Tsila and Diamond Mining

The Kimberly Process guarantees that diamonds from Tsila (Bushmen) homelands are not "conflict diamonds," meaning diamonds that are associated with civil wars and conflict. However, this leaves out the criteria of human rights abuses and contravention of international law regarding the consultation of traditional landowners by mining companies. The Bushmen have been evicted illegally and forcibly from their land to make room for this mining activity. By any definition, this could be described as "conflict."

The government and mining companies have backpedalled on this issue in recent years, claiming that the Bushmen were removed for their welfare, not because of mining interests. This contradicts what they initially told the Tsila when they were evicted in 1985, when the Bushmen were told explicitly that they were being moved to sedentary settlements because of the diamond deposit.

These "relocation camps" are referred to by the Tsila as "places of death." De Beers backed their removal to these concentration camps with bogus research claiming that Gope has only recently been inhabited by Bushmen, and that they have no ancestral claim to the territory. Read more on this.