WIMSA Board Meetings

The first of the biannual meetings of the WIMSA Board of Trustees was held in D’Kar, Botswana, in June 2002. Board members of WIMSA Botswana and First People of the Kalahari (FPK) also participated as their combined board meeting was to follow this regional WIMSA board meeting. This meeting was also attended by San community leaders, thus a total of 28 San were present.

Incoming Chairperson of the board
Kxao Moses ‡Oma addressing the 2002
GA which elected him to the post.

Joram |Useb, Counterpart to the Regional WIMSA Co-ordinator, opened the meeting with a report on WIMSA activities, focusing on the intensive communication between Trócaire Angola, the YMCA Angola and the regional WIMSA office that flowed from the workshop WIMSA oganised for San from Angola, Namibia and South Africa in Windhoek in early 2002.

WIMSA Botswana Co-ordinator Mathambo Ngakaeaja reported on the latest developments in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), and the members of all three boards reconfirmed the CKGR Negotiating Team’s mandate to continue negotiating.

Elfriede Gaeses, a Hai||om community worker in Namibia and an advisor to the African Indigenous Women’s Organisation (AIWO), provided background information on this organisation established in 1998 with the main aims of promoting women’s rights in Africa and empowering African women to represent themselves at all levels. AIWO members appointed Elfriede to the post of AIWO Advisor for Southern Africa in 2002. The organisation has since asked Elfriede to organise a conference for indigenous women from across southern Africa. As WIMSA is a San-owned organisation serving San only, to be able to fulfil this task Elfriede will require assistance from the Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC). The board mandated Elfriede along with WIMSA board member Victoria Geingos and FPK board member Qose Xuikuri to organise a pre-plenary conference for San women specifically.

Table 6: Members of the 2002/03 WIMSA Board of Trustees

Table 7: Alternate Members of the 2002/03 WIMSA Board of Trustees

The first WIMSA board meeting in 2002 closed with a long discussion on San intellectual property rights linked to the the Hoodia gordonii and the Didima Rock Art Centre.
In its meeting convened during the November 2002 GA the newly elected board reached only one definite decision, i.e. to mandate the WIMSA team to continue the process of assisting the Angolan San.
As follow-up on matters was needed, another board meeting was called in December 2002. In view of the temporary discord that erupted during the GA, the members thought it appropriate to discuss the meaning of ‘empowerment’. They concurred that ‘empowerment’ goes hand in hand with ‘responsibility’ and ‘accountability’, and that people who do not follow rules and regulations as stipulated in the constitutions and policies governing them are not truly ‘empowered’. It was also emphasised in this meeting that San development workers should always put their skills to use in a positive way, and that one should take into account that a highly educated person may not necessarily use her/his knowledge wisely.
The draft WIMSA work plan for 2003 was discussed in this follow-up meeting and approved with the addition of a visit by Khwe-speaking San to communities in Zambia in March.
In the same meeting intellectual property rights were discussed again at length. The board resolved that the San should accept the invitation to participate in the planning of the new rock art exhibition at the Iziko Museums in South Africa. With regard to the Hoodia, negotiation options for the utilisation of the milestone payments and royalties were discussed and suggestions were made on what organisations should be represented by the envisaged San Hoodia Trust. The board was aware of the importance of not underestimating the difficulties involved in deciding how the payments and royalties will be divided and ensuring that the money is spent as agreed. In order to explore what role WIMSA should play prior to the official opening of the Didima Rock Art Centre, it was resolved that a delegation composed of both board and WIMSA team members should join the South African San Council in the next workshop with the centre representatives.

From left: WIMSA trainee Tommy Busakhwe and board members Victoria Geingos and David Naude in the first board meeting in the reporting period, held at D’Kar, Botswana, in June 2002.

Board members (from left) Awelina Chifako, Xhwaa Qubi, a guest from South Africa and Zeka Shiwarra in the follow-up board meeting held in Windhoek in December 2002.

From left: WIMSA legal advisor Roger Chennells, WIMSA Botswana Co-ordinator Mathambo Ngakaeaja and other board members in the board’s follow-up meeting in Windhoek.

WIMSA board Vice-Chairperson Andries Steenkamp and Treasurer Victoria Geingos in the follow-up meeting.

It was decided that if the WIMSA board was satisfied with the contracts as amended and signed by the contributors to the book The San and the State who had initially refused to sign the “Media and Research Contract of the San of Southern Africa”, the board Chairperson would also sign. There was a discussion on reports that some San community leaders as a rule do not insist on the contract being signed, and that some academics had requested a separate research contract. The board agreed that the contract should remain a combined ‘general purpose’ one, but that further training should be provided to San community leaders to foster their understanding of the importance of the contract and its power if it is strengthened by San working together to get it signed.

“We have come a long way in five years – from no control to the situation today when most people are happy to sign the contract. But the contract by itself is not enough. San communities and leadership need training on heritage and culture.”

– WIMSA board member commenting on the board’s discussion on the
“Media and Research Contract of the San of Southern Africa”.

Following a recommendation that staff of San organisations and their support organisations should sign an employee research contract, the board requested the WIMSA team to see to the drafting of such. The team acted immediately and now awaits comment on the “Draft Employee Research Contract Relating to the San of Southern Africa” drawn up by WIMSA legal advisor Roger Chennells.

The paralegal programme that WIMSA is planning to set up in close co-operation with Namibia’s Legal Assistance Centre (LAC) was also discussed. The board views this programme as a significant step towards halting violations of San human rights and also as a promising mechanism for San to use to acquire identification documents and information about laws affecting their daily life. The board discussed the questions of what criteria should apply in selecting the San men and women to receive paralegal training, what funds will be needed and where paralegal offices should be set up.

The final discussion in this board meeting had to do with the need for a Regional Tourism Officer to take responsibility for advising and facilitating training for the participants in all San community-based tourism endeavours, as well as for marketing these endeavours. As requested the WIMSA team plans to draw up terms of reference for the post, in close co-operation with !Khwa ttu Co-ordinator Michael Daiber, and set about raising funds for it and identifying a suitable person to fill it.

The board members, the WIMSA team and WIMSA legal advisor Roger Chennels all expressed great satisfaction that this meeting had accomplished so much, and it was suggested that this was made possible by the committed and effective manner in which all the participants had conducted themselves.

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