The Khwe (San) community living in Bwabwata National Park has claimed “oppressive practices” perpetrated against them when it comes to their rights as Namibians.
The claims come at the time when many celebrate the fruits of Namibia’s 32 years of independence.
The alleged oppressive practices range from selective application of the policy of national reconciliation to dispossession and disregard of land and land rights of the Khwe by government and fellow Namibians, loss of access to land rights and growing inequality and poverty.
Other alarming concerns are lack of due diligence in land-based investments; reduced quality of land governance services; refusal to recognise the Khwe Traditional Authority; prohibition to perform cultural practices; denial and violation of the rights of the Khwe to own property; and the seizure of Khwe lands to use as a prison farm.
These concerns are contained in a petition initially aimed to be submitted to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Constitutional and Legal Affairs that undertook a fact-finding visit to Bwabwata in Kavango East from 14 to 16 March 2022.
Kletus Karondo, who is the chairperson of the parliamentary standing committee, yesterday confirmed they did not receive the petition, as it did not speak to the Hambukushu petition, which is why the committee undertook the visit.
The parliamentarians’ visit is in response to a petition submitted by the Hambukushu Traditional Authority in October last year.
The senior traditional leaders demand that the environment ministry come out clear and tell them where they should go, arguing Bwabwata is their ancestral land.
Karondo explained there are two sets of Khwe communities, one situated in the Zambezi and the other in Kavango East regions, extending along the Caprivi Strip.
“We received the submission of the Khwe people living in the Zambezi. The Khwe of Kavango East region, their petition did not talk to the issue we went for on the Hambukushu, hence we didn’t receive it and we advised them on the right channels to follow to raise the issue to the National Assembly,” Karondo said.
Since the refusal to recognise Khwe Traditional Authority is among the raised issues, the petition was signed by the community headman Paulus Rambo; and community activists Calvin Kazibe; David Mushavanga, and Tienie Mushavanga.
The activists accuse the government of proclaiming Bwabwata, where the Khwe people lived since time immemorial, as a national park. Because of this, the Khwe feel effectively stripped of their right to land and their ancestral home. “The enforcement of these policies violates a lot of rights, including our freedom of movement and right to practice our cultural traditions and customs. With the restriction of movement in the park, such rights are violated,” reads the petition.
Furthermore, they said the resolutions of the first national land conference of 1991 have not been implemented. Most pertinently, they mentioned the resolution on access to land that “all citizens should be able to settle anywhere in the country, provided they have regard to the customs applicable to the host communities”, stating that priority is given to the landless.
The same resolution states there is a need to differentiated protection of the land rights of the disadvantaged communities such as the San and people living with disabilities.
“Government dismally failed to implement these resolutions for more than three decades as they relate to the Khwe people,” they said.
They reminded the government that Article 10 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP) unequivocally declares that indigenous people shall not be forcibly removed from their lands or territories.
“No relocation shall take place without the free and informed consent of the indigenous people concerned and after agreement on fair and just compensation and, where possible, with the option of return,” read the petition.
Equally, they accuse the government of consistently refusing to recognise the traditional authority of the Khwe people. In response to an application for recognition of Khwe Traditional Authority, the government rejected the application through the council of traditional leaders, claiming the Khwe do not have an area of jurisdiction and the area of jurisdiction in which the impoverished Khwe live belongs to the Hambukushu Traditional Authority.
The community argued government’s decision and inaction in this regard is in stark contrast and inconsistent with Article 8(2)(a) of the UNDRIP.
“It is historically known and accepted that the San people were the first inhabitants of southern Africa, way before the Bantu migration. It follows that Bwabwata, logically, has been occupied by the San, specifically, the Khwe people as their ancestral home. It is grossly inhumane to force people who are having their distinct tribe, culture, and tradition to practice their culture and traditions under a different ethnic group. We are Not Hambukushu, we are Khwe,” stated the community.
anakale@nepc.com.na