SOS Bushmen

More Botswana Bushmen are aligning themselves with a land claim case which is two years old on Wednesday, said the London-based Survival International (SI).

"Tomorrow, July 5, marks two years since the Kalahari Bushmen's legal case against the Botswana government began. In a groundswell of support, 135 Bushmen have asked to be added to the original list of 243 applicants," said SI in a statement on Tuesday.

SI, an international organisation which supports tribal people, is helping the Bushmen in the case.

"The request of the 135 Bushmen flies in the face of government claims that only a small minority of Gana and Gwi Bushmen want to return to their land in the central Kalahari."

SI said the Bushmen, also known as San, are fighting for their right to return to their land in Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and to hunt and gather freely. The case was initially filed in April 2002 after evictions two months earlier, but was thrown out on a technicality.

The Bushmen appealed and won the right to have the case heard, and it began in July 2004 in Botswana's High Court, said SI.

"It has since faced long delays. The case has been the longest and most expensive in Botswana's legal history, despite being brought by the country's poorest inhabitants."

Evidence in the case ended in May. Argument is due to start in August.

At least 10 percent of the original 243 applicants have died in government resettlement camps since the case was filed, said SI.