Key Pillars of Genocide Memorialisation

Thirty-Six Years years since independence, Namibia has not yet developed a comprehensive memorialisation regime.

This column examines the foundational principles necessary for meaningful genocide memorialisation and why they are essential for preserving historical truth, honouring victims, and advancing justice.

Genocide remembrance is not only a moral obligation toward those who suffered and perished, but also a vital responsibility to future generations.

Comprehensive genocide memorialisation provides the evidentiary basis necessary for remembrance, education, and the ongoing struggle for reparatory justice.

It ensures that the atrocities committed, the intent behind them, and their devastating impact are permanently recorded in the national consciousness.

To achieve this objective, genocide memorialisation should be anchored on key pillars: Genocide Remembrance Day, Educational Curriculum, Monuments and Statues, Museums and Literature, Legal Framework, and a Genocide Memorial Authority.

APPROPRIATE FRAMEWORKS

Regrettably, Namibia’s Constitution does not contain explicit provisions dealing directly with genocide memorialisation.

This highlights the importance of developing appropriate legislative and policy frameworks to guide the preservation, protection, and promotion of genocide memory within the national legal system.

However, its principles – particularly, Article 8, which protects the inviolability of human dignity – establishes a fundamental constitutional value that requires respect for the dignity of all people.

Article 19 guarantees the right of every person to enjoy, practice, and promote their culture, language, tradition, and religion.

For the descendants of the Ovaherero people and the Nama people, commemorative practices, remembrance ceremonies, and preserving historical narratives form an integral part of cultural identity and collective memory.

Genocide memorialisation contributes to the protection and promotion of these constitutionally protected cultural rights.

In 2025, president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah officially inaugurated 28 May as Genocide Remembrance Day in Namibia.

It provides an opportunity for Namibians to reflect on the atrocities committed during the colonial period and to honour the memory of the victims.

COLLECTIVE COMMITMENT

Annual commemorations should include national ceremonies, educational activities, public discussions, and cultural events.
These activities help ensure that the memory of the genocide reinforces a collective commitment to justice, human dignity and the prevention of future atrocities.

Education is one of the most effective tools for preserving historical memory and preventing the recurrence of atrocities.

Recognising this, the National Assembly resolved that the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture should incorporate genocide studies into the national school curriculum.

Key themes could include: The history of colonialism in Namibia; Causes and events leading to the genocide; land dispossession and colonial policies affecting the land disposed; resistance movements and the outbreak of war in 1904; the extermination campaign and the suffering of victims; concentration camps; population losses, destruction of communities, and displacement; testimonies, oral histories, and cultural memory of affected communities; International human rights and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

There is a need for a broader consultative process towards the realisation of this objective. Because of its vast complexities, it should be treated as an entire topic or chapter on in own at all levels under basic education.

PHYSICAL MEMORIALS

Monuments, statues, and memorial parks create spaces where communities can honour the victims and reflect on the past.

Key historical sites where memorial monuments could be established include Ohamakari, Gibeon, Vaalgras, Ouparakane, Seeis, Swaartfontein, Kanus, Gochas and so on.

Additional monuments should be erected in historically significant towns such as Windhoek, Okahandja, Swakopmund, Lüderitz and Keetmanshoop and so on.

In this regard, it is anticipated that the education ministry would, as soon as practicable, begin consultations with the communities of descendants of genocide victims to assist inidentifying these genocide sites.

Consideration should also be given to establishing a Genocide Memorial Museum, which could serve several important functions.

Firstly, it would act as a permanent repository for artefacts, archival records, photographs, testimonies, and cultural objects related to the genocide and the broader colonial period.

Secondly, it would function as an educational centre for schools, universities, researchers, and the general public.

Thirdly, it could incorporate a memorial and reflection space dedicated to the victims and survivors of the Ovaherero people and the Nama people.

Finally, it could work in partnership with regional museums, heritage sites and memorial monuments across Namibia.

REMEMBRANCE MECHANISMS

A sustainable approach to genocide memorialisation requires a clear legal framework.

Such legislation could include: protection of genocide-related historical sites; a national genocide archive; including genocide education in national curricula; museums and memorial institutions; removal or renaming of public symbols honouring perpetrators of genocide; public funding for research, documentation and cultural preservation.

The law should also require consultation with descendants of genocide victims in all genocide memorialisation initiatives.

Namibia should establish a Genocide Memorial Authority responsible for overseeing Remembrance Day activities, education programmes, museums, monuments and historical preservation.

Through institutionalising remembrance mechanisms, Namibia can provide a comprehensive and sustainable approach to ensuring that the genocide is neither forgotten nor repeated.

• Usutuaije Maamberua is a descendant of the Ovaherero and Nama Genocide veterans of the liberation struggle.

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