THE Nama group !Khara-Khoen has restored the grave site of the legendary Kaptein Simon Kooper at Kgatlwe-Lokgwabe, Botswana with the assistance of the German War Grave Association.
The restoration effort turned the once pitiful heap of stones into a grandiose marble headstone at the location where he died and where he reached an agreement with the British colonial authorities in Botswana. Current captain of the !Khara-Khoen Isak Klaasen said the group that were scattered throughout southern Namibia and parts of Botswana since the German colonial onslaught against indigenous groups inside Namibia during the 1904 to 1908 genocide, have for the first time united in December 2010. ‘Here we are reunited as one cultural and ethnic community group under the leadership of Kaptein Simon Kooper,’ said Klaasen. Kooper and his people trekked from Northern Cape across the !Gariep, today the Orange River, and settled at Gochas around 1860. From there the group spread out into Aranos, Aroab, and Koës where they are still staying today. Members of the group are also living in the Kgalagadi district in Botswana.Kooper was the leader of the !Khara-Khoen from 1854 to 1913. He passed away in the Kgatlwe-Lokgwabe area in tBotswana on January 13, 1913.
