SASI acknowledges the support of the following funding agencies:
Brot Für die Welt (BROT), Department for International
Development (DFID),
Broederlijk Delen (BD), Bischöfliches Hilfswerk Misereor E.V., Breadline Africa,
First Rand Foundation, UNESCO Cultural Policies Division, Working Group of
Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA), Norwegian Church Aid (NCA),
and Evangelische Entwicklungs Dienste (EED).
The SASI CRAM programme wishes to acknowledge the work and co-operation of the following organisations and persons:
The South African National Parks. Prof Anne Rasa of Kalahari Trails for co-operation on the tracking project. Dr Kevin Kuykendal of the Wits Department of Anatomy and Palaeontology who assisted with scanning of the 1936 photographic material. Regional network associates Willemien Leroux (TOCADI, Botswana) and Magdalena Brörman (WIMSA, Windhoek).
Community researchers in 2001 were:
Anna Aenki Kassie, |Una Rooi, Khais Brow, Piet Rooi, Jacob and Lena Malgas,
Karel VetPiet Kleinman, the late Antas Kruiper Kariseb, the late |Galides
Kruiper Org, Dawid Kariseb, Anna Swarts, Annie Koerant, Elsie Vaalbooi, Johanna
Sauls Koper, Andries Olyn, Lena Booysen, Jantjies Malgas, the late Maria Malgas,
the late Jan Jantjies and Hendrina Malgas.
VISION
The San peoples of southern Africa will achieve permanent control over their lives, resources and destiny.
MISSION
SASI is an independent, Non-Governmental
Organisation that mobilises resources for the benefit of the San peoples of
southern Africa as mandated by the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in
Southern Africa (WIMSA) and other San organisations.
We do this through activities such as community mobilisation, fundraising,
lobbying, networking, training, building strategic alliances and capacity
building on issues related to culture, language, income-generation, health and
social environment, and land rights.
‡Khi. !U. |Arosi are the N|u names of trees in the
southern Kalahari. In !Ui San languages there is no generic word for a tree as
each individual tree matters. Each tree is an ecosystem unto itself. Each tree
features in the memories of N||n‡e elders during their long exile into townships
and poverty.
Now a new generation is discovering the meaning of trees. At Platfontein, new
trees will be planted for the next generation of !Xun and Khwe people to enjoy.
In Siyanda District, San youth go with the elders to hear stories of how
previous generations cared for the land and lived wisely in the shade of the
different trees. SASI is committed to this process of remembering the past and
caring for the future.
about the past, about the future
SASI's work is often about the past. Land claims and restitution rely on the
memory of the elders, on maps of the land and on continuity of occupation.
People prove their claims with old photographs, with their stories, their
language, and their heritage.
SASI's work is also about the future: about the youth. Many of these young
people have never seen a wild animal, have never been in a trance dance, and
know little about how to benefit from the resources offered by trees in the
desert. They are re-inventing what it means to be San. They are redefining
themselves.
In Botswana, San youth are learning how to handle Global Positioning Systems to
chart the territory of their elders. In South Africa, San youth use koki pens to
trace the family trees of their relatives. In Namibia, San youth learn about
managing conservancy areas and how to record life histories with tape recorders
and computers. These are the fruits of the SASI-WIMSA tree. In all three
countries youth are providing the motivation for turning their ancestral
languages into written media with standardised alphabets.
about the youth
SASI's Annual Review 2002 is dedicated to the San youth. In December 2001, there
was a historic gathering of !Xun, Khwe and ‡Khomani youth at Platfontein. They
called their jamboree Boomvisie - Tree Vision. At the end of the encounter the
youth asked to meet with their leaders, the San Council of South Africa. San
Council spokesperson Petrus Vaalbooi, a ‡Khomani activist, listened to the words
of the youth. They called for inclusivity, democracy, anti-racism, gender equity
and accountable leadership.
Vaalbooi told the youth: "It is the tall tree that catches the wind. You must be
brave to stand by your convictions. The world will test you". But just as the
tree survives the biting wind, extreme heat, bitter cold and blowing sands, so
can a whole generation survive when it is part of a bigger entity. The San
family tree has its roots in the soil. It is willing to bear up to the
challenges that will try to knock it over.
"It is the tall tree that catches the wind."
Cape Town
Rein Dekker Co-ordinator
Meryl-Joy Wildschut Deputy Co-ordinator
Dewald Coetzee Administrative Assistant
Roger Chennells Legal Programme
Nigel Crawhall Culture and Heritage Management Programme
Facilitators
Prof. Mariaane Roux Resource Library Programme
Abubakr Shabudien Website and Materials Development
Yasmine Jacobs Archivist and Computer Training
Margery Tyack Bookkeeping and Financial Administration
Glynis Lawrence Bookkeeping and Financial Administration
Rodney Calvert Organisational Development
Northern Cape
Tomsen Nore Trainee Development Facilitator
Amanda Swart Gender Advocacy
Rieden Dankane Resettlement Fieldworker
Upington and Sîsen Craft Project
Eleanor McGregor Ethno-ecologist
Anna Festus Youth Facilitator
Magdalena Kassie CRAM Fieldworker
Gertuida Sauls CRAM Fieldworker
Betta Steyn Sîsen Craft Project
Lizelle Kleynhans Tracker training
Karel Kleinman Ethno-ecological Research and Training
Nanette Fleming Literacy
International Partners
Hugh Brody Open Channels, UK
Bill Kemp Strata 360, Canada
Valter Blazevic Strata 360, Canada
In September 2001, representatives from !Xun, Khwe and ‡Khomani
communities met at Platfontein to establish the first South African San Council.
Communities were well represented by various sectors such as youth, elders and
members of the Communal Property Associations (CPAs). Also present were two
representatives of the KwaZulu-Natal San. At this historic meeting each
community selected three representatives to serve on the council, and the
KwaZulu-Natal San will have observer status until they are more organised.
The formation of the South African San Council was in accordance with a decision
taken at a San Regional meeting held in Cape Town in November 1999. At this
meeting SASI was requested to investigate the feasibility of establishing a San
council by holding a series of consultative meetings and workshops with
community leaders.
on the agenda
In subsequent workshops the San Council has developed and adopted its
constitution, elected office bearers and formulated policies and procedures.
