Namibia: 'People Will Die Without Benefiting'

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Members of the Ovaherero/Ovambanderu and Nama Council on Dialogue of the 1904 to 1908 Genocide maintain that the negotiating team appointed by the Office of the President has executed the mandate of the motion passed in parliament in 2006. The motion brought to parliament by the late Nudo president Kuaima Riruako demanded recognition from the German government that it committed genocide or mass murder in Namibia, an apology for their acts and the payment of reparations.

Council member and negotiator Charles Eiseb said the motion was debated and adopted by all parties and forwarded to the president as an executive order to start the negotiation process between the Namibian and German governments,including representatives of the affected communities.

These remarks were made at a community meeting held on Thursday at Keetmanshoop, to provide the government’s perspective on the process amid cries from opposition parties for the current process to be stopped and restarted, including the affected communities and giving them the opportunity to speak directly with the German government.

“Negotiations took five years, with nine rounds of talks. The last talks were in Berlin in May this year. We succeeded in getting the acknowledgement, the apology and N$18 billion in reparations.

“Remember even though the motion was tabled in 2006, negotiations only started in 2017, so to start this process over will set us back another 11 years at least,” said Eiseb.

Community member Fritz Dirkse denounced the claimed achievements of the government, noting that the published document of the genocide deal does not mention the word genocide, but ‘acts of atrocities committed’. It also does not mention reparations but ‘development aid’.

Dirkse said therefore communities cannot accept this deal. He also maintained that not all traditional authorities were included, such as the !Aman Traditional Authority of Bethanie.

Besides noting that N$18 billion is too low an amount, he took issue with the fact that the money paid by Germany will go towards development projects, and not directly to the descendants of the affected communities.

“The liberation war veterans receive a government pension of N$1 300, a war vets allowance of N$2 500, and if they have a project they want to start, they qualify for up to N$200 000. Why is there no direct benefit for the descendants of the genocide? Roads and housing are already the responsibility of the government,” said Dirkse.

A trust is expected to be opened for the genocide money to be used to fund land acquisition, land development, rural electrification and the provision of water infrastructure in the regions where the Nama, Ovaherero and Ovambanderu tribes reside.