Africa-Press – Namibia. Traditional authorities analyst Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro says any proposal on how to distribute reparations funds among the descendants of the Ovaherero and Nama genocide victims remains moot until Germany acknowledges that it is paying reparations.
This comes after Landless People’s Movement (LPM) leader Bernadus Swartbooi, over the weekend said his party is currently developing a system similar to how Germany paid Jewish Holocaust survivors through organisations, including direct payments to survivors, as well as compensation for lost properties.
The Holocaust was the genocide of European Jewish people from 1941 to 1945. Germany acknowledged that genocide and paid reparations.
Matundu-Tjiparuro argues that there is currently no balance of power between Namibia and its former coloniser.
He says Germany has maintained its stance that it is not paying reparations but development aid to the value of N$18 billion over 30 years, nullifying the need for direct payments to descendants of the victims.
“In Namibia’s case, there are no reparations to talk about. Germany is giving bilateral aid for developmental projects to Namibia. Is there something wrong with this, no. Germany has been giving aid to Namibia since independence. There exist modalities already for how these payments will be disbursed. So as long as there are no reparations on the table, there is no need for designing new payment methods,” says Matundu-Tjiparuro.
Swartbooi branded the N$18 billion the German and Namibian governments agreed to as paltry, adding that the lowest cost for reparations should be around 10 billion euros (about N$204 billion).
“The Jewish community received funds through organisations similar to what we envision for our own people – a large, registered trust, for instance, in New York or London, that invests the money on the stock exchange.
“These funds would be managed by qualified professionals and overseen by reliable trustees, ensuring individuals receive direct payments while the capital continues to grow. We are developing a similar system and have already initiated discussions with companies in New York to facilitate this process,” said Swaartbooi.
The 1904 to 1908 massacres are now widely accepted to be the 20th century’s first genocide, where about 65 000 of 80 000 Ovaherero and at least 10 000 of 20 000 Nama people were imprisoned in concentration camps.
The majority died of diseases, abuse, and exhaustion under an extermination order issued by Germany.
“It must be understood that the reparations claim against Germany for the mass killings of the Nama and Ovaherero communities committed during the German colonial period is grounded in international laws and conventions.”
Swartbooi recommended that affected genocide victim descendants negotiate directly with the German government, and that the European nation issue a guarantee never to repeat any act of genocide against the Nama and Herero people, as it did for the Jewish people.
The German government has pledged more than one billion euros in development aid over 30 years to benefit the descendants of the two targeted tribes, while stressing the funding should not be seen as payment of reparations in a joint declaration statement reached between the two governments.
The bulk of the money is expected to go towards projects relating to land reform, rural infrastructure, water supply and professional training for communities of the Ovaherero and Nama descendants in the Hardap, //Kharas, Omaheke, Kavango East and West, Erongo and Otjozondjupa regions.
However, the affected communities have rejected the joint declaration and the N$18 billion over 30 years offer.
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