It’s almost impossible to get the Beatles riff out of my head; “banned from the CKGR, you don’t know how lucky you are, boy…”

It’s true. I’ve been banned from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, and the rest of Botswana for that matter. The notification came not with a note, or middle of the night call. Rather, with the same shabby clumsiness that seems to attach itself to most things the Government of Botswana does with anything relating to the Bushmen. As the article said, just when things were finally dieing down on this issue, the Govt. had to go and issue a list of persons forbidden from entry without a visa ( though as Steph P. pointed out, it would be quite someting to see them make that stick in, say, Maun. ).

Here’s the story, and the link:

Govt slaps visa regulations on critics

KETO SEGWAI
STAFF WRITER

Just when Survival International (SI) and other human rights organisations are beginning to become irrelevant in the aftermath of the High Court decision on relocations from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), the government has dramatically brought them back to centre-stage.

In the latest Government Gazette of March 23, 2007, the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs, Charles Tibone, has evoked a Visa Requirement clause from the Immigration Act to target 17 individuals from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and Canada. The targeted individuals who now need a visa to enter Botswana contrarily appear to comprise primarily  rights activists, academics and journalists.

The Government Gazette notice stipulates that:  “In accordance with regulation 5 (1) of the Immigration (Visa) Regulations, the Minister of Labour and Home Affairs hereby declares that the persons listed … are to obtain a visa to enter into Botswana”. Under normal circumstances, the nationals of the above-mentioned four countries are exempt from Botswana visa requirements.

Regulation 5 (1) specifies that “No visa shall be required by a national of a country visited in the first schedule, who is the holder of a valid passport issued by that country unless the Minister by notice published in the Government Gazette declares that such a person is required to obtain a visa.”  The UK, USA, Australia and Canada are included in the first schedule.

The 17 affected individuals are:  Steven Corry, Mirriam Ross, Fiona Watson, Jonathan Mazower, Janie Workman, Jonathan Reed, David White, John Walsh, Oliver Duff, Karin Goodwin, Carol Midgley, and Jonathan Simpson - all from the UK.  The listed Americans are: Rupert Isaacson, Eric Grossberg and Tom Price; while Ian Taylor is an Australian and Daniella Stor is Canadian.

At press time, Mmegi had been able to establish that four of the Britons - Corry, Ross, Watson and Mazower are all from Survival International (SI), government’s well-known nemesis in the CKGR saga.

Seven of the people in the list are journalists. They include Simpson, the respected world affairs editor with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC); Financial Times of London’s South African correspondent, Reed and its African editor, White; Price, a highly respected American freelance journalist who often contributes to major publications such as the Los Angeles Times. Other journalists are: Duff (Independent - UK), Goodwin (Sunday Times - Scotland), and Midgley (The Times - UK).

Taylor is an Australian academic who previously worked as a lecturer on African Affairs at the University of Botswana. He co-authored a critical paper entitled “Presidential Succession in Botswana: No model for Africa” with Professor Kenneth Good.  Speculation is rife that that paper, which Good was unable to present, led to his unceremonious deportation from Botswana.

American Isaacson is known to be with the Indigenous Land Rights Fund, while Grossberg is suspected to be associated with an organisation that deals with conflict-free diamond issues.  At the time of going to press, Mmegi had not yet established what Stor, Workman and Walsh do.

When contacted yesterday, Tibone dispelled the widely circulating perceptions that the evocation of visa requirements is directly connected with the involvement of the people with the CKGR issue.

“This is a routine thing.  It’s something we do from time to time, if there are people we need to know when they visit Botswana. Yes, we want to know when they visit Botswana so that we can give them any assistance they may need,” said Tibone. He maintained that the latest measures are meant to facilitate the stay of the 17 in Botswana.  He added that theoretically everybody who enters Botswana is given a visa - in the form of a stamp on the passport at his or her point of entry. He said the 17 people affected by the new dispensation cannot get their visa at the point of entry and must apply for it before coming to the country.

When contacted yesterday on the latest developments, Corry, the SI director, noted that the list is composed predominantly of individuals who have taken an interest at some point in time in the plight of the Basarwa from the CKGR.

This regulation could so easily be the start of a slippery slope leading to denying entry to foreigners who dare criticise the actions of the ruling class - even when the government has acted illegally and against people’s human rights, as in the case of the Basarwa evictions from the CKGR. Surely it can only further erode Botswana’s diminishing reputation. Survival’s actions were always in support of dispossessed citizens of Botswana. Will the government now try to stop international human rights organisations operating in Botswana, just like the apartheid South African government did? Is this what Botswana’s citizens really want,” he posed.–30–

It’s so wanna be tough guy, you know? I’ll give them credit–it’s their country, and they’re running it as they see fit. But for a nation who’s image is so important to them, to do something as cheap and petty as this, so old-school Africa; it’s the sort of move one would expect in say Zimbabwe, wouldn’t be worth a notice, the guy in the suit decrying the outsiders who’re besmirching our good name. But they’re sincere, they mean it. Or at least, the lower level ones do. The brus @ the top, however, having been well trained by Edelman, well, they’re a different bunch all together. Mogae’s one thing, but that VP and President in waiting Khama, the General, not very keen on democracy and contrary opinions, that one.

Regardless, it’s my first banning, hopefully not my last, and I’m in august company. And couldn’t be more pleased. And I have every intention of fronting up there soon to get my special permit:)