Brutal development agenda by political panjandrums in Botswana: How CKGR evictions massacred the native citizens (Basarwa) through HIV/AIDS

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford

The political and economic empowerment of Basarwa in Botswana drew limited attention until their eviction from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR). The paper explains that the government claimed environmental protection and improved living conditions, while opponents argued plans for diamond mining. It argues Basarwa were neither properly consulted nor educated about HIV/AIDS, leading to infections and rising mortality connected to the evictions from ancestral land.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time40 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

CKGR eviction context and stated government rationale

Opposition narratives and HIV/AIDS risk argument

Literature Review

Basarwa socioeconomic marginalisation and historical treatment

African Educational Research Journal Vol. 5(1), pp. 75-90, March 2017 ISSN: 2354-2160 Review Brutal development agenda by political panjandrums in Botswana: How CKGR evictions massacred the native citizens (Basarwa) through HIV/AIDS Dama Mosweunyane Department of Adult Education, University of Botswana, Gaborone, Botswana. Accepted 13 October, 2016 | ABSTRACT
The political and economic empowerment of Basarwa in Botswana has never generated a lot of interest in the manner it did following their eviction from Central Kalahari Game Reserve. Most human rights organisations, amongst them Survival International, did bring to the center stage the evictions of Basarwa from Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) . CKGR was established for Basarwa by the British government in 1961 and they have stayed in the area since. The evictions of Basarwa from CKGR culminated into various arguments been generated by governments and NGOs, which were for and against. The government of Botswana advanced that its actions were encouraged by its desire to protect environmental resources and ameliorate the living conditions of Basarwa. The narratives against the government of Botswana centred on the counter argument that the government wanted to start diamond mining following prospecting. What comes out clearly is that Basarwa were not sufficiently consulted before their evictions from CKGR nor were they given any knowledge on HIV/AIDS. This article argues that the government of Botswana did not consult Basarwa before evicting them from CKGR and its actions resulted in Basarwa getting infected with HIV/AIDS. The Basarwa communities have experienced increased mortality, which can be attributed to their unlawful evictions by the Government of Botswana from their ancestral land. The position that the government of Botswana took to evict Basarwa from CKGR without first educating them on HIV/AIDS was never advanced even during the case that Basarwa had against the government of Botswana. It is important to note that Basarwa got infected by HIV and some have since died from AIDS as a result of their unconstitutional eviction from CKGR that was masterminded and carried out by the government of Botswana.
Keywords: Botswana, Basarwa, HIV/AIDS, evictions, Central Kalahari Game Reserve. | | --- | | [E-mail: mosweunyane@mopipi. ub.bw](E-mail: mosweunyane@mopipi. ub.bw). | INTRODUCTION Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) is the largest game reserve in the world. It is larger than Denmark or Switzerland and bigger than Lesotho and Swaziland combined. This is a place where Basarwa have lived probably for a thousand of years (Botswana Tourism Board, 2006) . In the 1970s and 1980s, pressure to remove Basarwa from Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) by the government of Botswana began to buildup for several reasons, such as declining wildlife numbers and the grazing of the domestic livestock in thereserve. To be precise, it will be correct only to qualify that such reasons were advanced by the government of Botswana. The government of Botswana resettled over 1,100 people outside the CKGR in May to June 1997 (Hitchcock, 2002:805) . In this article, the author attempts to examine reasons that prompted the government of Botswana to forcibly evict Basarwa from Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) , despite strong opposition from International Non-Governmental Organisations such as Survival International and high profile personalities. The article provides some strong opposition to the explanation provided by the government of Botswana, which is that , the government wished to ensure that park’s integrity as a nature reserve was maintained, and that it wished to integrate Basarwa into the country’s social and economic life (African Conservation Foundation, 2007:1) . As it is argued in this article, the government of Botswana evicted Basarwa from CKGR with full knowledge that there was the HIV/AIDS scourge that had already started claiming lives in

FAQs

What core argument does the paper make about the CKGR evictions?

The paper argues that Botswana’s government did not consult Basarwa before evicting them from CKGR and did not provide HIV/AIDS education, resulting in infections and higher mortality.

How does the paper describe the government’s stated reasons for the evictions?

The government’s position is presented as aiming to protect environmental resources and improve Basarwa living conditions while integrating them into national social and economic life.

What alternative motivations are discussed by opponents of the government’s position?

Opponents are described as contending that the government wanted to start diamond mining after prospecting, contrasting with the environmental and integration explanation.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Stanford