Enquiries: Mr. Nandiuasora Mazeingo (+264814655780 / ): OGF Chairperson Mr. Deodat Dirkse (+264811290915 /): NTLA Secretary-General
OPEN LETTER TO THE NAMIBIAN HEAD OF STATE: DR. HAGE GEINGOB 27 SEPTEMBER 2023
1. If ever there were aspersions casted on our long-stated position that the government of Namibia, despite long concealment, now openly exhibits genocidal traits towards Ovaherero and Nama nation, such aspersions must forthwith be dispelled in the wake of recent Ovaherero and Nama genocides denialist utterances by the sitting Head of the Namibian government, Dr Hage Geingob. These traits are manifested in the denials of Nama and Ovaherero unseen sufferings and thus hostilities towards their interests and being. We reiterate that Dr Geingob never held a mandate or trust to speak, nor least negotiate, any settlement on our behalf in our natural quest for restorative justice from the German masters of the Namibian political elite.
2. Mr Geingob, on foreign soil, disparagingly drew the ugliest, uneducated and most repugnant contrast between Apartheid and Genocide. We see apartheid as a crime against humanity, whose primary focus is segregation of peoples of different races and consequently, domination anchored in white supremacy and singularity to societal rule. Equally we see genocide as humanity's most grotesque and brutish crime focused on total obliteration of communities because of their cultural identities and uniqueness of ethnical grouping[s]- which in the Namibia of yesterday best embodied by the two sovereign states of Ovahereroland [ Ehi rovaHerero] and Great Namaqualand respectively.
3. This crime of genocide displaced, dispossessed and banished tens of thousands of people to foreign lands. There they languish on the margins of host communities in deprivation of dignity, culture and belonging. Internally the OVAHERERO TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY genocide in Namibia, the genocide condemned Nama and Ovaherero remnants to conditions of squalor and destitution BUT also completely decimated these societies by over 80 percent in the case of Ovaherero and 50 percent in that of the Nama nation. Horrors and brutalities that Apartheid, even in its worst self, can never convincingly be accused of having unleashed on any community the world over. In fact, it is sickening that anyone should in any case make comparisons of crimes committed in the dark history of our country.
4. The violent speech of the sitting Head of Namibian Government is in complete congruence with our long-held view that Namibia has a shameful shadow government which is conspiring against pursuits of a people it swore to promote, protect and defend as per the dictates of the Constitution of the Republic it must honour. This seemingly illegitimate ruling congregation has long lost all iota of integrity and credence to represent us in any matters wherein as sovereigns with inalienable rights in the land of our ancestors, we seek redress for crimes committed against us.
5. The repulsive words of a waning General Geingob, in what is now a ghost of the people's house, explains long-observed tendencies and attitudes of his troopers who at every juncture undermines our people and agenda. It consequently rings hollow the empty theatre of the Namibian House in which the said General shall be remembered for having sowed unbridled levels of discord, discontent and disharmony. It chiefly vindicates our prosecution in Namibian courts of his tainted regime behaving repugnantly and self-servingly in particularly questions of our existential demands for redress of a colonial past that inherently defines our presence and most certainly future, given the order of pegging in a country poised to shoot us down at every sign of progress.
6. It is utterly shameful that a leader who prides himself with speaking truth, irrespective of audience, in a typical kitchen negro style, cows-in to an audience of European teenagers he addresses in France. Here we also see him OVAHERERO TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY scrubbing their boots unsolicited, and begins to caress them and their neighbouring German cousins with unmitigated mistruths of conciliation paths between Namibia and Germany only the octogenarian himself sights through an increasingly senile imagination. Such reconciliation with Germany and specifically its settler community in Namibia, who still occupy our stolen lands, is not conceivable to us and never will be without real and meaningful redress of past horrors and injustices our people continue to reel under. In our prescribes, any conciliation must be preceded by righting past wrongs as outlined under the 2006 Chief Kuaima Ruruako's Parliamentary Genocide Motion. The reverse is not feasible and is thus flatly refused by every inch of our communities. We say conciliation because *re* concilition denotes a false pre-existence of a relationship between us and those who looted and pillaged our societies.
