each other. To me, this seems like an act of war; invading another’s territory to take over. I can’t imagine this is how world leaders would handle the situation. The issue is not resolved, and some of the major problems is that: there is not enough water or land to sustain these cattle. Their cattle are wandering the streets at night, unmonitored (keeping me awake), there are reports of violence being committed against the San, as well as reports of theft from clothing, bedding to firewood.
For a group that has suffered so much it seems only ridiculous that another group is trying to take their land from them. As I understand it legally, the people can come but their cattle cannot. Therefore it up to this government to do something.
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1 “Our land they took, San land rights under threat in Namibia”, Legal Assistance Center, 2006, pg 2

2 Sidney L. Harrung, “Indigeonous Land Rights and Land Reform in Namibia, in Robert Hitchcock and Diana VInding, Indigenous Pople’s Rights in Southern Africa, WIMSA, 1004


FOR MORE READING:

“Our land they took, San land rights under threat in Namibia”, Legal Assistance Center, 2006

John Brohman, Popular Development: Rethinking the Theory and Practice of Development, Blackwell, Oxford, 1996

James Suzman, An Assessment of the Status of the San in Namibia, Legal Assistance Center, 1996

Alan Barnard and Justin Kenrick, Africa’s Indegenous peoples: First peoples or Marginalized Minorities, Center for African Studies, University of Edinburgh, 2001
Robert Gordon, The Bushman Myth: The Making of a Namibian Underclass, Westview, 1992