KALAHARI BUSHMEN - THE END OF A MYTH Script Dur: 48'27'' mins 10:00:00 Pictures start 0:20 Title KALAHARI BUSHMEN - THE END OF A MYTH 0:39 Title by Marion Mayer-Hohdahl 0:50 COMMENTARY STARTS This is how the world likes to see the Bushmen. Dressed only in a loincloth, living with nature. When they're hungry, hunting in the wild with bows and arrows, killing only what's needed to survive. 1:19 But this view has little to do with today's reality. In South Africa, the Bushmen can't exist like this anymore. But because the western world clamours for images of the 'noble savage', the Bushmen are happy to put on their loin cloths to pose and perform for advertisements and films - at a price. 1:51 The Kalahari desert is on South Africa's northern border with Botswana. Around 200 to 300 Bushmen, or San, live here - the last tiny remainder of the original Bushman population of South Africa. 2:10 In these two shacks lives Klass Kruiper with his family of ten. Until recently Klass used to work in the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park. But marital strife led him into several fights. He also had problems with alcohol. After seven years as a game warden he had to leave his job. Klass' story is typical. 2:34 sound bite (Afrikaans) KLASS KRUIPER, Bushman "I grew up in Gemsbok Park and I belong here. We have a housing problem, but as soon as we get our own land back again, it will be better. When we work, we don't get enough money to cover our daily needs." 3:10 The Kruiper family and other South African Bushmen want the government to give them back half of the 10,000 square kilometres of the South African part of the Kalahari National Park. They say they grew up there and were forced off the land. Nowadays, they can't gather berries or hunt game in the park. And that makes life hard. 3:38 Vet Piet is a game warden in the Kalahari National Park. He's also a Bushman. 3:48 Vet is the only remaining Bushman who's still working for the National Parks Board. All the rest have either quit work or been fired. Vet was spared because of his special tracking skills. 4:08 Two hyenas have been eating a Wildebeest. Vet Piet can tell exactly when the animal was killed and by how many hyenas. 4:20 Twice a year there's a count of the wild animal herds in the park. The animals are counted from the air and their patterns of movement over the borders between South Africa and Botswana are traced. Vet is closely involved in this work. From the air he can recognise individual animals. He started working in the park as game warden back in 1955. 4:49 sound bite (Afrikaans) VET PIET, Bushman and game warden. "The other Bushmen have got used to a lazy life. Camera people pay them good money for nothing. They only have to run back and forth over a sand dune. They don't like hard work - basically they don't like work at all." 5:33 This is the landscape next to the national park. Home to the Mier people. Half-castes of European origin. They live together here with the Bushmen. The Mier community lives from raising sheep and goats. 5:56 The Bushmen work as day labourers to the farmers. Now and then, if they're lucky, they're given a sheep. 6:08 Even Bushmen find it difficult to control an animal sometimes. 6:20 Everything is shared here. Not only the family get to eat, but the whole San neighbourhood. Now, only a few Bushmen wear the traditional loincloth - and usually only when white people are around. 6:39 Now that the first democratic government is in power, the Bushmen have a chance to get back their land that was earlier expropriated. Human rights lawyer Roger Chennells is giving them legal advise. With the help of genealogical trees he wants to prove that these Bushmen are the descendants of the expropriated people the Khomani (pronounced click-komani) and N/amani (na-amani). 7:06 Several times a year Chennells travels up from Cape Town to the Kalahari desert to have a look around. If the Bushmen don't get the part of the National Park they want, they would make do with the sand dunes outside the park . 7:27 sound bite (English) ROGER CHENNELLS, human rights lawyer "Without owning land, they simply cannot be themselves. They are always competing with other cultures on their own turf. With their own land they can be themselves without having to apologise for not being competing, avaricious, materialistic westerners, they can simply be themselves and they can utilise their skills and their knowledge and really be the peaceful people that they are intrinsically. 