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Vice president Witbooi praises Omaheke traditional leaders for persevering with genocide reparations fight – Namibian 25-04-2025

Vice president Witbooi praises Omaheke traditional leaders persevering genocide reparations fight report Namibian Press Agency published Namibian screenshot

“Vice president Witbooi praises Omaheke traditional leaders for persevering with genocide reparations fight

By Namibia Press Agency

25 April 2025

Vice president Lucia Witbooi has lauded traditional leaders in the Omaheke region for their tireless efforts in addressing governmental matters, including the genocide reparation issue.

Witbooi said this during her ongoing engagement with the traditional leaders of genocide-affected communities at Gobabis on Tuesday [22 April 2025; ed.].

[…]

Witbooi was delegated by president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah to meet with the traditional leaders.

The main reason for her visit was to formally inform and invite the traditional leaders to the official commemoration of Genocide Remembrance Day in Windhoek on 28 May.

Witbooi also expressed her gratitude for the tireless dedication and commitment traditional leaders have always shown to the genocide negotiation process.

[…]

Witbooi said the arrival of German colonial forces had the solitary aim of land dispossession.

This caused conflict with local inhabitants or indigenous people, mainly the Nama, Ovaherero, Ovambanderu, Damara, and San.

It resulted in numerous battles fought to resist illegal land and livestock dispossession, and other heinous crimes such as forced labour, rape, and degrading and inhumane treatment.

“These are the main atrocities committed by German colonial forces that culminated first in the genocidal decree of general Theodore Leutwein against the Ovambanderu community in 1896 [historically incorrect, see editor’s note below; ed.], and then in the 1904 and 1905 genocidal decrees or proclamations by general Lothar von Trotha against the Ovaherero and Nama communities,” she said.

Genocide Remembrance Day was officially declared a public holiday by president Nangolo Mbumba last year.”

Full report “Vice president Witbooi praises Omaheke traditional leaders for persevering with genocide reparations fight” on the website of the Namibian (last checked in April 2025)

Editor’s notes:

Historians do not regard the campaign of the German Schutztruppe against the OvaMbanderu and Khauas Nama in 1896 as genocide. Rather, it is considered an apt example of Governor Theodor Leutwein’s policy of divide and rule. Note that both the Herero Chief Samuel Maharero and the Nama Kaptein Hendrik Witbooi fought on the side of the Germans.

See background article “1896 March to June – Campaign against OvaMbanderu and Khauas Nama” in the ‘Namibia’s Past’ section of this website

This report by the state-funded Namibia Press Agency, published by The Namibian, unfortunately does not mention the reason for Vice President Lucia Witbooi’s meeting with traditional leaders: the rejection of the date 28 May for the Genocide Remembrance Day by Paramount Chief Mutjinde Katjiua’s faction of the OvaHerero Traditional Authority (OTA) and by the Nama Traditional Leaders Assosciation (NTLA) since its proclamation by the government on 28 May 2024.