Botswana’s OvaHerero, Nama demand reparations for Genocide
Petition German government to offer a posthumous apology
The OvaHerero, Ovambanderu, and Nama Communities resident in Botswana have petitioned the government of Germany to pay reparations and restitution at a price commensurate to the gravity of its crimes in the 1904 - 08 genocide.
Although separate groups, they are united by the search for justice. They want the agreement that they entered into with the Namibian government nullified and started afresh.
The two groups namely Botswana Society for Nama, OvaHerero, Ovambanderu ( BOSNOOO) under the leadership of clergyman and SecretaryGeneral, Reverend Rupert Hambira, and OvaHerero, Nama Genocide Group ( ONGB) represented by John Kambura this week wrote strong- worded petitions addressed to the German government.
The petitions say that Germany has a responsibility to come to an all- inclusive, amicable, and fair agreement to pay Reparation and Restitution at a price commensurate to the gravity of its crimes. They also call for that Government to re- enter into fresh negotiations.
BOSNOO refers to their letter written to the German Embassy in Gaborone as a petition, while ONGB calls theirs a ‘ Joint Declaration Agreement on the genocide of 1904- 1908’, and have directed it to the German Foreign Minister, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, as well as Speaker of the German Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany. They call on the German government to refrain from poisoning the political climate by engaging and encouraging others to engage in denial of the genocide.
Part of the ONGB petition reads, “We, the OvaHerero people, descendants of the victims of the 1904- 1908 genocide, who reside in Botswana, firmly oppose the just concluded ‘ agreement’ between your government and that of the Republic of Namibia, regarding the stated matter.
“We are firmly convinced that Germany’s government exploited Namibia’s handicapped political and economic condition to its advantage, to absolve itself from responsibilities, transparent negotiations with all stakeholders and most specifically the leaders of the “Affected Communities, the descendants of the OvaHerero and Nama
people”. They demand that the Joint Declaration of an Agreement between the two governments be nullified with immediate effect. They also want the Bundest solution that could expedite renewed negotiations to that effect, that conform to international standards and procedures, which call for the full and unequivocal recognition and acceptance of guilt for the genocide of 1904- 1908.
They also demand Germans to offer a posthumous apology to the victims and an unconditional apology to the affected communities. After the apology in Bundestag, they demand that the German President come to Namibia and deliver a formal apology at an appropriate venue designated by the leaders of the Affected Communities and the Namibian government. They also want Germans to engage in a Restorative Dialogue with the representatives of the affected communities, as well as pay reparation and restitution commensurate to the communities and people affected by the genocide of 1904, including those in the Diaspora such as in Botswana, South Africa,
Angola, and elsewhere. “That your government desists from using the already polarised Namibia’s national government as its proxy, in this regard. We are calling for your government to show respect and commit to ensuring that the tranquil political peace and stability be maintained”. Part of the petition dubbed, PETITION AGAINST THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY ON THE GENOCIDE COMMITTED AGAINST THE NAMA, OVAHERERO, AND OVAMBANDERU OF BOTSWANA CITIZENSHIP, reads, “today we hail this moment as one of the most memorable and indelible that will go into the chambers of history when, we, the descendants of the OvaHerero, Ovambanderu, and Nama, who survived the genocide at your hands and found refuge in this land ( Botswana) more than a century ago from present- day Namibia, handed a petition to the Federal Republic of Germany relating thereto. This petition marks an end to the downplay and non- recognition of our existence here in Botswana displayed by the German Government that we are here as a result of her actions. “A plethora of research materials both published and unpublished, as well as original accounts of oral history handed down to us by our parents, contain an undisputable and consistent story of German colonial rule in present- day Namibia. Prior to this, the Ovambanderu, OvaHerero, and Nama communities lived mainly in the central, south, and eastern parts of present- day Namibia in very harmonious, self- governing and autonomous lifestyles, with sufficient wealth, derived mainly from their agricultural vocations, as well as trade with neighbouring tribes. “However, this harmonious and peaceful order was interrupted and undermined by the unlawful and unprecedented invasion and occupation by Imperial German forces towards the dying days of the 1880s. It is worth noting that this invasion was in furtherance of the diabolical and racist resolutions of the Berlin conference of 1884 - 5 which sliced up Africa and redistributed present- day Namibia in favour of Germany as a colony.
“In the effort to execute the bid for the total establishment of Imperial German interests, they devised divide- and- rule tactics that also sought to pit these victims or affected communities and their leaders against one another. It is in light of the foregoing that OBSERVING AND EXAMINING the events and occurrences as chronicled above, the Nama, OvaHerero, and Ovambanderu people lost large tracts of ancestral land, lives, livestock, culture, resulting in numerical minority and maimed identity both in Namibia and wherever they are situated. “Invoking the principles of international law, both customary and statutory ( International Conventions) of which Germany is signatory and subject, Germany committed GENOCIDE against the victim communities. The modelling, fashioning and gravity of the atrocious acts at the hands of Germany fits with striking similarity into the broad spectrum of other events and occurrences all over the world which have been classified and affirmed as Genocide, such as the Armenian Genocide, Jewish Holocaust, and Rwandan Genocide. We hope this petition to be ushering in the beginning of some progressive and honest engagements between the affected communities living here in Botswana and the Federal Republic of Germany for the attainment of closure of our dark past.”