8:17 Before leaving, Roger Chennells goes looking for Regopstaan (pronounced Reg-op-staan) Kruiper who's about 100 years old. He's the father of Klaas. Nobody knows exactly how old he is. He came with his father from Namibia into the part of the Kalahari desert that now belongs to South Africa. For years the old man has been hoping for a small piece of land that he can call his own. 8:50 This land is home to Olie Mouton. Like everyone else here, he raises sheep and goats. Olie grew up with the Bushpeople. His father worked as a game warden in the National Park. Olie thinks the Bushmen have no claim to any land - be it in the park or the Mier community - even if it's paid for. 9:22 sound bite (Afrikaans) OLIE MOUTON, farmer "We are very unhappy that the Bushmen are going to get land. We work from morning until night. They've never worked like that. If they get a farm, it would take less than a year, just a couple of months, before it would go to pieces. Apart from that, the Bushmen here aren't the real Bushmen. They died out long ago." 10:08 The following morning Regopstaan is dead. 10:15 Regopstaan's dream of having his own land has died with him. But his descendants might have more luck. 10:25 The neighbours from the Mier community console the Bushmen and take care of arranging the hearse, for the final journey of the last real Bushman in South Africa. 10:50 The Mier community have about 400'000 hectares of farmland. Every three months there's a stock auction. About 5'000 people live together in five communities. They're proud farmers and love their animals. The unusually high rainfall this year has meant their animals have had more to eat, and they are fetching good prices at the sales. 11:26 Nobody here is going to get rich, but they can make a living. The farmers work hard. 11:39 The South African Bushpeople of today have little in common with their ancestors - even if the whites and the media like to show them otherwise. They know they can make money from appearing like traditional Bushman. But they can't exist like they did in the past, moving in all directions with their animals. In those days, they ate fruit, roots and berries. They stored water- filled ostrich eggs in the sand, so that during the dry season there was always something to drink. Now, only the old people could possibly live like this. They are the only ones who can still remember their traditions, dances and songs. 12:49 Elias Le Riche has had a lot of experience with the Bushmen of the Kalahari desert. The Le Riche family have managed the Gemsbok National Park since it was founded in 1931 - over 50 years ago. Elias' uncle was the park's first director - Elias also held the same position. 13:10 sound bite (English) ELIAS Le RICHE, former park director, Kalahari Gemsbok Park "It's clever people that told them to ask for that in the Gemsbok National Park. They were never removed from the Park. Most of them worked in the Park, for the Parks Board as late as 1993. Some of them were grader operators in the park, and then people came to take them away from the park to Kagga Kamma for the tourist attraction. Now, they claim places like the Park and the Mier area. But, I think they will never stay there." 14:05 Here the Bushmen are clothed as in the past - in loincloths. For the tourists. Once a day they have work at the Kagga Kamma Lodge. Every day at exactly 11 o'clock the visitors arrive - about 80 per cent of them foreigners. They gaze at each other. Visitors who speak Afrikaans talk with them. But they never visit the huts where the Bushmen live. 14:33 Sound bite (German) USCHI KARG, tourist Perhaps it's so they can have some kind of private life. Or perhaps their lifestyle is really western and they just want to sell us this commercial performance. Create an illusion that they are the real Bushmen. It looks like they've left their gear at home and put on these outfits to come here.'' 14:57 sound bite (English) visitor "It's quite nice to see these people, how they live, their culture and how it differs from us." 15:04 sound bite (English) visitor "I like it. I think it's very nice, because they almost died all of them. I think it's very natural and unspoiled." 15:13 The tourists leave for the purpose built visitor community house, most of them fully satisfied they'd met the descendants of the first Africans. The curious visitor pays 25 Rand for the Bushman visit. Seven of the Rand go to the San community. 15:35 As soon as the visitors have left, normal life begins again. 