For over 140000 years the Bushman developed unique knowledge that enabled them to survive in the unforgiving terrain of the Kalahari Desert. It is intriguing to learn that the Khoisan who had been looked down upon for a long time has recently attracted several pharmaceutical companies in the search for remedies where conventional drugs are failing. This documentary unravels the injustices shrouded therein.
This documentary starts off in Andriesvale in the Northern Cape in Southern Africa. Jan a Bushman of the San community burns incense. This is for the scent and also to invoke the spirits of the ancestors. It protects him from evil spirits while working. Jan is one of the few traditional healers of Khomani who still carry the knowledge of ancient medicine. As he prepares his medicine he says he asks the spirits of their ancestors to bring forth healing.
When the Bushmen welcomed the colonialists they depended heavily on them because of the Bushman’s knowledge of the terrain and the medicinal plants, but soon things changed for them. The Bushmen were pushed out of their original land which covered almost the entire Southern Africa. White and black nations took away their land cattle sheep and goats. Jan informs this documentary that in the face of the white man’s massacre the Bushman fled into the Kalahari Desert where they are confined to date. Here they languish in poverty looking like a people at the verge of extinction as seen in images contained in this documentary. The spiritual leader explains how Afrikaners came into the Khoikhoi nation and forced them to speak only Afrikaans and Namas, and would be punished if he dared speak Khoikhoi which they called a gossiping language. Fortunately he says they would not take away the knowledge of plant medicine from him.
Jan demonstrates to the narrator of the documentary his knowledge of plant medicine. He explains how the candle bushes, a tough weed is used to relieve pain among women. He then explains the Bushman’s use of hoodia, the plant that has attracted pharmaceuticals. Jan says the Kalahari bushman used the succulent weed which has plenty of water to survive in the desert by providing water and suppressing the appetite. In this documentary, Jan the traditional healer claims the world is stealing the Hoodia plant from the Bushman. Further he claims the plant is getting depleted and it has become increasingly hard to come across it. For Jan the knowledge of the natural slimming properties of the Hoodia plant was stolen from the Kalahari Bushman.
The documentary’s crew visited a pharmacist in Cape Town who sells Hoodia supplements explains the advantages of the drug over conventional slimming drugs. He informs this documentary that while the former has no effect on the glycemic index, conventional slimming drugs affect blood pressure. He says the Hoodia has been used by the San people as an appetite suppressant for a long time and the same knowledge is now being used by pharmaceuticals that source the plant from the Kalahari. As seen in this documentary, the Bushmen sell ethnic handicraft to tourists visiting the nearby Kalahari Game Park to eke out a living. But the meager earnings from this venture lead many to seek solace in alcohol. One man who makes the handicraft explains the frustrations of the Kalahari Bushman with the “stealing” of the Hoodia. He says it has caused a huge conflict.
In March 2003, the bushman signed an agreement with Council for Scientific and Industrial research CSIR a South African research firm who patented the Hoodia partnering with a big international pharmaceutical firm. This becomes the focus of this documentary as it totally ignored the Bushman’s intellectual property rights. The agreement was signed in the spirit of Thabo Mbeki’s Africanisation policies. But Human rights lawyer who represented the San explains in this documentary that without the intervention of the media, the CSIR would not have entered into a negotiation with the Bushman. Martinez Harrick from the CSIR outlines progress made in prospecting of Hoodia slimming products. The Hoodia isn’t naturally abundant. There is a risk of overexploiting it, Martinez informs this documentary. Also a plant colony may take up to 50 years to mature in the wild, but the CSIR is looking to grow the plant in appropriate farming conditions where it would take 24-26 months to mature. The CSIR is cultivating several acres of the Hoodia plant. The concern in this documentary is the plant is being poached out of the country. Moreover there are several South African plant medicines that have already been patented by international organizations. Asked why the CSIR did not contact the San before signing the deal, Mr. Harrick says the appropriate time to sign a benefits agreement is after getting an idea of the end products, the market size and the technical hurdlers to be overcome. But the narrator of this documentary questions why CSIR would patent indigenous knowledge in the interest of South African business rather in San’s interest. Furthermore the San would only get a small portion of the proceeds of the drugs.
Jan together with the filming crew of this documentary visited the Working Group of Indigenous Minorities of Southern Africa (WIMSA) the umbrella body representing the interests of the San to find out why they did not challenge the patent. Director Axle Thama explains that challenging an international patent costs incredible amount of money. He says even the Namibian government was not able to challenge the patent. Mr. Axle is filmed in this documentary asking the San to be satisfied that for the first time an international organization has recognized a plant medicine as the intellectual property of the San. He says it is greedy to seek more money something he claims is not San-like. The narrator of this documentary learnt from Mr. Axle that WIMSA had already received 500,000 Rands which together with the subsequent disbursements would go into providing education of the San. He says WIMSA plans to buy land to resettle the Bushman too.
