…following Tombstone Unveiling of Pitseng Gaoberekwe
The Khoisan community will gather on December 10, 2025 at the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) for the unveiling of the tombstone of Pitseng Gaoberekwe. The early morning unveiling will be followed later in the evening by a spiritual restoration and healing ceremony led by his majesty, Malatsi Siwa, spiritual godfather of the Khoesan people and a custodian of cultural heritage. The event is billed as a moment of remembrance, cultural reconnection and communal healing, under the theme “Restoring Ancestral Spirit: Honouring Khoisan Heritage, Healing Communities, and Empowering Unity.”
The path to this day, however, has been long and fraught. When Gaoberekwe died in December 2021, his family sought to honour his expressed wish: to be buried in his ancestral home at Metsiamanong in the CKGR. Instead, authorities, including the local district council and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, rejected the request. They argued that because Gaoberekwe had been relocated to New Xade under a social-welfare programme, and was registered there as a destitute, he was legally a resident of New Xade at the time of his death. Under those grounds, they maintained, his burial had to take place outside the reserve.
When Gaoberekwe died in December 2021, his family sought to honour his expressed wish: to be buried in his ancestral home at Metsiamanong in the CKGR. Instead, authorities, including the local district council and the Department of Wildlife and National Parks, rejected the request.
Over years, his remains languished in a funeral parlour in Gantsi. His family refused to bury him elsewhere, insisting on resting him in his ancestral land. In April 2022, the High Court ruled against them and ordered burial outside CKGR within ten days, failing which the mourning son would face imprisonment. The family appealed, but the Court of Appeal of Botswana upheld the decision in December 2022, ruling that Gaoberekwe had no legal right under existing legislation to be buried in the reserve.
For nearly three years, his body remained unburied. Over that period the family accrued substantial mortuary bills running into more than a million pula. The drawn-out impasse sparked condemnation from human-rights and indigenous-rights advocates, who argued that denying his wish violated not only personal dignity but broader cultural and ancestral rights of the Khoisan people.
The stalemate was finally broken after the government changed in late 2024. In his first address as president, Duma Boko announced that Gaoberekwe would be laid to rest at his ancestral home in CKGR. The state committed to covering all mortuary and transportation costs. On December 10, 2024 coinciding with International Human Rights Day, Gaoberekwe’s remains were flown into the reserve and buried at Metsiamanong.
Now, the upcoming tombstone unveiling and healing ceremony is more than a memorial. Organisers and community members expect it to be a symbolic act of restoration, of dignity, ancestral justice, and cultural solidarity. Led by his majesty Malatsi Siwa, the event will include sacred dances, ancestral prayers and traditional healing rituals.