15:46 The clothes are brought out of the hut and the loincloths disappear. Suddenly Mr and Mrs Bushman look just like everyone else. 16:01 Five years ago, part of the Kruiper family came out of the Kalahari desert to Kagga Kamma. Here they live apart from and yet dependent on visitors to a private game park. They keep chickens and every couple of weeks they get a donkey to slaughter. They can also hunt the smallest type of antelope with bow and arrow - but they seldom do. 16:26 To go shopping they're driven to the store. Apart from the morning tourist circus, they don't have any other kind of work to do. 16:34 sound bite (English) PIETER de WAAL, owner Kagga Kamma Nature Reserve "I know that we've done it to help them. And, if someone sees it as exploitation, I'm satisfied with it. I don't worry about it. I feel that the Bushmen are free. We haven't tied them here, We haven't closed the gate behind them. All of them are free to go to the Kalahari. At the moment there are some of them in the Kalahari and they are phoning us every day saying they want to come back to Kagga Kamma. 'Please come and fetch us.'. 17:04 Kagga Kamma is famous for the Bushmen cave paintings which are over 500 years old. 17:21 Over the last five years artist Wayne Hammon has been concerned about the Bushmen. He wants to teach them sculpture. 17:51 Wayne pays for the materials out of his own pocket. He doesn't get a penny for his work from the park owner. He finds the Bushman's way of life here degrading. He feels that they are being exploited. 18:21 sound bite (English) WAYNE HAMMON, artist "All of us, all whites, all blacks, all everyone else, emigrated over the centuries to this part of the world. The original, indigenous group they are. And they are the smallest little group left. It's a very easy problem to be solved. So why not deal with it right now in the new South Africa and give them a small little place they can call home. They are a very necessary part of the rainbow nation, and they definitely need to be dealt with soon. It's very late in hours for their survival. 18:53 Question: (in English) And if they don't do it, the new South African government? 19:02 sound bite WAYNE HAMMON, artist "I would lose faith, myself, totally ". 19:28 Thirty members of the extended Kruiper family live in Kagga Kamma. They make traditional bows and arrows and jewelry to sell to tourists. The money they make belongs to them. 19:51 Since the death of Regopstanns, Dawid Kruiper is head of the family. Before he came to Kagga Kamma he worked on a farm. Then, in 1985 the Kalahari Bushman were so-to-say, rediscovered. After that he decided to start wearing the traditional loincloth again for certain occasions. Dawid, like most other Bushpeople, went to the village school wearing clothes and not in a loincloth. A lot of whites think he leads a terrible existence at Kagga Kamma. But he doesn't see it that way. 20:30 sound bite (Afrikaans) DAWID KRUIPER "I hope that our children keep this feeling for Kagga Kamma, even when we get our land back in the Kalahari desert. It's our second home. We know that in the last five years it's given us the opportunity to survive. 20:57 The Bushmen children grow up in Kagga Kamma without going to school, despite the fact their parents went to school and speak fluent Afrikaans. 21:30 Here in the beautiful surroundings of the game and tourist parks, the Bushpeople are really only guests. They've found a temporary home while waiting for their own promised land. 21:43 Derek Hanekom is in charge of land issues in the new South African government: 21:50 sound bite (English) DEREK HANEKOM minister of Land Affairs, South Africa " The reality in South Africa is that whites removed people from their land. And, that's the historical reality of South Africa. And our policies allow those people who lost their land rights to get their land rights restored to them if possible or get some form of acceptable compensation. That same policy will apply to San communities, Tswana communities, to Zulu communities, etc. 22:20 The South African land minister has already decided that 4'200 Bushmen will get land. This is the former army camp of Schmidtsdrift. Since 1990, the San people from Namibia and Angola have been living here in tents. The Apartheid government promised them houses. When the first democratically elected government came to power, the Bushman problem didn't rank as a top priority. The Bushmen had previously worked as trackers in the South African army - the same army which had hunted down, even in Namibia, members of the banned African National Congress. Shortly before independence, Namibia moved the Bushman soldiers and their families to South Africa - they were worried that the new government, composed of former rebels, would pursue them. 23:11 In this tent, a disease is being danced out of a sick persons body. There is a first aid station here, but many people here prefer to believe in the magic and magic potions of their ancestors. They dance until they fall down - like in a trance. 