Activities
Addressing
HIV/AIDS
Botswana,
Namibia, South Africa Lesotho and Zimbabwe have the highest HIV
prevalence rates in southern Africa. In the first three countries
the rate among women aged 15-24 is twice as high as the rate among
men in the same age group. Statistics show that since 1995 the number
of orphans in these countries has increased each year due to AIDS,
and it is estimated that well over 75% of all orphans in Botswana,
Namibia and South Africa will have been orphaned due to AIDS by
the year 2010. Life expectancy has fallen considerably in these
countries, e.g. in Namibia from 58,8 years in 1995 to 43,2 years
in 2001.
For years already WIMSA has taken a holistic approach to tackling
HIV/AIDS in that the issue is addressed in all WIMSA programmes
and activities wherever possible. Aspects of the issue covered include
breaking the silence on HIV/AIDS and reducing stigmatisation, prevention
measures, voluntary testing, medical treatment, caring for San infected
with and affected by HIV/AIDS, and the social and economic impacts
of the pandemic on WIMSA’s own capacity and that of its member
organisations. In the period under review these and other HIV/AIDS-related
issues were discussed on an individual level with WIMSA trainees
and as part of their on-the-job training course at WIMSA’s
office, as well as in the Friday afternoon sessions at the office
with the San public relations students, the weekly WIMSA management
meetings, the board meetings, the General Assembly, and other gatherings
in which it was appropriate to take the issues up.
WIMSA team members participated in a number of workshops on HIV/AIDS
during this reporting period. Among the most informative and efficient
of these was the series of workshops organised by the LAC’s
AIDS Law Unit, focusing on legal problems and solutions for people
living with HIV/AIDS, the drafting of wills, access to medication,
and legal issues associated with HIV testing and confidentiality.
The participants were mainly NGO representatives, and all shared
the concern that the majority of HIV-infected Namibians do not have
access to anti-retroviral therapy which substantially prolongs life
and improves the quality of life of people living with HIV –
though the efforts of the Minister of Health and Social Services
to provide for this access are recognised and appreciated in Namibia’s
NGO sector. It was noted that anti-retroviral drugs such as Nevirapine
which considerably reduce mother-to-child transmission of HIV were
available at only two state hospitals in Namibia at the time. The
participants were informed that AIDS activists in Namibia have formed
the Treatment Access Forum (TAF) which aims to make access to affordable
treatments a reality for the ±240 000 Namibians16 living
with HIV/AIDS. It is also planned to establish a pan-African ‘access
to treatment movement’.
The Bernard van Leer Foundation invited WIMSA’s Joram |Useb
to attend an “International Partners Consultation on Children
and HIV/AIDS” in Durban, South Africa, in October 2002, the
aims of which were as follows:
“...
to share information and lessons learned from community-based intervention
programmes that address the situation of children affected by HIV/AIDS;
to gather information on a number of pertinent topics related to
the theme of Children and HIV/AIDS that will form the basis of a
broad-based and multi-year Foundation Initiative …; to make
recommendations towards policy changes at different levels that
are required to address the situation of children affected by HIV/AIDS
with a particular focus on the young child; and to share information
on other HIV/AIDS initiatives and look at ways to build solidarity
to promote children’s rights and to identify ways that Bernard
van Leer Foundation can support this.”(17)
Joram
reported to the participants on, among other things, community-based
projects among San communities in the Omaheke Region.
In 2002 WIMSA submitted a project proposal to Norwegian Church Aid
(NCA) for “A Community-based HIV/AIDS Awareness Campaign Targeting
San in the Omaheke Region, Namibia”. The main activities under
this campaign being implemented by the OST over a three-year period
are described in the proposal as follows:
- Community
awareness-raising through workshops and meetings
- Training
for selected community facilitators
-
A review of local traditional and modern health-care systems
-
Discussions on the gender perspective with a range of stakeholders
-
Production of information and educational materials
-
Human rights awareness-raising through workshop and meetings
-
Condom dispersal through various community outlets
Again
the approach taken is holistic, as this extract from the OST project
progress report to WIMSA and the donor implies:
“This
project goes beyond simple awareness-raising and is an attempt to
integrate a range of approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention, such as
the development of local community-based ‘shops’ where
San people can access healthy food as well as HIV/AIDS and healthy
living advice and condoms.”(18)
Such
a shop is currently under construction at the Sonneblom/Donkerbos
San farm project in the Omaheke.