Portfolio Committees have been established in the following areas: Heritage,
Finance, Development and Media Liaison. The primary task of the Council since
its inception has been negotiations with the Council for Scientific and
Industrial Research (CSIR) on behalf of the San of southern Africa, under the
umbrella of the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa (WIMSA).
These negotiations revolve around sharing the profits that are likely to be the
result of the patenting and commercialisation of a slimming drug made from the
Hoodia plant.
An additional matter of concern for the San Council has been the negotiations
with the KwaZulu-Natal Bureau for Natural Resources regarding the San Rock Art
Project in the Drakensberg. This project has unfortunately been planned to an
advance stage without consultation with the San.
In the lead-up to the new Constitution of 1996, South
African legislators searched for a solution to the divisive language policy of
the Apartheid era. Legislation was passed to create the Pan South African
Language Board (PanSALB) which would unite language groups and co-ordinate
language development, the promotion of multilingualism, and the protection of
language rights.
PanSALB set up fourteen National Language Bodies, one for each official
language. In addition, Language Bodies were set up for Sign Language, Heritage
Languages, and, in 1999, for the Khoe and San Languages. There are about ten
thousand South Africans who speak one of the Khoe, Ju or !Ui languages in the
country. These include Khoekhoegowab (Nama), !Xun, Khwedam and N|u. There may
still be speakers of Griqua (Xirigowab) but these have yet to be positively
identified.
The process of creating the Khoe and San Language Body and providing training
for its members was fully supported by SASI. However, the Khoe and San Language
Body remains fairly weak despite support from PanSALB. There is inadequate
technical support and limited internal capacity for budgeting and operations.
This is compounded by the absence of a secretariat to support the structure, and
of a clear development and training programme for its members.
The tiny N|u speaking community of twenty people in Siyanda District elected two
representatives to sit on the Khoe and San Language Body. Aenki Kassie and
Johanna Koper were elected and have attended several meetings. PanSALB has yet
to acknowledge their election to the Khoe and San Language Body.
challenges
During the period under review, the Khoe and San Language Body had several
meetings to review its progress and write letters to various government
departments. Khoe and San Language Body Chairperson, Willem Damarah, has written
to the government complaining of the use of the word Gariep for the Orange River
complex. The correct name, Kai !Garib, Damarah argues, is being marginalised in
favour of an Afrikaans version of the name.
The Northern Cape government commissioned research into the implementation of a
curriculum in the indigenous languages. A single community pilot was launched in
!Gupus in the Richtersveld. The Khoe and San Language Body has pushed for an
expansion of this pilot programme. The government is exploring the logistics for
launching Khoekhoegowab initial literacy projects in several villages.
A more complex and urgent problem exists for the !Xun and Khwedam languages
which do not have set official orthographies. WIMSA sponsored an important
meeting of Khwedam, Ju|'hoansi, !Xun and other San language groups in Windhoek
in April 2001. The meeting, representing San speakers of the different languages
from three countries, made a series of recommendations which are contained in
the Penduka Declaration. Amongst these was a call for inter-governmental
co-operation to ensure a single Khwedam and ||Anikhwedam alphabet for the three
countries, and an initiative to standardise !Xun along the lines of the Ju
alphabet currently used in Namibia by Ju|'hoansi speakers. The Namibian
Institute for Educational Development sponsored a joint Ju|'hoansi and !Xun
workshop on orthographic review in January 2002. It is however not clear who is
going to take responsibility for supporting the San activists in achieving the
required orthographic standardisation. This is an area that requires urgent
attention.
There remains an urgent need for San leaders to develop capacity to work with
government. Not only must they rapidly become experts in a number of fields, but
they must contend with the frustrating problems of weak communication and
capacity on the part of government and para-governmental structures.
SASI itself has adopted the policy of supporting the development of skills of its staff as well as members of the community who have shown leadership potential and the willingness to serve their respective communities through the various projects. Training, in the period under review, has included developing computer literacy, secretarial skills, bookkeeping skills, and obtaining drivers' licenses.
This project was initiated to assist youth and women from South African San communities to build advocacy capacity. By stimulating the formation and organisational development of sustainable structures, youth and women can help defend indigenous peoples' rights to equality and cultural survival.
aims
The project aims to achieve the following results:
During the year under review, the youth participated in
various workshops and meetings. It became evident from these gatherings that
most San youth have low self-esteem. This results in a lack of vision and in
exposure to high levels of violence and substance abuse. In addition, low
self-esteem results in the youth undervaluing cultural identity.
The year culminated in an historic summit of youth from three San communities at
the beginning of the Christmas vacation period. The summit allowed youth to
reflect on their history and to begin to explore the challenges and
opportunities that face them in a positive way.
summit resolutions
Some of the key resolutions to emerge from the summit were:
The !Xun and Khwe women's group held discussions, workshops and excursions that explored the themes of identity and the role of San women in their communities, as well as in today's world. As the development of the !Xun and Khwe township has begun, themes such as resettlement of the community, women in construction (with the view to women being involved in the development of their town) and access to service providers have also been discussed.
aims
The aims of these theme-based workshops were twofold:
Youth activists Anna Festus, of the ‡Khomani community,
and Billies Pamo, trainee social worker of the !Xun and Khwe Communal Property
Association, facilitated initiatives amongst the youth. Amanda Swart facilitated
the Women's group at Platfontein. SASI partners in this project were the Family
and Marriage Council of South Africa (FAMSA), the National Institute for Crime
Prevention and Re-integration of Offenders (NICRO) and School Leavers
Opportunity Training (SLOT).
The long-term goal of the Resource Library Programme is to
facilitate a process of sharing library and research information with
cross-border San communities, as well as other communities supported by SASI.
More specifically, the project aims to establish a quality resource base
containing historical, ethnographic, anthropological, archaeological,
developmental and practical knowledge. These resources will be made available to
San communities both in South Africa and throughout southern Africa. The
existence of such a comprehensive resource base has the potential to contribute
towards strengthening both SASI support organisations and regional structures.
Over the past two years considerable progress has been made towards the
development of a quality resource base, despite severe budgetary limitations. A
review has been made of relevant literature on the southern African San in the
fields of anthropology, archaeology and participatory research methodology,
amongst others. Primary and secondary sources have been catalogued and entered
into a new computer programme, which is user-friendly and easy to access.
Government information, such as Government Gazettes (on issues related to
minority rights, rural development, access to land, education, health, welfare
and pensions) have been collected and filed. SASI has also built up a collection
of newspaper clippings that record significant events in recent San history.
