Ovaherero and Nama genocide descendants are demanding N$17 trillion in reparations, rejecting the current Namibia-Germany negotiations as inadequate and exclusionary.
The Okandjoze Chiefs Assembly for Genocide says the current negotiations between Namibia and Germany have failed to deliver justice.
Reverend Ebson Kaapama, a member of the Maharero Royal Traditional Authority and technical committee member of the Okandjoze Chief Assembly, said this at a high-level conference in Ghana yesterday.
“A quantum of N$17 trillion is a reasonable and just compensation for the lives lost, the ancestral land stolen, the cattle confiscated, the forced labour endured, and the generational underdevelopment intentionally inflicted upon our tribes,” he said.
Kaapama said Germany has not fully accepted legal responsibility for the genocide under international law and its reference to the genocide is viewed as “from today’s perspective”, avoiding legal accountability and meaningful reparations.
He criticised the exclusion of traditional leaders from the negotiations, saying descendants were not allowed to represent themselves during discussions between the two governments.
Kaapama further objected to the rejection of direct cash compensation for affected families and communities and accused the Namibian government of attempting to broaden the issue beyond the communities directly affected.
“We wish to alert the pan-African community to a dangerous internal injustice: The government of Namibia is actively attempting to ‘Namibianise’ the genocide,” he said.
The assembly is seeking support from African countries or international allies to help advance its case through international mediation.
Kaapama said the current bilateral process between Windhoek and Berlin has not delivered justice, necessitating international intervention.
The demand comes as president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah participated in the conference this week.
The president left Namibia on Wednesday to attend the event, where heads of state and government are discussing the implementation of a United Nations resolution adopted in April that recognised transatlantic slavery as the “gravest crime against humanity”.
As you deliberate on the next steps of the UN Resolution on Trans-Atlantic Enslavement and Reparatory Justice, remember that the 20th century’s first genocide happened on African soil against the Herero and Nama,” Kaapama said.
Meanwhile, the Genocide Reparations Advocacy Forum has questioned Nandi-Ndaitwah’s participation in the conference.
The forum says the president does not inspire confidence among genocide descendants to represent their interests.
“Most, if not all, descendants have rejected the joint declaration.
The government, least of all the president of Namibia, is aware and has all along been aware regarding the position of the descendants,” forum member Mbeuta ua Ndjarakana says.
German colonial forces killed more than 75 000 Ovaherero and Nama people between 1904 and 1908.
Germany acknowledged the genocide in 2021 and committed €1.1 billion (about N$22.5 billion) over 30 years for development projects among the affected communities.
Ndjarakana says the package, presented as development assistance rather than reparations, does not adequately address the impact of the genocide.
“The bypassing and ignoring of the communities of the descendants from meaningful participation has further eroded the legitimacy of the process,” he says.
The forum calls for a formal acknowledgement of the genocide, a direct apology from Germany, reparations that address land dispossession and intergenerational poverty, and a process led by the affected communities.
The forum welcomes the United Nations resolution.