7. Whilst we are not surprised by the Namibian government and its leader’s alarming genocidal gaze, it perplexes us that Germany continues to sway so much influence over a General who now leads a low-key expiring regime with nothing to celebrate. In our view, Germany long retreated in shame for having presented a fake settlement proposition to its brutalized communities. It boggles our minds further that once again, Germany bamboozles the Namibian Government Head into presenting what looks like a page from erstwhile Bavarian beer-brewing bunkers where the fascists converged underground to plan, execute and rejoice over the extermination of a whole people. It would seem as if the Namibian servant in chief, on an apparent mercenary mission, is now deployed to spew German racist crimes clothed in denialist gutter talk on foreign lands. This we deem utterly shameful and beneath the dignity of the Office the occupant seems to care little about.
8. The utterances of the Head of Government are a monumental shame and a shocking betrayal of the sacred trust a descendant of the Victim Communities, the late Chief Riruako, invested in the Namibian state. These utterances are a OVAHERERO TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY direct assault on the sacred cries of a people for almost 200 years, and are as reckless and egregiously harmful to any people as can be. They in particular, adding the disastrous sell-out Joint Declaration which evidently was informed by thoughts belaying these words, make a mockery of the three negotiating Pillars that the SWAPO Government adopted for itself, namely: that Germany must acknowledge that the mass killings of our ancestors constitute genocide; that Germany must apologize for that genocide; and that Germany must pay Reparations for the genocide.
9. Against this backdrop, we wish to affirm our long-stated position that the socalled “Reconciliation Agreement” – not REPARATION AGREEMENT, is a Public Relations coup by Germany and an Act of Betrayal by the Namibian Government under the shameful genocide denialist presidency. It is no more than a mere restatement of the 2004 Ohamakari minimalist position adopted by then German Minister Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, which was even rejected by her own Government! Clearly, Germany still has NO intention to recognize that what Von Trotha did constitutes genocide in terms of international law, therefore, Germany has no intention to apologize for ANY crime of GENOCIDE – especially not to the descendants of the Victim Communities! It therefore follows that Germany will not pay ANY form of REPARATIONS – especially not to the descendants of the Victim Communities!
10.It is against the backdrop of the inflexible German negotiating position, that the Germans, fully aware that Namibia is salivating over its hollow promises of jobs linked to the Hydrogen illusions projects meant to use Namibian soil as a base for German energy needs, now enlists the Namibian Head as its genocide denialist in Chief. The so-called “compensation” to finance “social projects” is nothing but a cover-up for continued German funding of Namibian Government hyped-up empty talks of Hydrogen projects and correspondent jobs opportunities known only to the Namibian Presidency but nowhere else. OVAHERERO TRADITIONAL AUTHORITY 11.Given the above, just as we continue to reject the initialled, now faded away, so-called Reconciliation Agreement, we resoundingly dismiss the Head of Namibian Government's genocide denialist utterances with the contempt it deserves. It is not worth any serious engagement and we urge the United Nations, the African Union and the rest of the international community to reject this dangerous rhetoric by an exiting Head of Namibia as sanctioned by his German masters.
We equally call upon the UN to recognize the 1904-07 massacres by Germany as genocide and crimes against humanity.
