Roy Sesana (born c. 1950) is a San activist who worked together with the First People of the Kalahari for the rights of his tribe.

Biography

Sesana lives in

New Xade New Xade is a village located in the central part of the Ghanzi District of Botswana. The population was 1690 in 2021 census. A Relocation Settlement In 1997, 1739 San (Bushmen) and other residents of the CKGR (including the Bakgalagadi) were ...

in the central

Kalahari The Kalahari Desert is a large semi-arid sandy savanna in Southern Africa extending for , covering much of Botswana, and parts of Namibia and South Africa. It is not to be confused with the Angolan, Namibian, and South African Namib coa ...

and works as a traditional medicine man. He moved to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

for a couple of years, but returned to his people in 1971 in order to live together with them in the desert. He is a leader of the people of the Gana, Gwi and Bakgalagadi ‘Bushmen’. In 1991, he joined the First People of Kalahari (FPK) with John Hardbattle, which intensively promotes the traditional way of life, protecting the nature. In 1997, a small group of Bushmen still living in the

Central Kalahari Game Reserve Central Kalahari Game Reserve is an extensive national park in the Kalahari Desert of Botswana. Established in 1961 it covers an area of (larger than the Netherlands, and almost 10% of Botswana's total land area), making it the second largest game ...

were resettled to the new built town of New Xade. The government claimed that this was a result of a mutual understanding that the continued presence of the group within the reserve was in conflict with the preservation of the game reserve. The government also claimed that it could not provide the group with basic infrastructure and services while they were within the reserve for the same reasons. A group of Bushmen represented by First People of the Kalahari refused to move, citing difficult conditions in the new settlement, the unfamiliar way of life they had to adjust to and many new social ills such as unemployment, alcoholism and diseases, especially HIV-AIDS.In 1995 Roy became chairman of FPK. He has traveled to Europe and the United States a few times to stop Botswana government from forcing his people to evict their land. In 2002, the First People of the Kalahari took the Government of

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

to court to seek the right for the relocated people to return to the reserve. The protracted court case attracted substantial international attention. On December 13, 2006, Botswana's High Court ruled in the Bushmen's favour, stating that the evictions were unlawful and unconstitutional. In September 2005, Sesana was arrested for "rioting" and attempting to "forcibly enter the Central Kalahari Game Reserve", but was released a couple of days later. In December 2005, he received the

Right Livelihood Award The Right Livelihood Award is an international award to "honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today." The prize was established in 1980 by German-Swedish philanthropist Jakob ...

for "resolute resistance against eviction from their ancestral lands, and for upholding the right to their traditional way of life."

References

External links

I want 2 go home – Kgeikani Kweni (First People of the Kalahari)
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sesana, Roy San people Botswana human rights activists Indigenous activists of Africa Living people 1950s births Year of birth uncertain People from Ghanzi District

Biography

See also

References

External links