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.

Press secretary to the president, Dr Jeff Ramsay, a historian of note, said that while the term 'Bushmen' has been removed from the statutes there is no new reference to 'Basarwa' in the document.

'There is no agreed interpretation of the origin or meaning of the root word "Sarwa" which is an ancient name and not of Setswana origin. I am therefore skeptical of those who in recent years have tried to assign any specific Setswana meanings to the word,' Ramsay said.

He further asserted that the term Bushmen is certainly derogatory even though the Europeans and Americans continue to use it despite its racist origin. Ramsay said that from a historical point of view, 'Bushmen' was initially used by the late 18th century Dutch in the Cape to denote those Khoi or Khoe speakers who were deemed to be somehow "sub-human" and could be shot on sight just like wild animals.