Enquiries: Mr. Nandiuasora Mazeingo (+264814655780 / ): OGF Chairperson Mr. Deodat Dirkse (+264811290915 /): NTLA Secretary-General
25 SEPTEMBER 2023 *DIASPORIANS FIND REMARKS BY PRESIDENT OF NAMIBIA RECKLESS AND INSENSITIVE* The Diasporians representing the Herero and Nama people in South Africa took note of the reckless and insensitive remarks uttered by the President of Namibia in France where he said that “Apartheid was worse than the genocide”. To us it is not a surprise at all that Geingob would utter these insensitive remarks because this is the same Man who has failed to appreciate the struggle for the National Unity and Prosperity of Namibian people and thus finds it easy to escape through the remarks he made to delegitimise the atrocious history of the Nama and Herero people. These remarks have exposed the skeleton of a Misleader who is trapped in tribal comfort to embrace only tribal tattoo experiences of his tribe and not that of a different tribe. We find it to be foolish and puppet theatrics what the Misleader opted to utter in France and the West. We call for the continued Unity of all Nama and Herero people in pursuit of justice for the injustices of the past, Genocide can never in any way be equitable to Apartheid, to compare the two is just too disingenuous but then a sell out will always sell out and that is how we should treat such remarks. These remarks don’t define nor represent the National Unity of Namibia and remains remarks of a man trying to please the West(Germans) and needs to be condemned with contempt it deserves. *Issued by Herero and Nama Diasporians in South Africa* For more comments, contact Chief K.B. Kandorozu @ +27 82 948 4253
President Hage Geingob’s recent statements comparing the severity of the apartheid era to the Herero-Nama genocide have ignited a wave of criticism.
Geingob made these remarks at a public lecture at the Paris Institute of Political Studies last week discussing reconciliation between Germany and Namibia.
He said the Herero-Nama genocide of 1904 to 1908 occurred many years ago, predating South Africa’s military occupation of Namibia in 1915.
The president’s stance on the matter was in response to enquiries about the status of a draft joint declaration between Namibia and Germany.
“Reconciliation of Germany and Namibia is there. We have diplomatic relations, we have peace. This genocide happened how many years ago. Over a hundred years ago.
“After that the South Africans took over. They were worse, and then Swapo started to fight to free the country,” Geingob said.
Sima Luipert, a genocide activist affiliated with the Nama Traditional Leaders Association technical committee, this week expressed dismay at Geingob’s comments, suggesting that he may not fully grasp the distinction between genocide and apartheid.
“Genocide means exterminate. Was apartheid about exterminating all black people? It’s really sad that a head of state can make comparisons about the weight of suffering,” she said.
Approximately 50 000 to 65 000 Herero and 10 000 Nama people are believed to have died during the harrowing four-year genocide.
Luipert said this genocide constituted a brutal mass slaughter, resulting in the Herero and Nama communities being reduced to minority status in today’s independent Namibia.
“These [remarks] show Geingob’s complete disrespect and violation of the rights of people who are minorities in Namibia today. “It also borders on questioning the citizenship of minorities in Namibia,” Luipert said.
She said Swapo’s concept of reconciliation appears to centre on the notion that white oppressors merely need to offer apologies, while the grave atrocities they perpetrated are either not effectively addressed or addressed in a superficial manner.
The leader of the official opposition party, the Popular Democratic Movement’s McHenry Venaani, has criticised Geingob for “downplaying” this tragic chapter by drawing comparisons with other periods of grave human rights abuses, characterising it as a deeply flawed exercise in judgement.
“The insensitivity of these comments is made all the more glaring when one considers that they were made on an international platform.
“It is highly inappropriate for a head of state to make divisive remarks that not only open old wounds but also risk stigmatising the communities that still bear the scars of these historical atrocities,” Venaani says.
He says remarks like these only serve to foster division when unity is paramount in addressing the numerous challenges the country is faced with, which include economic instability, a soaring unemployment rate, and environmental degradation.
“A true leader should aim to unite their people under the banner of mutual respect and shared history, acknowledging each community’s unique experiences and the collective pain that has shaped the nation,” Venaani says.
In response to criticism of Geingob’s remarks, presidential spokesperson Alfredo Hengari says Geingob has played a significant role in advancing negotiations on the genocide issue, resulting in reparations exceeding €1 billion.
