E/CN.4/2006/78/Add.2 page 18 73. The Special Rapporteur is encouraged by the Government’s declared commitment to address the demands of the indigenous groups in the country and by the ongoing effort to formulate and implement appropriate legislation and policies to address such issues as land restitution, multilingual and multicultural education, the representation of traditional authorities in public life, and the delivery of health and other services. Government authorities are aware of the urgency to focus on the accumulated backlog of unsatisfied needs of indigenous communities, and the Khoi-San, in turn, are dissatisfied by the delays in the provision of services and demand that such efforts be speeded up. More coordination between the various government departments that deal with indigenous peoples is required. 74. Indigenous people in South Africa have in principle equal access to all social services provided by the government, including education, health delivery systems and infrastructure. However, they tend to be more marginalized than other sectors to the extent that they are concentrated at the lower end of the socio-economic scale. 75. Government departments provide priority attention to all sectors of the population across the board that are in the lowest ranks of income and social development indicators without regard to ethnic criteria. This policy may, however inadvertently, leave some indigenous communities (such as the Khomani San) outside of the priority attention they need, because of their geographical isolation but also because they are not sufficiently empowered to make an impact on government decisions regarding the allocation of limited resources. 76. All indigenous groups face different challenges within the national society as a result of distinct historical processes and current circumstances. The Khomani San in the Kalahari were dispossessed of their lands and lost their traditional hunter-gatherer livelihood in the process. Today they are probably among the poorest and most marginalized indigenous communities in the country and their situation requires priority attention. Whilst they were successful in their land restitution claim of 1999, after many years of struggle, they still have to turn these farms into productive enterprises and they expect the government to provide them with more of the needed support than they have received so far. 77. The Griqua communities of the Western and Northern Cape, who are also present in other parts of the country, have long struggled politically for the recognition of their lost cultural identity as part of the Khoi-San people. Having been included during the apartheid regime in the amorphous category of “Coloureds”, they demand statutory recognition as a distinct indigenous community and respect for their particular ethnic identity. 78. As in other countries, indigenous women require specific measures to empower them to overcome the constraints of poverty, low levels of education and literacy. In South Africa specific measures in the combat against HIV/AIDS are very much needed. Indigenous women, not only in South Africa but in almost all the countries the Special Rapporteur has visited, are systematically excluded on matters of land reform policy and on discussions regarding solutions to their problems, in particular those of indigenous rural women. Actions to ensure their active participation in those areas are required. 79. The Special Rapporteur cannot conclude this report on his mission to South Africa without mentioning the communication which was addressed to him by an organization purporting to represent the “Boerevolk”. These Afrikaaners claim to be the “only indigenous