Genocide reparation: Let’s start anew
The torture, rape and barbaric killings cannot ever be rectified, the group said, but added that comprehensive compensation must be applied to address permanent damages.
JEMIMA BEUKES
WINDHOEK
Local affected communities are pleading with the National Assembly not to entertain Germany’s N$18.6 billion genocide package and instead urged government to start the negotiation process from scratch.
In a statement co-signed by professor Mutjinde Katjiua, the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) chairperson, and chairperson of the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), Johannes Isaack, the communities rejected the so-called reconciliation and reconstruction agreement to be signed between Namibia and Germany, and said a new negotiation must feature direct participation by legitimate descendants of the 1904-08 Nama and Ovaherero genocide victims.
“The principles of this resolution are that the Nama and Ovaherero peoples or their direct representatives shall negotiate directly with the Federal Republic of Germany, and that the Namibian government will be an interested party in an issue that affects its citizens.
“The refusal of the German and Namibian governments to include and negotiate with the actual descendants is no longer tolerable, and therefore amounts to a denial of our Namibian citizenship. We repeat that there was never any extermination order against the Namibian government, therefore, it has no legal standing to negotiate anything on our behalf,” the statement read.
We will fight
The group promised to fight for a comprehensive reparation package for all Nama and Ovaherero peoples in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and the diaspora, and to employ innovative ways to wage this fight.
In fact, they said they are prepared to sacrifice their lives in the same way their forebears sacrificed their own and added that they know where their land is and how it was brutally taken.
“The tortures and rapes, barbaric killings and subsequent trade in human remains; the destruction of families and community structures; the consequent systemic intergenerational poverty, and the ongoing psychological trauma cannot ever be rectified, but comprehensive compensation must be applied to address permanent damages.
“The expropriation of all moveable and immovable properties of the Nama and Ovaherero people, including our ancestral land, through the Imperial Decree of December 1905 and affirmation in May 1907, must be redressed through the principle of restitution before compensation.
“The seven regions identified as the ancestral land of the affected communities in the joint declaration of the two governments of Namibia and Germany constitutes 82% of the total geographical area of Namibia – this is the land lost by the Nama and Ovaherero communities,” they said.
[email protected]
WINDHOEK
Local affected communities are pleading with the National Assembly not to entertain Germany’s N$18.6 billion genocide package and instead urged government to start the negotiation process from scratch.
In a statement co-signed by professor Mutjinde Katjiua, the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) chairperson, and chairperson of the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA), Johannes Isaack, the communities rejected the so-called reconciliation and reconstruction agreement to be signed between Namibia and Germany, and said a new negotiation must feature direct participation by legitimate descendants of the 1904-08 Nama and Ovaherero genocide victims.
“The principles of this resolution are that the Nama and Ovaherero peoples or their direct representatives shall negotiate directly with the Federal Republic of Germany, and that the Namibian government will be an interested party in an issue that affects its citizens.
“The refusal of the German and Namibian governments to include and negotiate with the actual descendants is no longer tolerable, and therefore amounts to a denial of our Namibian citizenship. We repeat that there was never any extermination order against the Namibian government, therefore, it has no legal standing to negotiate anything on our behalf,” the statement read.
We will fight
The group promised to fight for a comprehensive reparation package for all Nama and Ovaherero peoples in Namibia, Botswana, South Africa and the diaspora, and to employ innovative ways to wage this fight.
In fact, they said they are prepared to sacrifice their lives in the same way their forebears sacrificed their own and added that they know where their land is and how it was brutally taken.
“The tortures and rapes, barbaric killings and subsequent trade in human remains; the destruction of families and community structures; the consequent systemic intergenerational poverty, and the ongoing psychological trauma cannot ever be rectified, but comprehensive compensation must be applied to address permanent damages.
“The expropriation of all moveable and immovable properties of the Nama and Ovaherero people, including our ancestral land, through the Imperial Decree of December 1905 and affirmation in May 1907, must be redressed through the principle of restitution before compensation.
“The seven regions identified as the ancestral land of the affected communities in the joint declaration of the two governments of Namibia and Germany constitutes 82% of the total geographical area of Namibia – this is the land lost by the Nama and Ovaherero communities,” they said.
[email protected]
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