The Okandjoze Chiefs Assembly on Genocide has urged representatives of the Federal Republic of Germany, who will be attending the funeral of Namibia’s founding president, Sam Nujoma, to observe the decorum and solemnity of a nation in mourning.
The Chiefs Assembly further warned the German delegates “not to usurp our national mourning with their inopportune, insensitive, and distasteful propaganda regarding the Joint Declaration (JD) and the negotiations that led to its drafting and conclusion in May 2021.”
“We are appealing and imploring for continued solemnity befitting the late His Excellency Nujoma, the quintessential Father of the Nation. A solemnity not punctuated and tainted by opportunism, as demonstrated by the neo-colonial propaganda of German President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier,” the Chiefs stated in a press release issued this week.
The Chiefs Assembly is particularly irked by sentiments expressed by Steinmeier at the funeral of the late Namibian President, Dr. Hage Gottfried Geingob, last year. During that event, the German President alluded that he and Geingob were “winding up their mission regarding Genocide, Apology, and Reparations” and characterized it as “unfinished business for which he would return to Namibia to offer an apology.”
“Mr. Steinmeier’s pronouncements, true to German neo-colonial mentality, may have been opportune and politically prudent and expedient, but not to us, the descendants of the survivors of genocide,” the Chiefs Assembly wrote.
They maintained that they found it not only opportunistic but highly insensitive for the German President to be discussing the trajectory of Genocide, Apology, and Reparations as nearing completion, “while conscious of the fact that the descendants have rejected it absolutely.”
“If the German President was not aware of such a rejection, then the German Embassy in Windhoek must have failed in its duty,” the Chiefs Assembly stated.
Development Aid, Not Reparations
The Chiefs Assembly further stated that for too long, the descendants of the survivors of genocide have allowed the Namibian government and its German counterpart to appropriate their cause of Genocide, Apology, and Reparations for their own bilateral engagements.
“To the extent that the Joint Declaration (JD), finalized in 2021, essentially an aid and development package between the two governments, is being touted and purported as reparations.”
“Thus, we reiterate that development assistance is not, cannot be, nor should it be equated or compared with reparations, especially as pertaining to the Ovaherero, Ovambanderu, and Nama, and their quest for genuine, legitimate, and honest closure on Genocide, Apology, and Reparations,” the Chiefs Assembly stated.
The JD, the Chiefs said, is simply about bilateralism and must not be confused with their demand for Germany to acknowledge the genocide Imperial Germany committed against their forebears. Similarly, the Namibian government must desist from commingling the two.
According to the Chiefs, for Germany to continue projecting the JD as atonement, especially on Namibian platforms, is not only politically discourteous but an insult to the intellect of genocide descendants.
“It is only a matter of time how long we, as descendants, shall continue to tolerate such humiliation, which is adding insult to injury, given that the Berlin government has not done anything of note, let alone shown us that it is ready and open to engage us directly as descendants,” the Chiefs Assembly maintained.
The Okandjoze Chiefs Assembly on Genocide comprises Ovaherero Paramount Chief Dr. Hoze Riruako, Paramount of the Ovambanderu Aletta Nguvauva, Chief Turimuro Hoveka, Chief Manasse Zeraeua, Chief Tjinaani Maharero, Chief Sam Kambazembi, Chief Rikurura Kukuri, and Chief Mureti.