“There are those who were sitting on the other side, with apartheid oppressors, and therefore not well placed to speak on questions of unity and justice.
“We cannot receive lessons about justice from them,” Hengari says.
He says Geingob discussed the topic of genocide reparations with German chancellor Olaf Scholz during the 78th United Nations General Assembly (Unga).
Hengari says Geingob is currently focused on Namibia’s contribution to the Unga where he as co-chairperson will play a vital role in preparing the Summit of the Future in 2024.
“President Geingob as a freedom fighter and now as the third president has always fought for justice and the unity of the Namibian people, including on the question of the 1904 genocide,” he says.
After yesterday's forensic survey we found what may potentially be human remains. We requested the police and local authority to cordon Shark Island and not allow any tourist activities until we establish further facts. We hope that this discovery will lead to the permanent closure of the Island for tourism activities. In the next few days we hope to find forensic evidence that will ensure continued closure for detailed research to protect the sacredness of the site. The research team will continue to survey the site for another week or two. Between Maboss ima Luipert and Nandi we'll coordinate the process
Picture: This is the technical coordinating team of OTA and NTLA
Bunkers at Kaikanaxab
Mariental, Namibia, Sima Luipert
"development planning is done within the context of socio political and cultural contexts"
Look at this pictures. When planning was done to establish a vocational center at Kainaxab those "specialists" didn't even consider that its a heritage site
Prisoners considered dangerous were kept in those bunkers at Kaikanaxab concentration camp during the genocide. The Boers later used it to keep Swapo fighters
Genocide survivors still waiting for justice after a century
Swakopmund is a very popular Namibian seaside resort but very few people talk about the history of this city. It was founded as the main harbour for Germany in South West Africa. It was here that the first concentration camps emerged. According to statistics, approximately 40 percent of the prisoners in Swakopmund died during their first four months of captivity, and any prisoner who was brought to the camp was likely to be dead within ten months.
The genocide in Namibia that took place between 1904 and 1908, was one of the darkest chapters in German history. The colonial forces systematically exterminated thousands of Herero and Nama people through mass killings, forced labour, and captivity in concentration camps.
The wounds of the past are still deep. ‘Genocide is not history, but the reality of our lives. The land we have lost then has not been returned,’ says Nandiuasora Mazeingo, President of the Herero Genocide Fund. The scars of the German genocide continue to shape the lives of Namibia's people. Will they be able to get justice?
Pictures are taken 05.08.2020 when late PC Rukoro met with the Nama Gaogu to make decive decitions.
It was at Thüringer Hotel Windhoek
After this meeting the Hoachanas Decleration was taken in June 2021
New platform makes Namibia Archive available online
New platform by the University of Basel, Switzerland's oldest university and among the world's longevous universities, makes Namibia Archive available online.
Songs, fables, diary entries and photographs: the collection consists of over 750 images and audio documents. It was created in the 1950s by Africanist scholar and theologian Ernst Dammann and his wife Ruth during a research trip. The German couple photographed numerous Namibian families, couples and individuals and recorded their voices. The voice recordings, taken with a Magnetophon tape recorder, are a unique testimony of the regional language groups and song repertoire of Namibia.
The full Dammann collection is located in the Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) and is accessible through an online catalog which, however, might be an unfamiliar tool for non-academics and broader publics. In addition, even though copies of the audio recordings have been in the National Archives of Namibia in Windhoek for years, many Namibians have never heard of the Dammann collection and do not know that it may contain images and sound recordings of their family members, friends and acquaintances.
