Huebschle makes land plea

SWAPO member and the former prisons deputy minister Michaela Huebschle says that land bought by Government should first benefit “people who really lost their land”.

Speaking at the commemoration of the Otjiserandu in Okahandja last weekend, Huebschle called for speedy negotiations between Germany and Namibia over the reparations demanded by Herero leaders. Otjiserandu is the commemoration of the war between the Germans and the Herero at the turn of the 20th century.”It is an acceptable argument that descendants of people who escaped a genocide are eligible for reparations.In the same light victims of the colonial land deprivation and genocide should be eligible for reparations as well,” she said.”The German-Herero descendants should be the beneficiaries of various incentives, like scholarships.”Huebschle said land resettlement should also benefit people displaced by the Odendaal plan which pushed many more Namibians into socalled reserves during the rule of the apartheid National Party.However, she warned her comrades that “regardless of the moral responsibility” of the colonisers, “it will not be fair to expect the donor to pay for a land reform process with questionable objectives and dubious procedures”.Huebschle also called for attention to be turned to healing apartheid consequences of “black-black” divisions.Otjiserandu is the commemoration of the war between the Germans and the Herero at the turn of the 20th century.”It is an acceptable argument that descendants of people who escaped a genocide are eligible for reparations.In the same light victims of the colonial land deprivation and genocide should be eligible for reparations as well,” she said.”The German-Herero descendants should be the beneficiaries of various incentives, like scholarships.”Huebschle said land resettlement should also benefit people displaced by the Odendaal plan which pushed many more Namibians into socalled reserves during the rule of the apartheid National Party.However, she warned her comrades that “regardless of the moral responsibility” of the colonisers, “it will not be fair to expect the donor to pay for a land reform process with questionable objectives and dubious procedures”.Huebschle also called for attention to be turned to healing apartheid consequences of “black-black” divisions.