SOS Bushmen

FOR the San people who live in the forests of Makhulela, about 120km west of Plumtree town in Bulilima District, the transition from abandoning their traditional life of hunting and gathering to that of cultivation and rearing livestock has left them trapped in a time-warp.

Shedding off their traditional life of hunting and embracing that of organised agriculture and rearing cattle, goats and donkeys has left the San people, known as Bushmen, a traumatised and confused people.

In Zimbabwe, small numbers can be found in Makhulela, Matabeleland South and in the Phumula area of Tsholotsho, Matabeleland North.

In Botswana, where they are known as the Basarwa, the welfare of the San people has touched off heated debate as the government has started removing them from their traditional homes in the central Kalahari desert.

They are being relocated to areas "closer to civilisation" where they can easily benefit from government social services such as health, housing and education.

But a non-governmental organisation, Survival International and the Basarwa, have stirred a hornet's nest by alleging that it is not the welfare of the community that is behind the relocation.

The NGO and the Basarwa claim the discovery of diamonds in the desert is the reason behind the forced relocation to resettlement camps.

The Botswana government has strenuously denied the allegations, saying it has the minority tribe's welfare at heart.

According to reports, the Basarwa who were moved to the relocation camps have started heavy drinking and have suddenly become irritable and violent.

A few members of the Basarwa who could not adjust to the new life have escaped back to the desert, to a life of broken hearts and broken families.

After leading a life of hunting and gathering for centuries, the Basarwa cannot fathom why they are suddenly being told that it is illegal to hunt without a licence.

Their predicament could be likened to that of forcing a fish to survive outside water. The plight of the Bushmen in Zimbabwe is not too different from that of their cousins in Botswana.

Arriving in the forests of Makhulela on a very hot day, we were guided to the San's dwelling by a middle-aged woman, who said although she was originally San, she had married into a Kalanga family, a Bantu group.

"Over the years, there has been a lot of inter-marriages between the Kalanga people and the San. In the past, because of a lot of prejudices and lack of information, members of other tribes did not want to have anything to do with the San. There were strange theories that we lived in burrows and that we were not human, but that is now in the past," she said.

She would not say her name because "married women don't go around giving their names to any man".

We were taken to the homestead of Deketeke Mpofu, the matriarch of the more than 130 San families, who does not know when she was born.

"All I know is that when the train came to this part of the world, I was already a young girl and I remember there was a lot of fear and excitement when the train came because we did not understand what kind of monster had visited us."

The train steamed into Zimbabwe in 1897, more than 105 years ago.

When we gathered at the matriarch's homestead, in no time, members of the community started emerging from behind the forest, believing that the visitors had brought food relief.

Some of them bore distinguishing features associated with the San, such as very light complexions.

Based on the discussions, it emerged that the San still yearned for a return to the past when they used to roam the African plains in search of their favourite delicacy, game meat.

"We are meat people, we were brought up on meat and we knew no other lifestyle except that of eating meat. The laws forbidding us to hunt have destroyed us as a tribe. The laws forced on us are unfair - to appreciate its implications, try and imagine what it would be like if certain powers were to stop the rest of the nation from eating something that they were brought up on like isitshwala/sadza," said Deketeke Mpofu.

Conservation laws which were introduced immediately after independence which sought to outlaw hunting without a licence must have overlooked the fact that the San were an integral part of any wildlife management.

For centuries, they had survived on hunting and any laws concerning hunting should have included them in the equation.

Bomani Tshuma, an elder in the community, said laws against hunting were tightened after independence especially with the emergence of the Communal Areas Management Programme For Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) conservation measures.

"I think the people who came up with the conservation laws had been misinformed into believing that we were people who killed wild animals indiscriminately and that in no time, we would have killed all of them," said Tshuma.

He said as people who had depended on wildlife for centuries, there was no way they would have depleted all the animals.

"If there is any group of people which is good at managing its resources, then it would be our community because our people have been hunters for a long time and if we had been reckless then southern Africa would not have so many animals, as you must know."

He said if the San had been actively involved in wildlife conservation, the unusually large number of snares which killed a number of wild animals would have been avoided.

"It is no secret that some members of the community are always being arrested by CAMPFIRE guards for trapping animals because some have still not accepted the fact that we now need licences to hunt."

Tshuma said being told to stop eating meat abruptly, when they had been doing so since their youth, amounted to a violation of their human rights.

"I don't know whether you can call it addiction, but we have been stressed by the laws forbidding us from hunting for the pot.

"We are a small group and in appreciation of our problems, the authorities should come up with a scheme in which game meat, including elephant meat would be regularly distributed to members of the community."

Makhulela, where the San live is strategically located near the Maitengwe CAMPFIRE area which teems with wildlife.

Animals from Hwange National Park also migrate to the area.

But don't they see the benefits offered by embracing a modern lifestyle of cultivation?

Tshuma felt the San had already been neglected by government and that their welfare had ceased to be important.

"That is why I insist that when conservation laws were introduced, they should have also taken into consideration how we were going to be absorbed into the new order.

"This could have included providing us with cattle, donkeys and goats and training in agriculture and animal husbandry so that we adapt to a new life."

Tshuma said as a result, no member of the San was known to have cattle, donkeys and any livestock.

He said as a result, the San were always appealing for food aid because they had never been properly integrated into the agricultural life of Zimbabweans.

At the moment, the San are being assisted with food relief by a German organisation.

Tshuma said: "The impression this creates is that we are lazy but if we could get livestock and farming implements from the government, then in no time, we would be able to look after ourselves and not be perennial beggars."

So far, they have started sending their children to clinics and schools as they tentatively accept the modern lifestyle which has brought them nothing but pain and stress.