Since the new computer programme has been installed, over 800 records have been
captured onto the new database. This programme has been designed to handle
sophisticated queries with relative ease. The library also contains some
valuable books which are out of print.
During the last quarter of 2001, SASI contracted a
consultant to redesign and develop the san.org.za website. The idea was to
increase the web presence of all the San peoples throughout southern Africa. In
October a preliminary plan was presented to the board, which proposed the
development of an online San Gateway that would include all WIMSA member
organisations and service structures. The website was successfully transferred
to a different host server and the new site went online.
The san.org.za website has become very active. During the first four months
online, the website enjoyed more than 32 000 server requests with the average
weekly requests numbering 1 640. Most visitors to the site during this period
were from the USA, followed by South Africa, France, Germany and the
Netherlands. Web visitors from Iceland, Cyprus and Vanuatu also logged on.
Internet users from educational institutions and NGOs accounted for a
significant part of visitors to the site. The development of the san.org.za
website is a major task facing SASI. We expect the site to grow significantly in
the year ahead.
challenges
SASI anticipates the existing collection's expansion, through the purchasing of
selected books and through networking with institutions and researchers located
in the Western Cape. Resources will be made available to organisations involved
in research and development through the establishment of the san.org.za website
which will be continually updated. It is envisaged that the website will include
information on all aspects of San life and history.
Cultural Resources Auditing and Management Project (CRAM) came about at the request of the traditional leader, Dawid Kruiper, and was confirmed by a needs analysis with the core ‡Khomani community. It is conducted under contract with the ‡Khomani San Communal Property Association.
phases of the CRAM programme
The work on CRAM is divided into phases. Each phase makes provision for sharing CRAM's experience with other communities:
Phase of Programme |
Implementation schedule |
Current status |
|
1997-1998 |
completed |
|
1999-2001 |
completed |
|
2001-2003 |
underway |
|
2002 - 2005 |
project plan developed, funding being sought |
|
2001 - 2005 |
first workshops completed, materials produced |
CRAM reached the end of its second phase in 2001. For three years, a partnership
between three NGOs, SASI, Open Channels and Strata 360, has helped the ‡Khomani
San of the southern Kalahari identify their threatened cultural resources and
intellectual property. An inventory has been compiled and samples have been
collected in the form of interviews, photographs, maps, posters and
ethno-botanical / ecological research.
Phase 3, the most complex component of the project, was initiated in 2001-2002.
This involves creating a bridge between the elders with the knowledge and the
youth looking to draw on their heritage as a way of building a sustainable
future. Youth look to CRAM for livelihood skills (tracking, ecological
knowledge, heritage interpretation), for a sense of self and a sense of
community (genealogy, history, ethnography).
CRAM helps people rebuild their lives after the era of apartheid, and with
trying to change the way people think of the Kalahari and the people who live
there. There are a number of opportunities for the Southern Kalahari San to
exploit their cultural and indigenous knowledge systems to build a better
future. Examples of these include: using traditional knowledge as a bridge to
advanced literacy and science education, managing tourism projects for their own
benefit, joint management of and desirable employment in the Kgalagadi
Transfrontier Park (KTP), maintenance of a traditional health care system and
improving their diet by eating traditional foods.
The diaspora and dispossession of the Southern San have meant that the
traditional knowledge base has been fractured and eroded. Elders are spread out
over hundreds of kilometres, each with fragments of a knowledge system in his or
her head. Lack of access to wild lands and hunting has meant that hunting and
tracking skills are dying out rapidly. Lack of access to plants in the desert
means that food and medicinal knowledge is also rapidly dying out. Urbanisation,
isolation and assimilation mean that even the languages are dying out.
resettlement
A number of families from township settlements around Upington were
able to resettle in the Kalahari on farms returned to the community subsequent
to the successful 1999 land claim. Other families from desert towns such as
Rietfontein and Welkom also moved onto farms that had been transferred to the
community by the land claim.
From May 2000, SASI was not responsible for the resettlement process or for land
management on the reclaimed farms. This responsibility was divided between the ‡Khomani
San Communal Property Association, government and another NGO. The process was
unplanned and ad hoc, leaving many of the elders stranded in difficult
situations in townships around the Siyanda District and Postmasburg districts.
training and support
SASI contracted with the CPA to continue to provide support and training for
Cultural Resource Management. Three workshops were run with the CPA dealing with
ethnography / genealogy and registration, with the results of CRAM and the
implications for management.
SASI assisted Françoise Steyn in the development of a highly successful craft
co-operative based at Andriesvale. The core of the craft project involved
resettled people whose families have been involved in CRAM research and
auditing. CRAM provided photographs of traditional beadwork and images of elders
that stimulated further interest in beadwork development within the
co-operative.
The most important CRAM initiatives involved starting to train youth in skills
deriving from the Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) of the elders. Training
included tracker training on surrounding farms for adolescents. Five
introductory tracking courses were run in the second half of 2001. Most of these
were conducted at Kalahari Trails guest farm. Training was provided by master
tracker, Karel Kleinman. This project is due for expansion in 2002. SASI and
Open Channels also funded community initiatives to introduce language and IKS to
children at the Andriesvale crèche.
Throughout the year ethno-ecologist Eleanor McGregor worked with the San elders
to record botanical knowledge, including traditional medicinal knowledge. This
material fed into the tracker training project and into a youth summit held for
San youth from the ‡Khomani, !Xun and Khwe communities in December 2001.
McGregor, along with San fieldworker Magdalena Kassie and her mother Aenki
Kassie, gave a series of lectures at local high schools about San history and
IKS. The response was enthusiastic and SASI is exploring how to expand the
schools component.
McGregor and community spokesperson Andries Steenkamp travelled to Geneva to
give a presentation on how WIMSA and the ‡Khomani community had co-operated to
challenge the exclusion of the San from the commercial exploitation of the
plant,
Hoodia Gordonii (see legal project review on
page x).
intellectual property rights
Intellectual property rights are a major component of CRAM training,
particularly with youth and elders. Additional support was provided by SASI's
legal programme. As a result, there is a greater awareness of intellectual
property rights in the community, but the practical administration of these
rights remains weak. Elders and others in the community find contracting with
some external agencies difficult, particularly with film projects. Some film
projects came via the SASI office and were subject to the WIMSA guidelines and
fair payment practices. Others went directly via individuals in the community.