24:12 Today, the South African army employs only about 140 Bushman soldiers. One of them is Wentzel Katjara. The 34 year-old lance corporal, came with the army from Namibia to South Africa. He now lives in Schmidtsdrift, earning 1'300 Rand net a month. Better than those who don't work. 24:36 sound bite (English) WENTZEL KATJARA, Bushman soldier "It's very difficult to teach my child what the old people were doing. After 20 years this is very difficult for me. I also cannot do the things that the old people want to do. But I want to do." 24:57 Three times a week there's a distribution of vegetables in the camp to about 200 needy people. They are generally old and suffering from deprivation. The men gather the garbage in a storage tent and earn themselves a ration of carrots and onions for their work. A farmer in the area delivers raw fruit and vegetables free of charge. Most of the Bushmen have no work and must struggle to survive. 25:37 Like so often in South Africa, the young leave school after a couple of years. Particularly girls aged between 13 and 14. Shortly after leaving, many of them have children. 25:51 The defense authorities are responsible for health care. Despite the fact the San people worked for the South Africans and are supported by them, many of their children are undernourished. Tuberculosis and respiratory problems are common. 4'200 Bushpeople from Namibia and Angola have been thrown together here. Afrikaans is their common language. They speak it because there are so many different dialects of the San language and they are not mutually intelligible. The army is hoping that the Bushpeople will be able to stand on their own feet after two or three years. 26:40 Charles Hallet is responsible for the San community in the Schmidtsdrift camp. 26:49 sound bite (English) CHARLES HALLET, major South African army To decide they will return to the traditional way of living is impossible and wishful thinking. As I said most of these young people have never been traditional gatherers or farmers. They are youngsters that came from Namibia and got involved with the army here, so they only know the western way of life." 27:11 Not surprisingly, unemployment creates misunderstandings and social problems between the various San groups. Alcohol is often involved and exacerbates the problem. 27:39 sound bite (Afrikaans) MARIO MAHONGO San, soldier and pastor "We are against people calling us Bushmen. It's as if we're objects that people can laugh at. We are no longer people out of the bush, but ordinary people like everyone else." 28:08 A dream comes true. This farm will soon become the new home of the Schmidtsdrift San community. Within a year, the move from the tents into the new houses will begin, and as soon as possible the Bushmen will be able to look after themselves. They will also take over the existing game population. 28:32 This farm has a special meaning for the Bushpeople. This hill is protected by law and cannot be disturbed. Hundreds of years earlier their ancestors lived in this area. The paintings on stone are witness to their existence. 28:58 The San community have difficulty in imagining themselves in this immaculately kept estate. There are plans to turn the spacious 1'250 square metre house into a tourist hotel. 29:16 the representative of the San community in Schmidtsdrift and the owner of the property are making plans for the Bushpeople. 29:29 The farm covers about 13'000 hectares. The land alone will cost 7.5 million Rand. The farm buildings will cost the same again. 29:42 sound bite (English) JOHN van der WESTHUIZEN, farm owner "There is of course the possibility of game farming here. Kimberly is unique in the way that the Kimberly area can accommodate all the game species of southern Africa which includes the big five - elephant, lion, rhino, leopard and buffalo. The area here is 15 minutes from a national airport and I think the San will fit very nicely into a game farming set up, or the larger park which they are planning which will possibly be the third largest game park in southern Africa." 30:23 sound bite (English) JAN VILJOEN mediator for San people "We are going to get approximately seven and a half million to purchase the farm. But that will not include the infrastructure, so the community will have to find outside loans to pay for the extra infrastructure and that will be approximately five million that we will still need. That will also not cater for the housing for the San, because the finances for the housing will have to come from the community themselves." 