I think there is a misunderstanding about my name. I am not connected with SI, and I am not Mr. Stephen Corry. My name is Corrie and I am a woman. And no, I do not get a fat salary, in fact, my interest in the Basarwa is costing me money.

I can quite understand the misunderstanding, the names are very simular. I was waiting for this to happen.

I want to thank all the people who have contributed to this discussion, for the information it has given me. It helps me to get a clear picture of the situation and the concern people feel for the Basarwa.

We need to develop as a nation.

Thank you very much The News Guru for the speech. Its quite inspiring. Where can I find the rest of it?

Deaf you're making a good point.

If Basarwa are fighting to live by their own traditional ways, why do they need a borehole which is part of civilisation? Why do they use guns to hunt in the reserves? Because their own traditional ways can't sustain them any longer! Those people are suffering!

Most Basarwa have assimilated into the modern community and are reaping the benefits of Botswana's good governance, why should we deny the rest of them good opportunities?

Mr Corrie we know its your livelyhood, bread and butter to protect indegeous populations, your pay check propably emanates from along those lines, and you will always want to make a case.

But i believe in my country's case the government is striving for a good cause. Stop calling Basarwa ''bushmen'' and they are violating their own rights not the Botswana government.

I think Deaf is right. Botswana need to develop so does the Bushman? We are not a country that would just take actions for the interest of Business. I think there is more than diamond mine allegations. We know what will happen if we are to move the Bushman from Games for mining. The U Europeans would not buy our diamonds and we will be burned from the market just like mink coats.

we have the right to live where we want.

An old African story.

Long ago, a man and a woman got married. The woman's only possession was a small box. She told her husband not to open this box. One day when the woman was out in the veld, the man opened the box and found there was nothing in it. When his wife returned, he said: "Look, there is nothing in the box. So why was I not allowed to open it?"
The woman said nothing. In the box were here memories of the past, the things that she had learned from her parents, who in their turn had learned them from their parents and ancestors. The woman's memory was from that moment a complete blank and she never spoke again.

It appears that goodwilling people who want a better life for the Basarwa, in that process unknowingly also can eliminate the Basarwa's knowledge about how to survive in dry, harsh environmental circumstances. Look at Kenya, for example, where the upcoming aridity destroys more and more land with disastrous consequences for people and animals. We should be more respectfull to the wishes of the Basarwa who want to continue their culture (in and outside the CKGR). Because in the future all other people are going to need their knowledge about how to survive the coming drought.

I respect people who wish the Basarwa a better life then they live at the moment very much. I think they are very good and decent people. With this contribution I just want to add another aspect to the discussion.

Stephen Corry

Mr Corry my comments are directed at you and SI.
I have been following this issue very closely for a number of years. I have come to the conclusion this issue is not about Baswara anymore. It is about battles of egos between SI and Botswana Government. Both of you are tryin to outdo each other thru media statements and PR stunts. Basarwa have lost out big time.

SI should stop vilifying the diamond industry. Stop the silly anti botswana government campaigns i.e. protesting outside the Botswana embassy in london. Believe me things like this are harming the advacement of Basarwa.

Botswana government should also come to its sense and stop concentrating on trying to counter everything done or said by SI about Botswana. It should instead come upon with good policies to better the lifes of Basarwa and stop mistreating Basarwa. Basarwa are victims of actions taken by Bots gov to try to quash SI.

These people expect the government to use the national taxes to provide amenities in their "preferred" habitat; Taxes which they wish to not contribute to with so much impunity.

These people are counted when Botswana's economy is valued and because of their reluctance to move away from this livelihood, Botswana loses a lot of value in the global market.

Speech by Former President of Botswana Sir Ketumile Masire about Conflict Resolution in Democratic Republic of Congo on University of California Television.

Question 1
Looking back on your accomplishments is there anything that you would change?