In some cases this led to disputes and conflict.
registration lists
Fieldworkers Magdalena Kassie and Gertuida Sauls concentrated on creating a
community-based checking mechanism for the disputed registration list. CRAM
research indicated that more than two thirds of the San community was still not
registered. At the same time there was conflict arising from people accusing
each other of not being San. With the agreement of the CPA, the field workers
established a working group of elders to scrutinise the entire registration list
based on genealogy and community history. This exercise has led to a coherent
statement on the ethnography of the community, more complex than originally
understood, and a scrutinised list of members. The CPA has been provided with a
set of questions on the principles of membership, including issues of adoption
and relatives of non-San people who have married into the claimant group.
tourism development
In March 2002, the ‡Khomani community hosted a visit by 18 American university
exchange students. This visit, organised with the School for International
Training, was part of a pilot effort to develop tourism products in the San
community. The students met with field workers and N|u speaking elders in
Upington. In the Kalahari, they went tracking, watched a traditional dance,
visited the craft projects and went on a donkey cart ride.
The working plan for tourism development anticipates an acceleration of the IKS
training projects, an emphasis on livelihoods arising from the co-management of
conservation areas and the creation of a cyber economy in the Kalahari. San
youth have shown a keen interest in developing their computer skills. The IKS
training projects lend themselves to online representation. This material can be
of educational value to other communities, as well as serve to market San
products and services.
A number of CRAM products were finalised in 2001-2002.
Maps: The project team completed two series of posters. The
first deals with the place names in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. It
provides the name of each site with an accurate GPS reading. The meanings and
histories of the place names are given. All of the information comes from four
elders who are depicted on the map. The second series deals with the heritage of
trees in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. Elders recount the history of four
trees in the Park. Each one reveals a different facet of San heritage. Most of
the stories date from 1935.
Interviews and Timelines: Transcripts were archived along with
the photographic collection from CRAM. Poster development has been scheduled for
2002-2003.
Language Products: ‡Khomani field workers entered negotiation
with government on the publication of some of their myths. A comparative
analysis of N|u to its neighbouring extinct languages has been completed,
shedding some light on the historic population movements. A dialect analysis was
completed, which demonstrated three main variations within the N|u speech
community.
Genealogy: Field workers began the process of capturing the
genealogical data on specialised software. An intensive review of all the names
on the San land claim membership list was conducted by Magdalena Kassie and
Gertruida Sauls. This involved interviewing elders from each major family and
identifying any problem areas, such as adoptions or siblings of people married
into the community. This material is being used by the CPA to consolidate its
membership list.
Community Film: A rough cut of the community film was produced
and workshopped with the fieldworking team.
Archival Database: SASI and Open Channels hired an archivist to
label all components of the CRAM materials (reports, photos, digital recordings,
tapes, films, maps, field notes). These were entered into an electronic archive.
Research was initiated to identify archival materials from the southern Kalahari
held by other institutions, such as the University of Vienna's 1906 audio-visual
material. SASI entered negotiations with Wits University on the return of the
1936 photographic exhibition from the British Empire Exhibition. Wits assisted
with creating digital scans of the material.
UNESCO co-operation
SASI entered a second year of co-operation with the Cultural Policies Division
of UNESCO headquarters. UNESCO funded the publication of a report on CRAM
methodology, entitled Written in the Sand. The report, written by Nigel Crawhall,
is due to be put on a website in English, French and Spanish. Afrikaans versions
were produced for the community and government officials. The UNESCO support
included training for San fieldworkers to run workshops for the community and
government on the concepts and content of CRAM. These workshops were well
received by all who attended. WIMSA was particularly proud to see young San
people taking such an active role in cultural resource management.
museums
A series of meetings was held with the Department of Arts and Culture, and
museums in Kimberley, Upington and Cape Town. CRAM is providing materials to the
museums and will work to create livelihood-related projects of cultural heritage
interpretation run by San community members in Upington.
evaluation of CRAM
CRAM was evaluated by consultants from the Department for International
Development (DFID) and by project assessors for the United Kingdom funder Comic
Relief. The results were encouraging. Open Channels, SASI, the San fieldworkers
and leadership, have worked to define a livelihoods strategy drawing on CRAM for
the coming five years. A grant proposal has been prepared and is being submitted
for consideration.
The legal programme of an activist service organisation
such as SASI is expected to articulate and forge succeeding levels of rights for
its beneficiaries. After it has initiated such a process, the organisation
assumes a less central role as the subsequent development programmes occupy the
new spaces provided by those rights. Certain of the activities described below
are first phase challenges designed to create an appropriate rights base for the
San. Others are more in the nature of an integrated legal service designed to
support SASI's cultural, educational and other development programmes.
The following three cases represent vastly different situations involving land rights. In the ‡Khomani land rights case, the legal programme celebrated a landmark victory in 1999, and is currently engaged in extending the land use rights to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. In the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, SASI and the other stakeholders face the challenge of a belligerent Botswana Government determined to extinguish the ancient land rights of the San residents. Finally, the "Secret San" of KwaZulu-Natal and the eastern seaboard of South Africa have been scattered and decimated to the point where they have no access to land, and the legal programme attempts to ascertain how their rights to land and development may be secured.
Following the transfer of 38 000 hectares of farmland to
the San in 1999, and after a period during which the completion of the
negotiations of rights in and to the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park were placed on
hold, the period under review commenced with negotiations between the San and
the SA National Parks. The San's Northern Cape neighbours, the Mier community,
were at the negotiating table as allies and in some respects as competitors for
certain rights. The San Communal Property Association appointed a subcommittee
comprised of seasoned negotiators as well as others renowned for their intimate
knowledge of the Park, and SASI's challenge was then to integrate an aggressive
assertion of rights with understanding of their long-term relationship with the
Mier.
The negotiating team ensured that their claims were thoroughly supported by the
Cultural Resource and Management (CRAM) programme of SASI (see page x). This
provided a range of land use rights (hunting, gathering, access to significant
or sacred sites), which were to be the basis of the legal agreement determining
the rights of the San in their traditional hunting grounds, the former Kalahari
Gemsbok National Park.
the ‡Khomani San Position
The negotiating position of the ‡Khomani San was the
following:
1. Ownership was claimed over the 26 000-hectare portion of the Park south of
the Auob River and adjoining Twee Rivieren rest camp. This large area would be
deproclaimed formally from the National Park, and registered as a "contract
park" under the National Parks Act. The San would be relatively free to utilise
the land in a wide range of ways, including for ecotourism. It was intended that
the rights in the San contract park would mirror those of the Mier community
adjoining them to the West, and would be managed in a mutually supportive
manner.
