The Knowledge of the San People

The African natives were the first ones involved into pharmaceutical profits

Fruits of the desert: The San are survivors.

The San people in Southern Africa are displaced, despised and forgotten in many places. The San people today are known as the famous Bushmen, who live mainly in the Kalahari Desert in South Africa. Now there's good news for them, thanks to the "weight-loss elixir P57": If the U.S. group Pfizer releases their new slimming secret weapon on the market, the San people will have a share of the profits from the patent.
This success came after a long struggle. This is the first pharmaceutical company to have such a commitment. However, it is all justified, the elixir being based on the P57 Hoodia cactus and the traditional knowledge of the San people.
The San are traditionally a nation of hunters and gatherers. They wandered and ran through the endless sand plains of the Kalahari Desert in search of food for days. They even resettled on some occasions. Therefore, they were hungry for days.
"Our men found water in ostrich eggs, which we had buried there for them", recalls the old Qoama. There was no time for breathers or even hunting spree. The bitter Hoodia cactus helped them withstand the rigors of the San in the Kalahari Desert. "The hunters suppressed their hunger and thirst by chewing on pieces of this large cucumber plant,” reports Qoama.

A symbol of dignity

The short woman with a colorful headscarf is familiar with the plants and wild fruits of her homeland. Qoama has already learned from her mother that the vitamin-rich nut Morama is a diversified nutritional supplement. She knows exactly what wild tubers and plants help against certain diseases. However, Qoama has heard almost nothing about vitamins or diets, except for when her son told her that the P57 diet is a huge success. For the first time in African history has an indigenous minority managed to enforce traditional, communal knowledge against a pharmaceutical multinational company.

Such profits had been still unthinkable on the "UN Summit on Sustainable Development 2002" in Johannesburg. On signing the convention between the South African San Association “San Council" and the "South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research" (CSIR) in late March, the Minister of Arts and Culture, Ben Ngubane, said: "This agreement symbolizes the restoration of the dignity of the original people.".



Qoama has only noticed a little of the month-long legal discussions of her people with the CSIR. “After a long battle, it was established that six percent of the profits from the patent of the miracle cure P57,” says the multiple mother and grandmother.

"The Hoodia Cactus was our family tradition."
P57 is the name that Phythopharm, the British Pharma Group, gave to Hoodia, which was patented by the CSIR in 1996 and was bought by Phytopharm shortly thereafter. The press praised the drug quickly and presented it as a "slimming dream and the pharmaceutical industry predicted a revolution of the seven-billion-euro diet market - without thinking of the centuries-old knowledge of the San people.
"But the traditional knowledge of our forefathers finally got attention through this important contract. We want to preserve and protect all aspects of our heritage," said Peter Vaalbooi, board member of the South African San Association.

In 2001, the Western pharmaceutical industry discovered the hunger and thirst-relieving effect of the Hoodia cactus. First, Phythopharm secured the patent rights of the appetite suppressant P57, which were then acquired by the American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer, already successful with the Viagra pill, the rights for P57 being worth 17 billion euro.

Based on their knowledge, the San people of the "Kung" wanted to let people know about the million-dollar discovery. The organization WIMSA ("Working Group on indigenous minorities in southern Africa") helped the San to enforce their rights.


"The San felt cheated on. It was as if someone had stolen their family silver and wanted to sell it for a huge profit,” said the WIMSA human rights lawyer Roger Chenelle.