Duma Gideon Boko. A Victory for Human Rights.

Today, on Human Rights Day, the soul of Gaoberekwe Pitseng will finally rest in perfect peace, laid to rest in his ancestral home Central Kalahari Game Reserve. In our culture, the right to be buried in one's ancestral land is both sacred and universal, it should never be denied to anyone.

Meeting with our people in the CKGR today was bittersweet. A decision so clear and fundamental was unnecessarily delayed, reflecting a past disregard for human rights. This moment serves as a poignant reminder of the importance of upholding dignity and respect for all individuals.

Our government remains committed to placing human rights at the core of its policies and ensuring that such justices are never repeated.

Today, human rights prevailed, and both the family and the nation can finally be at peace.

May Gaoberekwe's Soul Rest in Peace.

President Duma Gideon Boko, during his address at the funeral of Mr. Gaoberekwe Pitseng today, summarized the abuse suffered by the Basarwa (San, Bushmen) under the previous government, including its judiciary.
President Boko declared an end to the human rights violations against the Basarwa and all people in Botswana. He further stated that the highest court in the land, the Court of Appeal, and its judges, are responsible for perpetuating human rights violations through judgments that lack humanity and compassion for marginalized individuals, President Boko vowed to address the situation with urgency.

Quotation from article in Mmegi.

"The President further said even as Butale, as Minister focuses internationally, he must understand that the international role is fed from within. “What we do here, what we do to our people, what we do to the indigenous people, those people from the Central Kgalagadi Game Reserve ( CKGR), what we do to others across the country is what will make their life difficult or easy.”

Referring to the issue concerning Pitseng Gaoberekwe, the Mosarwa man who has been in a Ghanzi morgue since December 2021, President Boko said his government is not going to justify the failure to burry a human being at his natural habitat where he has desired to be buried simply because he belongs to a particular ethnic group."

Sunday Standard, Khonani Ontebetse

The government has for the first time conceded that the decision to relocate Basarwa from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) was a policy blunder.

The government acknowledged in its latest white paper on the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Review of the Constitution of Botswana that mistakes were made in relocating Basarwa from their ancestral land. The government even fell short of acknowledging its elaborate plan to literally wipe out Basarwa from the Constitution when in 2005, it deliberately ‘deleted’ section 14(3) (c) which supported Basarwa’s constitutional rights.

The 2023 annual reports of SEMK Botswana have not yet been written, something has not yet been written in the journal for some time. The reason is that a Botswanan student is staying with us for a period of three months, between her high school final exams and a choice for a possible further study at a university.