The highest Development Planning Authority speaks such crap
Theoretical and ideological understanding of development has evolved. The backward theoretical understanding of the National Planning Commission is outdated colonial theory dumped on our aspiring development planners through eurocentric institutions of higher learning, in order to perpetuate a colonial relationship between the former colonies and their perpetual masters
06/09/2023
Germany responds to Special Rapporteurs
Fundamental criticism of Namibia Agreement ignored
The German and the Namibian government have answered to criticism from seven UN Special Rapporteurs. On February 23, they had sent a letter to the German Federal Government and the government of Namibia, pointing out serious deficiencies in the so-called “joint declaration” between the two states. “In its answer, the German Federal Government now revealed how little it is interested in international law. Apparently, the aim is primarily to get the problematic topic of the genocide against the Herero and the Nama off the table,” criticized Roman Kühn, Director of the Society for Threatened Peoples (STP) on Friday in Berlin. “It will not be possible to keep up this attitude. An agreement that was negotiated without the descendants of the victims is unsalvageable. Now, the entire process will have to be started over – based on the legal criteria mentioned by the Special Rapporteurs, as the STP has been demanding for years.”
Sima Luipert, Secretary for International Affairs at the Nama Traditional Leaders Association, added: “The answer of the German Federal Government clearly indicates that Germany is still denying the responsibility for the atrocities committed during the colonial rule. It even seems as if Germany is continuing its mission of civilization, which was started during the colonial era. The Special Rapporteurs are reminding Germany of its legal obligations – and of the fact that development aid does not qualify as compensation. Instead of considering the very concrete concerns and questions, Germany is getting caught up in a delusional dance of self-glorification about how friendly Namibia has been treated since becoming independent – as if trying to hypnotize the Special Rapporteurs into the German legal doctrine.”
Nandiuasora Mazeingo, Leader of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation, rejects the answers of the German and the Namibian government as “pathetic documents full of ambiguity and outright lies”, condemning the notion that the victims had been compensated sufficiently. The invitation had only been sent to persons who were “connected” to the victims’ organizations, but not to actual members of the organizations. “We said no to the contract back then, and we still stand by this today. The whole thing was never about us being involved in a process that essentially concerns us. The two governments are shamelessly claiming to have invited our respective leaders to the negotiating table – and it is purported that we declined. We never have and will not participate in such a sham exercise.”
The German and Namibian governments are dodging their obligations to ensure the Ovaherero and Nama peoples of Namibia meaningful participation in ongoing negotiations regarding reparations for Germany’s recognized colonial genocide committed between 1904 and 1908.
On February 23, 2023, seven United Nations Special Rapporteurs sent communications to the German and Namibian governments to “express grave concern” at both governments’ alleged failure to ensure the right to meaningful participation.
In their letter, the Rapporteurs reminded Germany and Namibia that while they consider the negotiations a political, bilateral process, as laid out in a 2021 joint declaration, the Indigenous Nama and Ovaherero peoples have their own participation and representation rights. Germany attempts to deny its obligation under human rights law granting the affected communities a right to participation in such processes.
The Rapporteurs also stressed that, contrary to Germany’s continued contestations, colonial crimes should be assessed according to “today’s legal standards” and not “racist and discriminatory laws imposed by the colonial power of the time.”
The Rapporteurs expressed concern about Germany’s position against victims’ claims for compensation, as it plans to give only “collective development aid” instead of effective reparations.
Namibia responded to the UN experts on May 30, alleging unfair blame on its government and claiming it has meaningfully engaged with the Ovaherero and Nama peoples. Germany’s June 1 response repeated previous defenses of the process, declaring that both governments “stand by the initialed joint declaration,” and that the Ovaherero Traditional Authorities (OTA) and Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA) had “turn[ed] down the Namibian Government’s invitation to take part in the reconciliation process.” In fact, the two groups had refused to recognize the joint declaration because it was negotiated without their participation.
A 2006 Namibian parliamentary resolution had required a tripartite process, which is at the heart of a pending court case before Namibia’s high court brought by the OTA, NTLA, and a coalition of national and international lawyers. The plaintiffs had contacted the Special Rapporteurs in 2022.
The German and Namibian governments should reverse course to guarantee a process that centers direct participation by affected communities to respect their rights to full reparations for ongoing harms inflicted by colonial crimes.