2. A priority commercial use zone was identified, which covered the large area between the two contract parks and the game-rich Auob River valley. The San required a commitment that they would benefit from any commercial use in this area, such as a game lodge, game drives or special concessions. The degree to which the San were required to enter into partnership with the South African National Parks became subject to debate and negotiation; the San attempted to achieve maximum benefit with minimum restrictions. The ‡Khomani were provided with a one half share of the business opportunity comprising the commercial tourism lodge concession situated at the confluence of the Auob and Nossob Rivers. This is guaranteed to provide the San with jobs and benefits in the future.
3. A symbolic and cultural rights zone was identified, which included the previous commercial use zone, and extended over the original 4 000 square kilometer ‡Khomani land claim. The San requested to enter this area, subject to Park controls for the purpose of security, in order to carry out a wide range of cultural and educational practices. It was intended that these rights should be as broad as possible in order to encourage the full participation of the community, especially the elders and the youth: the conveyors and beneficiaries of the culture.
4. A co-operation lodge was suggested. The proposed site is the border between the San and Mier parks and the Kgalagadi Transfronteir Park. The SANParks would readily provide the finance for such a project, which would provide job opportunities for both communities. The proposed lodge would also be a draw card for tourists to the community areas.
challenges
By the end of the period under review, the entire agreement was nearing
completion. The bulk of the San's claims had been fully workshopped with the
far-flung ‡Khomani communities, and their concerns had been noted. Certain
issues, such as precise boundaries, the structure of the agreements, the name of
the Park, intellectual property rights to the San culture, whether the San were
obliged to allow the Mier access into the Park, and the nature of the San Mier
partnership, remained unresolved.
achievements
The San of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve have occupied
their vast and remote territory for an unbroken period of 10 000 years. They are
unique in many ways, but primarily in their reliance on the land as
hunter-gatherers. Over the past years the Botswana government concluded that
these San needed to be "saved" from their remote and "primitive" conditions, and
should be moved, by persuasion or force, into the mainstream of Botswana
society.
The struggle over the past years to engage the Botswana government in sensible
discussions around this issue has been in vain. Actions of international
activist NGOs to publicise the plight of these traditional San has only
succeeded in increasing the determination of the Botswana government to complete
the eviction of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve inhabitants. In many countries
of the world, a hunter-gatherer community living in close relationship with an
environment that they have inhabited for thousands of years would be regarded as
a cultural asset to be engaged with sensitivity and respect. In addition,
international conventions asserting the rights of indigenous peoples to occupy
their ancient territories form an international consensus. However, these
considerations are entirely ignored by the Botswana government.
SASI's Role
SASI contributes towards a small legal team which provides help to the
negotiating team. The team is comprised of the residents committee, First People
of the Kalahari, and various NGOs. By the end of the period under review it
became clear that all attempts to persuade had failed, and that the Botswana
Government would not rest until the last resident had been escorted from the
Central Kalahari Game Reserve to the soulless resettlement camps outside the
reserve.
The minister responsible had confirmed, without any apparent sensitivity as to
the human cost of her utterance, that with effect from 31 January 2002, all
services to Central Kalahari Game Reserve residents would be terminated. This
announcement was perceived by the legal team as being confirmation that a legal
challenge would have to be mounted. The team was under no illusions about the
hostile reaction that this approach would receive, as the Botswana Government is
not accustomed to having its policies challenged in open court.
The period under review concluded with SASI and the legal team making urgent
attempts to raise funds and moral support for interdict proceedings designed to
restore crucial water and other services to the harassed San residents of the
Central Kalahari Game Reserve.
achievements
* The contribution towards the successful negotiations between the negotiating
committee and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks
* The participation in an effective network of supportive NGOs in response to
the volte face of the Botswana government in its decision to terminate services
to residents
* The advocacy of the plight of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve residents on
an international level, and raising funds for the campaign
The "Secret San" is the title assumed by many of the San
groups of KwaZulu-Natal and the eastern seaboard. These groups have been
identified over the past years and encouraged to confidentially acknowledge
their existence to SASI. They usually provide their names on condition that
their "San-ness" be kept secret from the communities around them, for fear of
retribution and discrimination.
The San were until recently commonly regarded as being extinct in KwaZulu-Natal
and the Eastern Seaboard. However recent research brought to light that
literally hundreds of San, still characteristically small of limb and light of
skin, lived on the outskirts of Zulu society in Natal, often shunned as "Abathwa"
or "small people". SASI commenced a programme to assist with the identification
of core groups of San, and designed to inform them that far from being an issue
of shame, a San identity should be regarded with pride in the changing world.
challenges
Most individuals who were contacted, short in stature and unmistakably of San
descent, denied any San origin. After careful explanation that it would not be
held against them in any way, they grudgingly admitted their San-ness and showed
an interest in learning more about their culture and origin. Whilst some of the
older individuals still hold memories of cave dwelling and hunting with bows and
arrows, the San culture in KwaZulu-Natal has been submerged to a point at which
it is probably not recoverable. However the "Secret San" are an important link
with the San past, and SASI intends to incorporate them into our development
plans in the most appropriate way.
achievements
Intellectual property rights are the focus of increasing
attention internationally. The commercial value of heritage, songs, myths,
images, traditional medicinal knowledge and indigenous peoples' art requires
indigenous peoples to protect this body of knowledge as a newly appreciated
asset. The San are steadily developing capacity in this regard.
This aspect of the legal programme consists of diverse components. These include
participating in international forums and drafting conventions on heritage
rights for indigenous peoples, negotiating with film-makers, researchers,
musicians, commercial photographers, and other stakeholders and identifying and
acting assertively on cases where the San's intellectual property rights are
breached.
Various important film and book contracts were negotiated in order to ensure
that the interests of the San were protected. For the first time San music
contracts were concluded ensuring that various traditional songs that have been
commercialised were fully protected by international copyright law. In addition,
the SASI ethno-botany project with the ‡Khomani San deals with valuable
traditional medicinal knowledge, which needs to be properly protected before
being allowed into the public domain.