30:53 If the Bushmen can prove they were forced off their land during the Apartheid regime, they will be paid 15'000 Rand compensation per family by the South African government. For the 600 Bushman families from Angola and Namibia it's worthwhile - even if they don't yet have all the money needed for this farm. 31:13 Toy Persent is a Bushman. He was born on the farm. But he doesn't want to stay here. His parents worked for farmer Westhuizen. Toy is 21, and illiterate. He will go with farmer Westhuizen to another farm in the Cape region. He'd like to try living the traditional life of the Bushman - until now, he's only heard about it. 31:44 sound bite (Afrikaans) TOY PERSENT, Bushman and farm worker "I'd rather go with the farmer. I don't understand the language of the San people who are going to live here." 31:56 As one generation of Bushpeople leave the farm, 4'200 San people prepare to take it over. 32:09 sound bite (English) DEREK HANEKOM, Land Affairs minister, South Africa "If we want to move away from a patronising form of state, a patronising state which pampers, then give people some resources they can call their own, because then they are able to make choices. If we place them in reserves, place them on state land like many of our neighbouring countries have done, that's one way of making sure they can't make choices. If you say this is your own piece of land, we've assisted you in the same way as we assist everyone else, they can decide themselves if they want to sell that land, that they want to move to the cities. We are under no false pretenses, or under no illusions that the Bushmen are different from other citizens of the world." 32:49 Gobabis in Namibia. This farm belongs to a third generation farmer of German origin. Gernoth Reimann knows the Bushpeople well. He grew up with them. The 65 year-old Namibian speaks most of the 13 Bushman languages. He used to be a court translator for the San community. He keeps lions, leopards and other wild animals for a hobby. 33:34 Generations of Bushpeople have worked on Gernoth Reimanns farm. The women looking after the household and the men the animals. 33:43 sound bite (German) GERNOTH REIMANN, farmer "If they don't want to work they just walk off. He says, I'm going away for a while, then one or two months later he comes back. There's nothing you can do about it. You just can't get it into his head that he must work. They were born on this farm, but they still have the instinct of wild people. When they go away they sit around together and get drunk, and when they get back they are so thin you have to fatten them up again." 34:56 In Namibia the Bushpeople have had their own land since 1970, while in South Africa the struggle continues. Here in Bushmanland - 750 kilometres north of the capital Windhoek- the Bushmen of the Ju/'hoansi (pronounced Ju-unquasi) branch have a say in what happens to them. 35:23 Here they can live like their ancestors. They gather wild foods, berries, roots and can hunt with their traditional bows and arrows. Over the centuries the Bushmen lost their traditional reasons for hunting. Now they must fight for their food. Three thousand of the 30'000 Bushmen in Namibia live in Bushmanland which is also called Nyae-Nyei (pronounced n-jei/n-jei). 36:00 sound bite C.!XO "When we don't have any money to buy things , then we go out and gather things from the wild." 36:13 Beetles of every description are considered delicacies. So long as the cattle of other people don't graze in Bushmanland, there's enough wild food for the Bushmen. 36:33 To survive purely from what he can gather in the wild, a Bushman needs 37 square kilometres of this barren land. Such large tracts of land per person no longer exist. 36:50 The Bushmen smoke their tobacco from metal pipes. Many Bushmen have respiratory problems. Tuberculosis is widespread and difficult to stamp out. 37:53 Most of the Bushmen live in traditional round huts made out of branches and twigs, and thatched with grass. They make their living as small farmers. Some own cows and horses. But many of them are unhappy and want a different way of life. 38:25 sound bite IAI!AE LUI XOA//AN "We don't have enough to eat. The food that you can gather isn't enough for everybody. I want work and enough money to buy sugar, tobacco, rice and other things. I don't want to sit around and have nothing to do. I want to move away and find a job." 38:44 The Bushmen who live in Nyae/Nyae land are better off in comparison to Bushmen elsewhere. Here they earn wages from the whites or the Hereros who raise cattle. In Bushmanland they are also looked after by the NGO's. They need only to hoe, hack, and plant out crops. Irrigation is provided - with a perfect piping system. 