SOS Bushmen

The earliest modern inhabitants of southern African were the bushman (San) and the Hottentot (Khoe) peoples.

The quote is from the department of tourism website on 'culture and history of Botswana.' While the word bushman has been removed from laws of Botswana because it is deemed derogatory, the tourism department has not updated the information on its website. Addressing kgotla meetings in Ngwaketse area last year, the assistant minister of agriculture, Peter Siele said that the word 'Bushmen' was being replaced with Basarwa. Director of the department Tlhabologo Ndzinge, admitted that the offending term has been used on their website and other promotional brochures, not for derogatory purposes but to highlight cultural experiences of the Basarwa in order to attract the attention of prospective tourists.'Our website was developed some years back. We are in the process of updating it and other publications as well. In our recent promotional brochures we have used either 'the San' or 'Basarwa',' Ndzinge said.