During the period under review, a new issue emerged that
presented a novel challenge to SASI as well as to the WIMSA. A desert succulent
called the
Hoodia, used by the San since time immemorial
for the reduction of thirst and hunger, had been secretly patented in 1996 by
the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) a South African
government research organisation. The commercial rights for the
Hoodia plant had been licensed to Pfizer
Incorporated (an American multinational pharmaceutical company) for the possible
production and marketing as an international 'blockbuster' appetite suppressant
drug aimed at reducing obesity. Environmental and Indigenous Peoples' NGOs
immediately seized on the issue as being a stark example of "biopiracy" by
international pharmaceutical companies, as the eventual commercial value of the
drug was predicted to be billions of dollars.
SASI was required to assist WIMSA and the San in devising a strategy aimed at
claiming moral and legal intellectual property rights to the
Hoodia in an international patent law regime
that is heavily weighted in favour of the multinationals. In addition, we aimed
to provide the San with a realistic and sound set of compensatory arrangements.
It was decided that the San interests would best be served by not challenging
the fact that the CSIR patents had resulted from the San's prior traditional
knowledge. Instead, the San would negotiate with the CSIR in order to ensure
that they would benefit from the
Hoodia if and when it is successfully
commercialised.
The South African San Council began negotiations with the CSIR in October 2001.
The negotiations produced a memorandum of understanding in which the parties
acknowledged the validity of the other's intellectual property rights. They
undertook to negotiate a benefit sharing agreement. Trials on the
hoodia are expected to last for a further three
years, and the San might benefit in a variety of ways. Current forms of benefit
sharing include growing the plant, assisting in production, bursaries,
educational schemes and other forms of scientific co-operation with the CSIR.
The
Hoodia case is of considerable importance to
indigenous peoples worldwide as well as to associated NGOs, and SASI hopes to
receive and share knowledge of the case.
achievements
Heritage and cultural rights are closely associated with
intellectual property rights, and are now seen by the San as in need of urgent
advocacy. San leaders are passionate about acknowledging the importance of their
heritage in curbing further dissolution of their communities. They acknowledge
willingly that they have been negligent or naïve in allowing their culture to be
given away, disseminated and weakened without protection.
During 2001 the National Khoisan Consultative Conference was formed, as an
umbrella organisation representing a large array of organisations from the
Khoekhoe (Griqua, Nama, Baster) and San groupings. San leaders were concerned at
this apparent threat to their culture, in that the name Khoisan was regarded by
many as confusing to the public and as 'watering down' the San identity.
SASI contributed towards discussions on culture and identity, at which the San
were encouraged to articulate their own San identity. This ability to speak on
their own behalf without the intercession of agents and lawyers is regarded as a
key component of the San's cultural empowerment. During 2001, the San took part
in the planning and management of a major new rock art centre in the KwaZulu-Natal
Drakensberg, which they will now be better equipped to manage.
challenges
Programmes addressing the dissolution of San culture have focused on educating
leaders about intellectual property rights. These programmes have attempted to
ensure that communities, whilst engaging with tourism, are not damaged or
destroyed. It has been commonly accepted that the San will be unable to
articulate their heritage and cultural rights adequately unless they receive
sustained practical training.
In addition, WIMSA leaders recognised that their prime heritage assets in the
form of rock art and other art assets were being rapidly colonised by academic
and commercial entrepreneurs. It was decided that the San needed their own
cultural centre, at which they could display their heritage to the world and
train their own people to reap the commercial benefits. This decision led to the
purchase and formation three years ago of Grootwater farm, known now as the !Khwa
ttu Culture and Education Centre.
!Khwa ttu Centre
!Khwa ttu is an ambitious project for the San. !Khwa tuu means 'water
pan' in the extinct |Xam language. It aims to represent the unique history, art
and culture of all the San peoples of southern Africa (see page x). The legal
programme has attempted to provide the legal framework and constitutional
foundation to ensure the success of this collaborative project. It will require
complex agreements for the !Khwa ttu Centre to borrow artefacts and other
artistic collections from provincial museums, as well as to select and acquire
the best of rock art displays. SASI communicates regularly with the World
Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) about the development of international
laws and conventions regarding cultural property, and religious and symbolic
artefacts.
achievements
The Sîsen Crafts project aims to make, promote and market
local crafts, to develop creative skills and to train members in bookkeeping,
stock-controlling and basic public relations. The project has celebrated its
first year with the accolade of being recognised internationally at the Milan
World Handcraft Expo in October 2001.
Sîsen is still growing and has recently been named the "model craft project" for
the Northern Cape. These successes can be ascribed to the pride and hard work
that the members and facilitators of the project put into the venture.
From an initial sixteen members, the project currently has fifty-eight members.
Most of these receive a regular income from their work in the project. Not only
do members of the project benefit directly from project activities, but about
eight non-members within the community indirectly receive a regular income by
providing raw materials to the crafters.
Ongoing training in craft making, as well as in bookkeeping and general
administration, are still high on Sîsen's priority list. About twenty members of
the project, as well as other individuals within the broader community, attend
English classes conducted by Nanette Fleming.
The project has recently attracted funding from the Department of Arts, Science
and Technology and the Northern Cape Arts and Culture Council for the next two
years. This funding has allowed expansion of the project to include constructing
a building for the project. The building will include a shop and office and the
funds make provision for a vehicle and equipment. Building is expected to begin
in July 2002 and will be completed by the end of October - to coincide with
Sîsen Crafts Project's second birthday. Nearly all the members of the project
will be actively involved in the actual building process.
achievements
In April 2001, twenty-six San people from Botswana, South Africa and Namibia came together under the auspices of WIMSA at the Penduka Training Centre in Windhoek. Their task was to study the issue of alphabet standardisation in Ju and Khoe languages with specific focus on ||Anikhwe, Khwe and !Xun languages. The conference was facilitated by SASI. The group consisted of specialists on San language, oral history and education. Key recommendations made at this conference were:
Governments, the media and the public should have greater
awareness and respect for San peoples' languages and cultures. The media should
stop projecting stereotypes of San peoples, portraying us as speaking one
language and living in a stereotyped manner.
The San peoples reaffirm our distinct heritages and identities and reject being
placed under the label Khoisan along with people who do not speak our languages
or share our traditions and customs. The media should be more responsible when
reporting about San peoples and speak to our representative organisations and
spokespersons.