Ouma Kuna is one of the few remaining Khomani Bushmen who still speak the ancestral language. She is very passionate about passing on the Bushman’s knowledge to the younger generation as seen in this documentary. She has been invited to J-J Adams primary School to teach the children how to pronounce some words of the language. Jan explains that his mother taught him about herbs. He was born by a German father during the German wars he says, at a time when the German soldiers would force Bushman girls into promiscuity. His parents were half Khoikhoi and half San. The San take care of the delicate ecological balance of the Kalahari and this practice is inextricably woven into their tradition.
Jan explains that the Kalahari Bushman made beer from lime obtained from the family bird and the buck’s horn. By so doing, Jan explains in the documentary that the San believed they would obtain the energy possessed by the bird, to run and hunt all day. Jan says the Bushman also used family bird lime mixed with horse hoof to induce vomiting if someone had taken too much beer. In 1999 the South African government sought to correct the historical injustice and resettled the San from the border of the Kalahari Game Park to 40000 acres of farm land in Andriesvale. The San were given rights to enter the game park where plants and wild animals which is an intricate part of their culture continue to thrive. But until today, entering the Park is close to impossible as revenue collected from the tourist comes first. But the San are frustrated that they have to seek permit to enter the land where they were born, the land which bears their history. They say they want to be free to share this history with their children and grandchildren.
Since the establishment of the Park, the Bushmen were prohibited from entering it turning them into foreigners on their own soil. Le Riche Elias disagrees with Jan’s argument about the alleged mistreatment of the San. He argues that the San were given food rations and alternative land and that none of them was thrown out of their land but they left out of their own free will as Jan claims. Le Riche alleges in this documentary that the Bushman is extinct and not even the oldest of grannies can speak the language. He says they only speak ancient Koen and Nama languages. But Jan alleges that Le Riche has no respect for the Bushmen because he is a white man. He claims Le Riche beat the Bushmen into respecting him.
CSIR signed over Hoodia to Unilever an Anglo-Dutch corporation. The South African deputy minister for Science and technology Derrick Hanakon spoke to the narrator of this documentary. He said the reason why South Africa wouldn’t market the drug by itself is because; doing business with an established organization with established market networks and a brand name would earn more. Attempts to speak to representatives of Unilever were unsuccessful as their calls went unanswered. But an internet search of Unilever conducted by the narrator of this documentary revealed a myriad of instances where it failed to honor its moral obligation to patents and intellectual property rights in the developing countries. In a world that has seen the rise of multinational that wield more power and influence than most African countries, not much can be expected from Unilever.
Back in the Kalahari Petrus Vaalbooi who was present at the signing of the deal is frustrated that the Bushman will only get 3 cents out of every 100 Rands Unilever makes. He is disappointed that they believed in the government to negotiate a fair deal but have gotten nothing out of it. In the Nyae Nyae Conservancy in Namibia, the “devil's claw” a drug used to treat arthritis is not patented. Instead the Bushmen cultivate and sell the plant to the pharmaceuticals. As seen in this documentary, the Namibian Bushman still lives like they did in the past. In Namibia, the government granted the rights of the Bushmen. Today anyone seeking to hunt in the Kalahari must pay for a permit, which goes into the Bushmen’s kitty and all community members benefit from that money. Even though the Chukwansi bushman of Namibia has full rights over the devil’s claw, it only brings them 50 dollars per 20 kg bag which is not enough to maintain the 2000 inhabitants of this land. Their main source of income is tourism and treasure hunting. This documentary depicts Chukwansi Bushman as a people who have found a way of interacting with the Western world while keeping their traditions. Without control over large areas of land, this could never be. In Namibia the Bushman does not have to apply for a permit to hunt the game like is the case for Kalahari Bushman in South Africa. Even the Khomani dance is still very much alive among the Namibian Bushman just as traditional healing is. But in South Africa Jan says the government has forced them to abandon their traditions.
The hoodia through the CSIR deal could bring enough money to buy back the Khomani land and restore the dignity of the San. But while the San still wait for money to lift them out of a life of dependency, the CSIR has already manufactured the slimming pills and is selling it to the world. The Bushman cannot believe their secret has been sold to the world under their government’s watch but they vow not to give up in the fight for their tradition, their land and the Bushman’s secret.