Since the launch of the HIV/AIDS campaign in September 2002 an OST
HIV Co-ordinator has been appointed to co-ordinate it. Also, according
to the OST report:
“...
extensive networking has been undertaken in order to raise awareness
of the programme among local NGOs, government ministries, the Regional
Council and community representatives ... [and a wide range of literature,
mainly training manuals, has been reviewed].”(19)
A
commercial farm, communal farming areas and a number of San communities
in the Omaheke Region were visited to involve the community members
in determining criteria for the selection of San HIV community facilitators
and nominating them. The OST HIV Co-ordinator has since identified
a number of organisations in the Omaheke and other parts of Namibia
which could and should co-operate with the OST to meet the training
needs of the community facilitators. Regarding this training, the
OST informed WIMSA and NCA as follows:
“The
Oral Testimony History [San] Interviewer has been conducting interviews
about health care and HIV, as a component of the [WIMSA] Oral History
Project. This will be incorporated into the training of facilitators
and with medical staff in clinics in the Region. Some resistance
is being encountered among those interviewed and employers, as there
is a perception that the information given will cause the person
to lose their job, or will be used to report other ethnic groups.
However, with education about the purpose of this project, many
others are willing to share their stories about health and care
for the sick.”(20)
Future
activities under this project will focus on: (1) raising awareness
of the project among clinic nurses, school teachers and police officers
in the Omaheke; (2) addressing the situation of Omaheke San farm
labourers; (3) constructing more San community shops in the region;
and (4) increasing the capacity of school and youth AIDS Awareness
Clubs in the region.
San
Human Rights
Peace in Angola has stabilised the situation of the Namibian San
across the border in West Caprivi, and that of the San in Tsumkwe
District West who seemingly no longer face the threat of thousands
of refugees (mainly Angolan) being relocated to their area. But
several other major San human rights issues have yet to be resolved.
An ongoing obstacle to securing San human rights in Namibia is the
government’s continued denial of offical recognition for the
three (out of five) San traditional authorities still not recognised.
The situation of the G|ui and G||ana who were relocated from the
Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in Botswana has not improved,
and San in Botswana’s Central District now face an imminent
threat of losing rights to communal land which they have occupied
for centuries. The little that is known about the situation of the
San in Angola is extremely disturbing: the majority of them are
said to have no work prospects and no access to education and basic
services, and on the whole their communities are starving, and mortality
among them is ever-increasing due to hunger and untreated illnesses
such as TB, typhoid fever and malaria. WIMSA’s planned assessment
of the situation of the Angolan San will reveal the extent of their
reportedly desolate circumstances and hopefully point to practical
solutions to ease their plight.
San Traditional Authorities
The
Traditional Authority (TA) of the Khwe of West Caprivi, the Ju|’hoansi
TA of Omaheke North and the !Xõó TA of Omaheke South
have repeatedly expressed their grave concern that if government
continues to deny them official recognition, they will remain excluded
from the land boards in charge of allocating communal land to community
members. The San hold the view that the denial of recognition is
weakening their position and strengthening the ongoing domination
of their people by other ethnic groups, which perpetuates San marginalisation
in local political affairs.
In the reporting period the Windhoek-based Legal Assistance Centre
(LAC) continued assisting the Khwe, Ju|’hoansi and !Xõó
TAs in their efforts to secure government’s recognition of
them and thus membership of the Council of Traditional Chiefs and
the relevant land boards. In 2002 the LAC wrote to the Minister
of Regional and Local Government and Housing on behalf of the three
TAs to inform him, inter alia, that the TAs do not accept the reasons
given in the Minister’s letter to them dated 18 July 2001
for refusing to recognise themeir recognition in letters sent to
them by the Minister on 18 July 2001. regarding the Ju|’hoansi
and !Xõó TAs, but on the recognition of the Khwe TA
the Minister responded as follows in his letter to the LAC dated
14 January 2003:
“...
the Council of Traditional Leaders during its 5th Annual Meeting
held between 2-6 December 2002 has mandated its High Level Investigating
Committee to re-investigate and finalise the recognition claim of
the Khoe [sic] Community before end of April 2003.”
Lawyer
Norman Tjombe of the LAC is planning, in consultation with Windhoek
advocate Andrew Corbett, to make representations to the Council
of Traditional Leaders on the Khwe TA recognition, and it is hoped
that the same action can be taken on behalf of the Ju|’hoansi
and !Xõó TAs.
