1904-2014: More than a century of tension

This Sunday, January 12, marks exactly 110 years since the Ovaherero, led by Samuel Maharero, launched their rebellion against German colonial rule. The uprising was the last straw in the Ovaherero’s unwillingness to submit to the German settlers’ dominance – which entailed systematic killings of the natives, forced land evictions and many other atrocities. The war of resistance lasted four years, ending with the defeat in 1908 of the Ovaherero and the Nama who also joined the uprising to defend what was rightfully theirs. Contemporary Namibia continues to be very much shaped by events of that war (and occupation), owing in part to the current government’s failure to address issues of restorative and transitional justice at independence. The declaration of national reconciliation at independence in 1990 – which to all intents and purposes was a noble gesture – meant that many aspects such as returning stolen land to its original owners, or just sharing it equitably across racial lines, could not be addressed. Dispossession of the indigenous people had been a feature of colonial rule and, at independence, some 45% of the total land area and 74% of the potentially arable land was owned by fewer than 4 100 people. Apart from basic freedom, land was the central issue in the struggle for national self-determination in Namibia and hopes were high at independence that there would finally be some light at the end of the tunnel as far as the land question was concerned. By his own admission, the country’s current president – Hifikepunye Pohamba – stated in August 2013 that the Swapo government had failed the masses insofar as land distribution (and re-distribution) is concerned. In justifying its sluggish pace of addressing land issues, the government has argued that there is no way that the brutal work of colonialists in dispossessing the natives of their land, a process that went on for nearly 100 years, can be addressed in 23 years. That argument, as cowardly as it sounds, does carry some truth. Tribal relations The events of 1904 to 1908 led to a mass exodus of many surviving Ovaherero to Botswana where they sought breathing space from the German troops’ bullets. Today, the Ovaherero only make up about 8% of Namibia’s total population, yet history records that this tribe was among the largest in the country. In recent years, there have been incidents where the Ovaherero, Nama, Damara and San have accused each other of stealing the limelight of victimisation by the Germans. In August 2002, the Herero Paramount Chief commented that the land question in Namibia is solely an Ovaherero issue. A spokesperson for the Coordinating Committee for the First Official Commemoration of the Ovaherero Genocide stated two years later that genocide was in Namibia only committed towards the Ovaherero. The country’s largest tribe, the Ovawambo, has also been accused of taking lightly the genocide endured by the tribes that militarily opposed German oppression. The fact that there is no public holiday in remembrance of the German genocide victims – as opposed to, for example, May 4 when the country pauses to commemorate the 1974 bombing of Cassinga – has only helped fuel such sentiments. Government has also been accused of playing a spectator’s role in demands for reparations from present-day Germany, although the country’s leadership has always down played such talk. But whether all these tensions are rooted in real or imagined realities, the bottom line is that they all have their origins in the oppression of Namibians by colonial Germany. Relations with ethnic Germans Namibia boasts about 30 000 German-speaking citizens who generally enjoy cordial relations with other tribes in the country, including those that fought against colonial Germany. In fact, upon independence in 1990, three German-speaking Namibians – Otto Herrigel, Hartmut Ruppel and Anton von Wietersheim - were appointed to Cabinet by then President Sam Nujoma. Herrigel was appointed finance minister, while Von Wietersheim was in charge of the agriculture portfolio. Ruppel, a lawyer and Swapo activist prior to independence, was appointed as the country’s first attorney-general. Many German descendants have served in government, including current trade minister Calle Schlettwein – the only German-speaking Namibian currently in Cabinet. While many of them remain wealthy, German-speaking Namibians have endured 23 years of sarcasm and insinuations deduced from what colonial German did to other Namibians. It is because of such innuendo that trust has been a rare commodity between German-speaking Namibians and some other tribes (and government) in the country. On Christmas Day just over two weeks ago, the Namibian government ordered the removal of the Reiterdenkmal – an bronze statue commemorating German soldiers and civilians killed in the colonial wars between 1904 and 1908. The local German-speaking community lambasted the move, which it said represented an important reminder of the hardship endured by its forefathers in that brutal war. Government justified its actions by stating that displaying the statue prominently was a sad reminder of German atrocities to the descendants of the locals who perished in that war. In the final analysis, it can be strongly argued that 110 years after that war ended, the marks of German colonialism remain sharply visible in our socio-economic setup. Contentious issues emanating from that dark episode continue to pile up and unless consensus and political will are found, centuries will come and go without any solutions to the current standoff. WINDHOEK TOIVO NDJEBELA