Deputy chairperson of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation (OGF) Joyce Muzengua has accused President Hage Geingob of hijacking the genocide negotiations through disregard and arrogance.
She was speaking at the handover of petitions to the Presidential Affairs Minister Christine ||Hoebes by the Ovaherero and Nama groups at Parliament on Friday.
Muzengua said the hijacked genocide negotiations were supposed to be spearheaded by Parliament, a process she said was hijacked by the Executive who made it a bilateral engagement between the German and Namibian governments to the “exclusion and detriment” of the affected communities.
Muzengua noted that the State agreed to step in as an observer or mediator when the negotiations take place between the affected communities and German government.
The petitions by the Nama Traditional Authority (NTLA) and Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) as well as former Swanu parliamentarian Usutuaije Maamberua called on Geingob to reject the protracted deal struck between the German and Namibian governments on genocide.
The news that came out on Friday stated that Germany had finally accepted that it committed genocide in Namibia, with Berlin promising financial support worth a little over one billion euros to aid projects in Namibia.
In their petition, the NTLA and OTA echoed Muzengua’s position, saying Namibia has failed Africa in not holding a former European genocidal colonial power to account.
On his part, Maamberua wants land and property stolen from the Hereros and Namas returned and wants the negotiations to start afresh, with the affected at the center.
“The Germans’ pre- and post-Genocide land grab cannot be legitimated, even if facilitated by Namibian Constitution under the guise of protecting private property. Criminals should not be entitled to stolen property,” Maamberua said.
“No direct government briefings have taken place with the affected communities, meaning there were no consensuses reached regarding the expected outcomes, desires, and expectations of the descendants of the genocide victims on whose behalf the government has purportedly been negotiating with Germany,” he added.
Receiving the petition, ||Hoebes promised to deliver it to her appointing authority saying, “whatever gives you sleepless nights also gives us sleepless nights.”
Meanwhile, German foreign minister Heiko Maas in a statement on Friday said: “We will now officially refer to these events as what they are from today’s perspective: genocide.’
He added that in light of the historical and moral responsibility of Germany, they will ask for forgiveness from Namibia and the victims’ descendants for the atrocities committed.
Source: Namibia Press Agency