Genocide is a deliberate attempt and also not just an attempt but also an act to wipe out an entire ethnic group.
Whereas in the case of apartheid, apartheid no racial or ethnic fixation to wipe out or to annihilate any specific group. whether this group would be annihilated in its whole in its entirety or in part, genocide is, so I mean genocide is one possible outcome of a colonization project but colonization does not necessarily mean that there is always a Genozide. you can colonize a country or a territory without mass extermination of people but Genozide always involves a large scale murder and I think in the case of Namibia the genocide targeted two specific groups with an explicit written order and also with extermination camps, Apartheid did not have extermination camps, mass expropriation, deportations, force sterilization, human bodies including people skulls including people's brains including people's hair ear eyes and this was all in the name of ration to White supremely. Have we ever heard a mess cutting off of people's heads during Apartheid? this is what happened during the genocide. did we ever hear about the extermination camps of specific groups of people during apartheid? that is the difference and both are brutal Appartheit was brutal but so was genocide also and we need to understand it for that and I think also it's it's the genocide that reduce those targeted to minorities in an independent Namibia in this really I think the statement shows Mr Gaingob complete disrespect and violation of the rights of people who are today minorities in Namibia and I think for me it also sort of Borders on you know questioning the citizenship of minorities in in Namibia for a person who has studied at high level one would have thought that the president's definition of reconciliation would have much more intellectual depth since he was addressing you know people or young people who strive to to be scholars and academics and and you know at university level but I think Mr Gaingob views about reconciliation need to be understood was in namibia's whole approach to National reconciliation. It was really selective morality on the part of the ruling SWAPO party. and so for many in the in our Society it was mostly a white people agreeing to, or making peace with the black majority government, but on condition the ill-gotten white capital interest should only be touched in a very supervisual manner and that seems to be sort of the understanding of not only Mr Gaingobs but also the ruling parties understanding of reconciliation. And this understanding lacks, you know, so I don't know-
reconciliation in my view should be for restoring relationships and also rehabilitation of those who have suffered losses and who would be traumatized in the process.
The question in the namibian case is, how do you restore relationships without any clear commitment to policies and strategies that will bring justice and equity?
The current talks between these two countries do not talk about justice they do not talk about equity also I think there must be sensitivity in the personal interaction between the perpetrator and the victim and that must be the first stepin paving the way forward.There has absolutely no sensitivity in personal interaction between those people that represent, specifically the Nama people, and specifically the Ovaherero people, in this case. There has not been that personal interaction.
If there's no personal interaction, how do you begin to talk about reconciliation?
The government is a mediator and therefore waters down the entire discussion.
It is like a child, that was raped and then the parents of the child and the perpetrator sit at the table and decide what should be happening to the child and what kind of solution should be found for this child while the child is absolutely no say in it?
that is not reconciliation!
So I don't know what reconciliation Mr Gaingobf is talking about when he talks about Germany has accepted genocide.
I think that that is more political statement of rhetoric rather than a statement of fact.
Germany is saying we accept it as genocide from today's perspective. legally this means that at the time it was committed it was not genocide, Germany further go in its legal argument, it says that the international laws of the time permitted Germany and the German Reich to do whatever it wanted to do with the natives and that includes killing them at a massive scal.
That is what Germany is saying.
So Germany has not accepted genocide. Germany has given a conditional acknowledgement, and therefore any apology that would come would be a conditional apology and not a genuine apology.
I also find it very strange for the president to talk about reconciliation. Maybe it's very strange while she knows the ruling SWAPO party has continued until today to remain silent about the Fate of more than 3,000SWAPO members who were languishing in the Lubango region. Only less than 300 coming back. The feat of the plus minus 3200 persons still remains a mystery. And the families are still bleeding in grief- but SWAPO has not made any move towards acknowledgement or agreeing to deal with this chapter of its past. So it is very ironic for a president of the ruling party and the president of Namibia to talk about reconciliation in such a way.
