Rukoro rejects New York ruling

The Ovaherero and Nama say they will appeal against the decision of US district judge Laura Swain, who struck from the roll their lawsuit that sought to force Germany to pay damages for the 1904-08 genocide and property seizures.

The New York judge argued that the court did not have jurisdiction over Germany, which had sovereign immunity.

The victim communities argued that Germany was not shielded by the federal Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act because some of its colonial plunder had found its way to the American Museum of Natural History in Manhattan. Ovaherero paramount chief Vekuii Rukoro said Judge Swain had made some “fundamental errors of law” in her jurisdictional analysis.





“[We] are determined to see to it that this decision is reversed on appeal and that our claims for reparations shall proceed,” Rukoro said.

He said the victim communities had already directed their lawyers in New York to proceed with the appeal.

“We have a just cause and our resolve is reinforced by the international support our case has enjoyed over the years from international organisations,” Rukoro said.

He said this international support came from the United Nations (UN) and traditional leaders like Tshekedi Khama of the Bamangwato in Botswana, and the late Dr Alfred Xuma, former president of the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa.

Xuma had petitioned the UN in 1947 in support of the Ovaherero case against the then apartheid South Africa's plans to annex the former South West Africa.

Rukoro said Germany had challenged the Herero and Nama court case on technical grounds, and not on the merits of the case, but the victim communities were confident their appeal would be successful.

“Then we will have our day in court,” Rukoro said, adding that Germany had an indefensible case.

He said the Ovaherero and Nama case was identical to the lawsuit brought against Germany by the Jews after the Holocaust, in the same New York court.

Germany also challenged the Jews' claims on technical grounds, but lost when the matter went to the court of appeals and ended with a settlement agreement in which Germany had to pay out billions of dollars to the Jews.

Rukoro said the case was also similar to a lawsuit in the 1960s against South Africa's illegal occupation of South West Africa, which was thrown out on the grounds that the US court lacked jurisdiction.

Rukoro said that resulted in former President Sam Nujoma launching an armed struggle.

“The rest is history; Namibia got its independence,” Rukoro said.

“We will take our case to the Supreme Court if necessary,” he said, adding: “The legal route we have chosen as peace-loving people is not the only platform for pursuing our objective, which is historic restoration. This is merely one platform of struggle. If it works, fine; if it does not deliver the goods we will proceed to other platforms of struggle.”

He said Germany and its “collaborators” must not have the “false security” that this was the end of the matter.

“For them and us the struggle is about to start,” he said.

“We will appeal and beyond the legal route we have the will, capacity and determination to intensify the struggle diplomatically and politically, and even to actively encourage those who are occupying our ancestral lands illegally to remove their farms off our lands, so that we ultimately can achieve true justice and not have these phony arrangements through half-hearted assurances of our government.

“Let there be no mistake of our resolve in this regard. For us the battle is lost but the war is still on and we have every intention to win that war,” Rukoro said.

Speaking Afrikaans, Rukoro said: “Germany, jy het die Nama tier en die Herero leeu by die stert gevat (Germany, you grabbed the Nama tiger and Herero lion by the tail).”

CATHERINE SASMAN