On Survival International, [Botswana President Festus]Mogae expressed dismay at some local journalists who seek credibility by joining some international news media in the smearing campaign against Botswana.Previous Bushman/diamond related work here and here.
He said that local news reporters should report responsibly. Any negative reporting about Botswana would have long years of clouding the prospects of the countrys development.
Mogae said when Roy Sesana of the First People of the Kalahari and others failed to fund their case at the High Court, he went abroad to discredit Botswana by claiming that the government was on the ethnic cleansing rampage against Basarwa.
The president said that Sesana made claims that officers of the law enforcement agencies have castrated Basarwa who were being hunted like animals.
The president added however, that at least the American public could not buy Sesanas story.
-
The pertinent facts are that De Beers the international diamond conglomerate were the originators of the apartheid system in South Africa. The company instituted the virtual slavery of apartheid to ensure the profitabilty of their diamond enterprise.
The tradition of mandatory diamond-giving as material proof of romantic devotion, especially among the middle and lower classes, is less than a hundred years old. This isn't widely known. Your great great-grandmother could tell you, but she has no way to talk to you.
Diamonds are expensive because they are in demand. The demand is entirely artificial, and was created in its present form by the diamond industry.
The Bushmen have lived in the Kalahari for over 20,000 years.
-
(Rapaport...December 5, 2005) De Beers asked Botswana's President Festus Mogae to stop removing San Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and to reconsider governmental policy on relocation of Bushmen from the region.