39:17 Unemployment is the biggest problem for the youngest generation of Bushmen. They live deep in Bushmanland, where there are no opportunities for work except for horticulture. Outside their own area, they're often considered unreliable and unwilling workers. So, there's no work for them on the outside. Traditionally the Bushmen have no chief. Any individual who put himself forward would be seen by his fellowmen as being arrogant and impolite. Tolerance marks their way of life. Ambition is a foreign concept. 40:22 In Bushmanland there's no sales outlet for alcohol. So, they brew their own drinks out of sugar, yeast and water. The son of a government official for water affairs helps - and earns a bit more money in the process. 40:39 Alcohol makes the normally peace-loving Bushmen aggressive. 41:01 Drinking and dancing last through the night. The next morning most of the Bushmen appear dazed. 41:24 Like other cultures that have lost their land, the Bushmen have difficulties in integrating into another culture. Experts quarrel over what's the best way to help the Bushmen. NGO's compete amongst each other. All of them want to show the Bushmen the best way to enter the next century. 41:57 Nigel Berriman works in Bushmanland for the Namibian environmental authorities. 42:05 sound bite (English) NIGEL BERRIMAN, Namibian Environment Ministry "They don't have the strong traditional leadership. They have clan leaders. The head of the family leads them, but they don't a chief over the whole group as such. It's a lack of unity on their part and they do not know how to tackle the problem. They need advice." 42:32 Axel Thoma, a German, has been helping the Bushpeople for years with advice and action. Here, he's out searching for water with his divining rod. 42:51 He's spent 25'000 Rand to drill here for water - unfortunately without much success. Only 10 buckets of water an hour are coming out of this 160 metre-deep bore. It's not worth the effort. The 52 year-old could get the 10'000 hectare farm from the Namibian government for 100 Bushmen. But without enough water, the land is useless. 43:16 Ninety percent of the San community can neither read nor write. As a consequence they've sometimes been exploited by their neighbours. Without outside help they can't do anything anymore. 43:27 The Bushpeople have to share this small place with the Hereros - the biggest ethnic group in Namibia. The Hereros compete for land. They need a lot of land for cattle breeding. 43:40 The Herero women are immediately recognisable by their traditional clothing. They are proud people, mostly wealthy farmers. But usually they see only their own interests. 43:51 During the dry season they illegally drove their cattle into Bushmanland. The cattle eat everything they can find, in direct competition with what the Bushmen need for food for themselves. The barren earth doesn't provide living space for both men and animals. Some Bushpeople co-operate with the Hereros. But, because there's no chief of the group, each Bushman can say and do what they think is right for themselves - that's not always in the best interests of the wider community. 44:32 sound bite (German) AXEL THOMA, Bushpeople advisor "Everybody would rather like to have a job that's paid regularly so you don't have to worry about other things. But unfortunately, we don't have these jobs anymore and the same applies in Windhoek. They just don't have the basic requirements to be able to live there. Either they work for the Hereros or the white farmers, but they're always cut off from the world outside. And because of that, their world revolves around this small spot." 45:10 Early morning in a small settlement outside Tsumkwe (pronounced Tzumquay) - the heart of Namibia's Bushmanland. 45:24 Yesterday this Bushman hit an antelope with an arrow. The poison takes a long time to work. Usually, the hunter must follow his prey for days until the wounded animal finally dies. 45:46 Before he goes hunting again, the Bushman sings to his most recent born child. 45:58 The Bushman here can live like they used to. But, most of them would prefer to have regular work with regular wages. They put on their loin cloths the moment they see white people coming. Non-governmental organisations make their life easier, but at the same time, they take away any form of responsibility. 46:40 They don't need to struggle. When things go badly, the Bushmen find a donor to give them money. The western world still sees them as noble savages. But the Bushmen don't really care. At least with the artificial maintenance of their traditional way of life, they can earn money and survive. Ends 48'27'' Credits Reporter / Producer: Marion Mayer-Hohdahl Camera John Liebenburg Sound: Richard Wicksteed Editor: Stan Thomas Keely Purdue A Marion Mayer-Hohdahl Production