Ans by Masire
I will not be human, if there were nothing that I would change. Yes there are a few things that I would change, for instance, before we implement a project in Botswana we have to have an environmental impact study, and so we wanted to use surplus water from the Okavango to dam it so that we control the flow instead of just getting dissipated in the wild Kalahari sands. And we are very democratic in approach so we approached the Maun people and talked them into agreeing that we use the opportunity to manage a resource but we don't leave in Maun we live in Gaborone. The tourism operators live with people in Maun, they know their traditions, their fear and hopes and they told them that their grandfathers live in the rivers and if its tempered with, the Gods will fall upon them. The people became agitated and we decided we have already assembled a team there to construct dams to de-hold water, if there is surplus water it gets into dam 1 and if there is extra its released in dam 2 and people just rose up their arms and said OVER OUR DEAD BODIES. And as a democratic president, I yielded and we had to pay the team that had assembled there a demobilization of 8 million Pula. You may not know what Pula is but its a lot of money. Thats when I felt, I should have been despotic, I should just have gone ahead because that was the right thing to do. But I did the wrong thing, I listened to them.

So is it good to listen to Basarwa or it is good to just go ahead and do whats good for the nation?

Question 2
If you were a teaching, what would you want to communicate to your students about peace building.

Ans by Masire
Well I think the first thing I would say to them is that Norman is an Island. Even Mon red octane has failed. Therefore they must realize that the more the world develops, the more we become citizens of a common village and therefore we bare one another responsibility. There are things that are happening to humanity at large that really oat not to be allowed to happen. I'll give you an example of education, there are countries where only 40% of the children are receiving education, primary education and primary education is primary. And you can imagine a child born in this day and age, if he grows to be 70 years old in 70 years time especially if you look back 20, 10 years back and you see how much progress has been made and the progress that has been made is not in arithmetic progression but in a geometric progression. And therefore you will feel if you don't send children at school now you are really shifting them to the animal kingdom from the human kingdom. Therefore I would say that it is our common responsibility as human beings to make sure that some of this things don't happen in which ever country.

So is this responsibility practiced in Botswana? Are we human enough as Batswana to ignore kids mumbling in the bushes while they are supposed to be at school?

Dear Deaf,

Of course I accept your apology, I can quite understand that if one is very much involved in a subject, like you are, that one uses very strong terms, too strong at a second thought. No problem.

Thank you very much for your explanation why you feel that the Basarwa should be integrated with the communities outside the CKGR. It is a lot which you write, so it will take some time for me to take it all in proparly. I shall have a good look at it and maybe come back to it at a later time.

To Corrie

It has come to my attention that my writing was somehow hurting. Honestly I never intended to insult or hurt anybody. So I want you to understand that I was trying to pitch up my opinion, though I can see now that it appears that I was verbally rude and disrespectful. I hope you accept my apology and thank you for your feedback.

Back to the discussion.

When I mentioned Tigers, I was trying to prove that animals can vanish if we don't take care of them. It does not matter whether they are traded or killed for food because the fact remains, they vanish and never come back again. As to mining, honestly I do not have much information on that. My argument was more into the relocation of Basarwa either it is for nature conservation or whatever reason, I very much believe that they deserve better than the living conditions they are living in right now and the government has the right to say no if the living standards are not good enough for the people.

It is the government's responsibility to see to it that the people of Botswana live a healthy life, get free education etc. But those needs have limits, looking at the cost and other reasons known by the government when they are to be provided in certain areas. For instance, education need schools and schools need electricity, water and other facilities. There has to be good roads to cater for transport etc. Not to mention the population because certain amenities are provided to an area with a certain population.

Looking into these costs plus the fact that they (Basarwa) need to change, what should the government do? Should the government abandon them? Definitely no. They are Batswana and they deserve more. They need to be educated and shown how life is in the new world.

As to boreholes watering animals and providing showers, flash toilets and swimming pools for Safari, I would say that safaris are there for a purpose i.e. exploration etc, they are not there to stay permanently. So their need is less as compared to a village that needs to be developed. As to animals, I mentioned nature conservation before which is one of the reason why they are watered. Basarwa are not denied the right to water, actually they were provided and they neglected so that is not the government's problem. The only problem is the people who continue to brainwash them (Basarwa) and convince them to stay in Games just for their benefit in terms of News, Law battles etc. If these people care for Basarwa as much as I do and as much as the government of Botswana does, they would consider educating them to help them civilize so that they become like them (Journalists, lawyers etc) instead of using them as a potential tip to pursue their carriers.