Extract from the Penduka Declaration, May 2001
In May 2001 SASI was represented at the First Regional San
Education Conference held in Okahandja, Namibia. San representatives, NGOs,
government ministries, researchers and donors attended this event. The
conference focused on sharing experiences, exploring options for co-operation
and the development of a regional strategy between the three participating
countries Namibia, Botswana and South Africa.
Topics addressed during the conference were: early childhood development, mother
tongue education, materials development, alternative education programmes,
socio-cultural issues, non-formal and adult education. Terms of reference were
also developed for a regional task force. The body will oversee the
implementation of a regional education strategy.
In March 2002 a follow-up meeting was hosted by the Northern Cape Education
Department to discuss progress made in the three countries and to discuss the
action plan for 2002. A key outcome of the conference was that the regional task
force was named the Southern African San Education Forum (SASEF). This body will
consist of three to four representatives from each of the three countries. Dr.
Theo Kamupingene, Namibian ITFEMC Chairperson, was nominated to serve as the
first chairperson of this body.
"A celebration of the San culture, present and
past"
"A celebration of the San culture, present and past" is the theme of the
San-owned tourism project !Khwa ttu, the San Culture and Education Centre. The
Centre is a legal entity and a joint undertaking between the San, represented by
the organisations WIMSA, SASI and Meerkat Community Development (a Section 21
company registered not for gain). The project has full legal standing and a
constitution covering management and control of the project (see page x).
aims
The Culture and Education Centre of the San aims to:
The institutional capacity of !Khwa ttu has steadily
developed since the inception of the project in 1999. The management committee
of the project comprises a trustee of the South African San Institute, the co-ordinator
of WIMSA, the legal representative of the San in South Africa, the director of
Montebello Design Centre and the CEO of the Centre. The San, as beneficiaries
and residual owners, are fully consulted with regard to each policy or
development decision. The books are subject to an annual audit.
The project includes many aspects of the San's cultural development, including
an interpretation of history, folklore, visual arts, cosmology and language with
the assistance of multi-media and museum presentations. The running of an art
and craft sales outlet, a restaurant, cultural demonstrations and nature
experiences are planned for the future.
!Khwa ttu acts as an information centre and schools, universities and
individuals will be invited to visit !Khwa ttu to learn about and enjoy the San
culture. Once the Centre has opened to the public, it would become sustainable.
It is the goal that all profits generated from entrance fees, craft sales and
activities like guided nature walks and drives, cultural performances and
camping will be redistributed to San development in the region.
the land
In 1999 a donation was used to purchase Grootwater Farm, a former wheat farm 70
kms north of Cape Town, for the establishment of the Centre. !Khwa ttu has been
zoned as a nature reserve of 850 hectare. This was once part of the vast
territory of the |Xam Bushmen, who were exterminated by the frontier settlers
and European diseases in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuriesy.
The rugged beauty of the mostly undeveloped West Coast is well known to visitors
who come to admire the flora that covers the windblown hills and rim the dunes
on isolated beaches. In addition, the site has a breathtaking view over Table
Mountain to the south.
The farmyard has attractive attributes: many old sturdy, simple buildings are
being developed to suit the needs of the project. The beautiful surroundings
enhance the creation of a special cultural experience. The land with its vast
openness, rocky outcrops and a variety of antelope species offers exciting
nature activities and experiences.
alien clearing
Restoring the land is an important part of the development of the project. The
invasion of alien trees for more than thirty years has had a considerable
negative impact on the land, ground water and the natural vegetation. Invader
alien plants cover a total of 400 hectare of the farm. To date, 35 hectares have
been cleared and a follow-up spraying of the regrowth has been completed. Eight
San from Schmidtsdrift and Welkom (Siyanda District) have been involved in the
alien clearing and veld restoration.
The San work very closely with their environment and so there has been a great
interest in maintaining and re-establishing the indigenous plant and animal life
to that area. The attempts to eradicate the alien trees, to re-seed the natural
vegetation and to introduce specific game species have had a positive impact on
the natural environment. The clearing also provides employment and
income-generating opportunities for the San. Because the farm is close to Cape
Town, there is a market for the firewood
Re-establishing fynbos in the core area which houses the museum, accommodation,
the tourism and training area is essential to the success of the project
especially from a tourism and educational point of view. Re-establishing fynbos
on the old lands and cleared alien areas has also been undertaken. This task was
done by picking seed from existing fynbos in the surrounding area and planting
the seed on the old lands and cleared areas.
This clearing and restoration work was tendered out on contract, allowing
capacity building within the local community. !Khwa ttu has the support of the
Department of Agriculture and the Working for Water programme.
the buildings
The existing buildings are of historical value and it was necessary to acquire
the permission of the South African Heritage Resource Agency to undertake the
restoration work. Buildings that have been renovated to date include: San
trainee cottages that can accommodate up to twenty-five trainees, a guest house
for trainers, a house for the co-ordinator and a training building that houses
offices, an arts and crafts studio and classrooms.
The primary objective of the renovation and construction work is to train the
San in building skills such as brick laying, carpentry, plasterwork, basic
plumbing and painting. The aim is to allow the San apprentices to get sufficient
experience so that they are able to train others and to find employment at the
end of the training period. During 2001, ten San trainees have been involved in
the building and renovations.
water and electricity
The development of the centre was hampered by a lack of water as a result of an
insufficient supply of electricity. The water and electricity reticulation was
in a desperate state of disrepair. In the past, wind-driven pumps secured the
water supply. In order to supplement to the water needs, water had to be carried
by vehicle and containers.
The water requirements of the project are now being met after the installation
of an electrical submersible pump in the newly established borehole. This allows
water to be extracted from the underlying Grootwater Aquifer. The existing
electrical reticulation has been upgraded. The electrical upgrading not only
provides energy to pump water but will also supply reliable and safe electricity
for the centre.
the training
Individual San trainees come to !Khwa ttu on a rotation system and participate
in the running and management of the Centre while learning the tourism industry,
arts and craft and the heritage of the San. The rotational system allows for
many communities in the region to benefit from the project and for the knowledge
to spread to all the San in southern Africa.
