Namibians annoyed with Germans

The presidency as well opposition leaders this week condemned the German ambassador to Namibia, Christian Schlaga, and Germany special envoy Ruprecht Polenz for disrespecting Namibians.
This comes after Schlaga informed the media that his government had no intention to pay reparations in the form of money.
According to Polenz they have already made some proposals on the nature of projects they intend to bring to Namibia.
Polenz also urged the Namibian government to speed up negotiations if they want a result by next year, because his country is going to the polls this year.
The presidency however cautioned Polenz and Schlaga that divulging this information to the media could spoil the good relations between the two countries.
“It is also clear that Germany insists on rushing the negotiations because they face an impending election in their country in the near future and therefore it seems that we are held hostage to a deadline before the negotiations have even commenced,” the statement said.
“Contrary to what was agreed and also considered common courtesy in delicate matters such as we are faced with, the German counterparts seem to have shared what appears to be their position on negotiations through the media.”
The presidency also criticised Germany’s insistence on no reparations being payable except for the establishment of a Foundation for the Future.
“Such media expositions and statement of preconceived positions publicly before negotiations commence do not augur well for the future bilateral relations between our sovereign states. We would urge and advise that our counterparts allow the negotiations to commence and be concluded logically,” Geingob advised.
The president added that failure to handle these processes with due care could jeopardise any chances of success.
Meanwhile, DTA president McHenry Venaani has condemned the tone of the reparations negotiations between the Namibian and German governments, adding that it is pre-empting the process.
He also cautioned that the negotiations must not be done in a way that appears a mockery of the pain and anguish that the affected communities carry with them until today.
According to him it is clear from the remarks of Schlaga and Polenz that the negotiations are not in done in good faith.
“One does not enter into negotiations with a community and people you have attempted to exterminate by setting conditions which look to guide the end result of the negotiation process,” he said.
He also accused the German government of appearing to be calling the shots by setting deadlines when the negotiations must be finalised.
“Another distressing factor is that the reparations proposed in the form of developmental aid may not be specifically targeted at the affected communities, but amount to ordinary development aid,” he
said.
According to him this is no different from the development aid Germany and many other countries have been giving Namibia over the years.
“Which leaves one wondering should the end result take this format, how does one distinguish German development aid under the cloak of genocide reparations to development aid from other country?” he asked.
Germany is donating development aid to Namibia through the Namibian-German Special Initiative Programme (NGSIP).
The NGSIP aims at developing projects in selected areas for communities that suffered during the German colonial period. The primary beneficiaries of the NGSIP are rural communities in 24 constituencies in the Erongo, Hardap, Karas, Khomas, Kunene, Omaheke and Otjozondjupa regions.
According to Ullrich Kinne, deputy head of the German mission in Windhoek, this initiative on which Germany has already spent N$574.8 million has been implemented through the National Planning Commission (NPC) since 2007.
By the time of going to print questions posed to the embassy had not been answered.
JEMIMA BEUKES