We were relocated from our lands to move to the village because the government did not consider those lands a good place to provide amenities as developments, health and education. We did not argue and fight the government even though we were to leave our lovely and peaceful lands. It was a good move for everyone looking at the fact that right now I'm in Germany because of education. Who knows what would have happened if the villagers refused to move from the lands. Obviously I would be somewhere in the bushes lying down under a tree after drinking Chibuku.

We should do everything to develop our nation. We need those Bushman in the system, we need Bushman doctors, Bushman engineers and Bushman politicians and someday maybe a Bushman president. It is frustrating sometimes to do so much for your country while others don't even care about anything. I'm about to graduate in eight months and become a doctor and that's something I did from the bottom of my heart to help my country but some people do not even care about this country. There are a few people who work hard I mean very hard to lift the living standards of our people but the rest are just dragging their feet waiting for miracles.

Let the Bushman move from CKGR and live a better life that will benefit this country.

Deaf does not want to upset anyone, but does not practice his/ her own intentions.
The tiger did not nearly die out because they were eaten, but because they were killed by traders and because their environment was distroyed.
Mine activities are not good for wild animals because of the noise from explosions, traffic to and from the mine, environmental damage, to mention a few points.
Boreholes closed for the people in the CKGR are used for watering animals and new boreholes are being made for them.
Safari Parks are created with new boreholes, to supply the guests with showers, flushed toilets and swimmingpools.
I can very well understand that Batswana want to move forward in their civilization and I do not deny them this right. But I hope everybody will be given the chance to civilize and develop in there own pace and their own choice of which developments they want to embrace.
Though my name is not crazy dummy, I have reacted to Deaf's contribution to this topic. And I have read and researched my facts very well.
Thank you.

Without your respect sir or madam your headline is wrong and you are talking nonsense. Where are you from, Earth or somewhere else. I hate it when people write nonsense without facts. I don't mean to upset anyone but the true fact is that we are not living on the stone age. This is the new world we are living in, we expect people to improve their living standards and stop crying and fighting to kill wild animals. We need to conserve those.

The people you see advocating for Basarwa do not live in game reserves, they live in smart places and in their countries people do not live in games. The funny part about this world; today people wake up and sing nature conservation and animal right and when it comes to situations like this they forget everything about nature conservation. Please we need these animals, our kids need to see those animals. Many animal species has vanished because of lack of conservation. Take for instance "TIGERS", Of the eight species only four are surviving today (Global Tiger, 2007). So do you want the same thing to happen to our lovely animals.

You should argue based on facts not just saying whatever you think. Ask yourself "how many people today live with animals" The population of people expands and if they are to live amongst these animals and allowed to hunt as they wish, how many animals will be available at CKGR in 2050?. Use your common sense and think for the future of Botswana. Do not confuse yourself please this is the real world ITS NOT AVATAR!!!. Yes in moves of course you are allowed to do movie tricks but in reality you better think wise because mistakes are not reversible. When you kill all animals you wont replace them, they will be gone forever. And do not forget about tourism.

Botswana is so lucky to have diamonds, what if diamonds get vanished tomorrow, will we promote Basarwa as tourism? I am not trying to be rude, I just want to raise a point. If diamonds go we will sell tourism that if we manage to conserve what we have now.

I know you think I'm off the topic, yes the article talks about digging boreholes to supply Basarwa with water. So I wonder if they say they want to live in game reserves and practice their culture why are theyfighting the government for water. I thought they would live as they did in the past. That is to prove that we are living in the new world, you cannot bring the past to the present.

One thing people need to understand is that nowadays go na le selo gatwe puso. The reason we have that is to guide us people to safe guard the future of our country. They make principles and those principles have to be obeyed because they are made to benefit the entire nation, not a particular group of people.If there were; right now people of Jwaneng and Orapa will be the only one benefiting from diamonds but we are not like that. That is why the government does not tolerate to be controlled by certain tribes.

Re Batswana re a lekana. No one should be treated special, we both bleed and we both benefit from what he country produce so please think before you talk. If I was to talk from the bottom of my heart I would say " Shut the hell up and read facts you crazy dummy"

Honestly, its time the bushman moved towards civilisation, government has an obligation to provide for all batswana education, heath etc... do they expect their children and future generations to continue living without these ammenities? Were talking about people here, not some statue that should be kept in a museum, Survival must get serious..