“We
have not asked for any specific piece of land, but we are Namibians
and we want to be recognised. Why does the government want me to
resort under the leadership of Bobo [Ju|’hoan Chief Tsamkxao
‡Oma of Nyae Nyae]? I need an explanation from these officials.”
–
OMAHEKE JU|’HOAN CHIEF FREDERIK LANGMAN
as quoted by reporter Chrispin Inambao
in The Namibian on 20 September 2001, p. 3.
Repatriation
of Khwe Refugees
Approximately
2 500 Khwe fled to Botswana in 1999 and 2000 after secessionist
troubles in the Caprivi Region and their subsequent harassment by
members of Namibia’s Special Field Force and Namibian Defence
Force. In April 2002 the Governments of Botswana and Namibia and
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed
a tripartite agreement that paved the way for the repatriation of
hundreds of Namibian refugees in Botswana, the majority being Khwe.
The signing of the agreement was followed by a visit of Khwe representatives
to the Caprivi to assess whether the security situation now permitted
their people’s return to their home villages in West Caprivi.
Under UNHCR supervision three groups of about 1 000 Khwe refugees
in total were repatriated home from the Dukwe Refugee Camp near
Francistown in Botswana during 2002. A considerable number of these
returnees are currently trying to cope with a lack of water, food,
shelter and access to health services.
Refugee
Relocation to Tsumkwe West – Plan Abandoned?
In
early 2002 Namibia’s Minister of Home Affairs was determined
to relocate approximately 21 000 refugees (chiefly Angolan) from
the Osire Refugee Camp (70km south of the town of Otjiwarongo in
northern Namibia) to a site in the M’kata area of Tsumkwe
District West inhabited by about 4 500 !Kung San. The Minister’s
plan met with fierce opposition from donors, diplomats and especially
the !Kung communities who feared being dominated by the newcomers
who would vastly outnumber them and deplete their water resources,
firewood and game, and whose presence in such vast numbers would
severely hamper the land-use plans of their long-awaited N‡a
Jaqna Conservancy.
These concerns were voiced during two rounds of extensive community
consultation and human rights education facilitated by WIMSA consultant
Richard Pakleppa. Joram |Useb of WIMSA conveyed these concerns to
the 19th Session of the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous
Populations in Geneva, Switzerland, in July 2001. In October 2001
the !Kung and Ju|’hoansi Traditional Authorities of Tsumkwe
Districts West and East respectively aired their concerns in meetings
with the Namibian Ombudswoman and Prime Minister. The then Prime
Minister, Hage Geingob, told the San delegates that a final decision
on the relocation had not yet been reached, and reassured them with
the promise that in future he would visit their communities to consult
with them personally.
It is assumed that the lobbying undertaken by the San and their
supporting parties, and the rapid progress made towards lasting
peace in Angola after the killing of UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi
in early 2002, contributed to the Namibian Government either freezing
or abandoning its plan to set up a refugee camp in M’kata.
The government has yet to inform the San leaders of Tsumkwe West
as to what has become of the plan.
The UNHCR Representative in Namibia convened a meeting with donors
in Windhoek in March 2003 to discuss, among other things, the situation
of the refugees residing in the above-mentioned Osire camp. The
donors were informed that Angolan refugees at the camp consulted
at the end of 2002 had expressed a strong desire to return to their
home country: “A survey was taken amongst the refugees in
February 2003, which showed that of the 15 667 refugees questioned
at Osire camp, 96% wanted to return to their country, 80% at the
earliest possible opportunity”.21 However, “[they] had
access to food, clinics and schools [and] were unlikely to sacrifice
this to return to their country if similar infrastructure was not
available”.22 The repatriation will commence in June 2003.
To WIMSA’s knowledge there are no San at the Osire camp.
The
San of the Central Kalahari
Game Reserve (CKGR)
Negotiating Team member Roy Sesana at the
site of what once was his homestead in the
Molapo area of the CKGR in 2002.
The
CKGR Negotiating Team (NT), consisting of representatives of the
CKGR residents, the First People of the Kalahari (FPK), WIMSA Botswana,
Ditshwanelo (Botswana Centre for Human Rights) and the Botswana
Council of Churches has continued its action against the relocation
of CKGR San and Bakgalagadi communities to sites outside the CKGR,
their ancestral land.
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