The follow diagram is the indication of the number of trainees who attended !Khwa
ttu during the 2001 period:
| No of trainees | F | M | San group | Place/region | Country |
|
6 |
3 | 3 | Ju|hoansi | Omeheke Region | Namibia |
|
11 |
4 | 7 |
5 !Xun 6 Khwe |
Schmidsdrift | South Africa |
|
6 |
3 | 3 | !Khomani | Siyanda District | South Africa |
|
23 |
10 | 13 |
!Khwa ttu strives to transmit new skills to the San
trainees. These skills will enable them to seek employment or start projects of
their own once they return home. Training also includes English communication
courses and special crafts projects. San trainees are involved in the general
maintenance of the nature reserve (water pumps, roads, vehicles, game
management). They have also built miles of games fences.
heritage and culture
San organisations are starting to focus on issues that touch the spiritual,
artistic and historic nature of what it means to be San. A San committee has
been elected by the WIMSA AGM to monitor and assist the cultural and heritage
work in the region. This Regional San Heritage and Culture Committee consists of
groups of three San people from Namibia, South Africa and Botswana. The
committee acts as a reference group for culture and heritage issues in the
region including the development issues of !Khwa ttu.
The Indigenous Peoples Of Africa Co-ordinating Committee (IPACC)
was legally created in 1997. It is a membership organisation of African
indigenous people's organisations. Its purpose is to support indigenous peoples
in having an impact on international forums in order to realise their human
rights and rights to self-determination.
2001-2002 was an important year for IPACC. The third bi-annual election of the
IPACC Executive Committee took place in Geneva, Switzerland. A dynamic team was
elected including a new Chair, Hassan Id Belkassm (Morocco), and Deputy Chair,
Mary Simat (Kenya).
San delegates attending the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations included
a number of young activists: Joram |Useb, Mathambo Ngakaeaja, Magdalena Kassie
and Tomsen Nore. They succeeded in having IPACC elect the first San regional
representative. Mathambo Ngakaeaja is now the indigenous representative to the
IPACC Executive Committee for the Southern African Region.
african representatives
Another key event was the election of an African representative to the UN's
Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. This is a new high-level structure within
the UN system where indigenous people can, for the first time, have a voice
equal to that of state representatives. The purpose is to monitor and review the
situation of indigenous peoples around the planet, to improve the co-ordination
and responsiveness of the UN and other international bodies.
The election of an African civil society representative was a difficult affair.
IPACC officially stepped aside from the organising so that an impartial working
group could guide the process. This was not successful and in the end IPACC was
given a mandate to organise the logistics for an election during the World
Conference against Racism in Durban in August 2001.
After several days of deliberation under the watchful eye of international
indigenous observers the African caucus elected Dr Ayitegan Kouevi, a Togolese
lawyer who has been IPACC's francophone legal adviser since its inception. This
meeting was generously supported by the International Work Group on Indigenous
Affairs (IWGIA), with additional support from Norwegian Church Aid and other
agencies.
achievements
IPACC held its most ambitious organisational development and planning meeting in
Rabat, Morocco, in March 2002. With the able facilitation of Davine Thaw, the
IPACC executive developed a clear vision and mission statement, and a three-year
activity plan.
The Executive's emphasis is on communication between grassroots community
organisations and the highest levels of the UN. It will prove a major challenge
to IPACC to assist activists to turn this aim into a reality. The existence of
the Permanent Forum should be a valuable catalyst.
From January 2002, IPACC became a fully independent trust, legally separating
from SASI. The IPACC Executive expressed its gratitude for SASI's support over
the last four years.
The IPACC website was launched in 2002: http://www.ipacc.org.za
| WHAT WHEN WHY WHO | |||
| World Court of Women against War, for Peace | March 2001 | International Conference where women highlighted the effects of war on women and children, and solutions for peace were proposed. | Awelina Chifako (South Africa), Translation: Meryl-Joy Wildschut, (SASI) |
|
19th Session of UN Working
Group on Indigenous Populations in Geneva |
23 27 July 2001 | Regional Delegation: Joram |Useb (Namibia), Mathambo Ngakaeaja (Botswana), Magdalena Kassie and Tomsen Nore (South Africa) | |
|
Training session at International Training Center of Indigenous Peoples in Greenland, Sisimiut |
31 August - 13 September
2001 |
Participants learn about the value of networking, conflict resolution, international standardisation, general negotiation and communication. | |
| TRIPS on Trail | 15 19 September 2001 | To provide examples of the implications that international trade agreements have on local communities. i.e Hoodia Plant of the !Khomani San. |
Andries Steenkamp (WIMSA) Eleanor McGregor (SASI) |
| Indigenous Peoples and Protected Areas in Africa: From Principle to Practice | September 2001 |
To encourage dialogue between
indigenous peoples and conservation bodies. To encourage the implementation of new internationally agreed conservation principles which recognises indigenous rights to land and resources. To involve indigenous peoples in decision-making. |
Presenters: Joram |Useb (Namibia), Petrus Vaalbooi (South Africa), Translation: Eleanor McGregor (SASI) |
|
Training in radio
Norway, Tromso |
Development of a radio programme about Law and Development in South Africa. | Tomsen Nore (SASI) | |
| Milan World Handcraft Expo | October 2001 | To exhibit and sell craft from Sîsen Craft market. | !Khomani Sîsen Crafters and Betta Steyn |
| World Conference against Racism | September 2001 | Adressing racism, xenophobia and race-related intolerance, recognising challenges and prospects for combating racism and intolerance. | Attendance by San delegates facilitated by SASI and IPACC on behalf of WIMSA: Mario Mahongo and Tressel (South Africa), Victoria Geingos (Namibia), Mathambo Ngakaeaja (Botswana) |
| hoodia | |||
CKGR Central Kalahari Game Reserve
CPA Communal Property Association (Land settlement trusts)
CRAM Cultural Resources Auditing Management Project
CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
DACST Department of Arts, Culture and Science Technology
DFID Department for International Development
DLA Department of Land Affairs
IKS Indigenous Knowledge Systems
IPACC Indigenous Peoples of Africa Co-ordinating Committee
IWGIA Work Group on Indigenous Affairs
KGNP Kalahari Gemsbok National Park
KTP Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park
PanSALB Pan South African Language Board
NGO Non Governmental Organisation
SADC Southern African Development Community
SANP South African National Parks
SASEF Southern African San Education Forum
SASI South African San Institute
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
WIMSA Working Group of Indigenous Minorities in Southern Africa
WIPO World Intellectual Property Organisation
"South African San Institute"