01 Dec 2013

Survival International has been labelled a misguided operation whose depiction of Basarwa serves to satisfy the organisation's romantic ideas about what they refer to as the “bushmen.”

Officiating at the Botswana Travel and Tourism expo in Kasane on November 27, the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Mr Tshekedi Khama took swipe at at Survival International for the smear campaign they had been running against Botswana.

He emphasised that Basarwa must live in the same standards as everyone else in Botswana.  Mrt Khama also stressed that Survival International wanted to depict Basarwa in a certain light for their romantic ideas. 

“When Survival International wants more funding, they make more noise,” he noted. If they were to be taken seriously, the minister said, they would not be tampering with Botswana’s tourism and mining sectors which were a big source of revenue for Batswana, including Basarwa whose interests the organisation claimed to be fighting for. 

“If diamonds are not bought, Batswana suffer including Basarwa,” he emphasised. “We wonder if they are placing their efforts on any common sense because they are hurting the very people they want to help,” he said.

He added that through tourism, the country was able to give its citizens a livelihood. Survival International, he said, was not interested in the welfare of Batswana as a whole but Basarwa only which Mr Khama said was short sighted.

 “They do not know the facts, they simply sponsor certain people for information. What we want to do is give Basarwa options, that they can stay where they are at will but if they want developments they have to move,” he highlighted.

Chief executive officer for Botswana Tourism Organisation, Ms Myra Sekgororwane added that the romanticised idea of Basarwa dressed in skins carrying bows and arrows did not exist anymore.

 “Those are just for showing our culture and taking pictures. Nobody goes around wearing that anymore,” she said at a press briefing at the same event. 

Permanent Secretary in the environment ministry, Mr Neil Fitt also added that in the past, other tribes had to move to give way to development saying this is not only restricted to minerals. “Even for agricultural purposes some people had to relocate for the development of that sector, it does not start now,” he said.

He added that this was done with proper consultation as was the case right now.  Addressing mostly European and local media, the trio spoke at length about Survival International and tourism issues in the country. The expo, which is the first of its kind brought together tour operators from Austria, Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland. Ends