Botswana and South Africa

Abstract This chapter seeks to highlight what is distinctive about the situation of Indigenous peoples in Africa, in particular the frequent refusal of states to acknowledge that Indigenous peoples even exist within their boundaries, and problems created by fragility in the rule of law for enforcement of Indigenous rights where these are recognized. The chapter also explores why, though faced with some common problems, individual Indigenous peoples can experience different outcomes. The range of outcomes evident in Africa is illustrated through case studies of government policy and histories of development for San people whose homeland is the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in Botswana, and for the Xholobeni community in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. The chapter concludes by considering the wider lessons that these different histories reveal about the factors shaping Indigenous experiences with extractive industries.