“But let others also admit and accept that the Ovaherero were the sole intended target of the Extermination Order. Unless we come to terms with this truth, I am afraid, we may be indulging in a deliberate distortion of historical facts and find ourselves speaking the same language as the German diplomats in Windhoek who have been saying that the Ovaherero were not the only ones they have killed, but others as well. They say this is not out of sympathy for those others but for spoiling it for the Ovaherero and for their own reasons and interest,” said Dr Kuaima Riruako in 2006.
Yesterday, exactly two years ago one would have thought that a dark cloud had descended on the direct descendants of the victims of Imperial Germany’s genocide, the first genocide of the 20th century, against Namibians, specifically the Ovaherero and Nama.
Because on this day, June 2, is when the supreme motive power, or leading agent provacateur in the cause of reparation traded his place on mother earth, and hence his leadership in the reparation movement, with a place with ancestors where it seems he has not only gone to consult and advise them but from where he is continuing to steer and spearhead the cause.
This is while though many thought his change of location may be the end of the reparation movement, two years down the line the torch has never been more burning than now.
Nor has the banner ever been waving and flagging higher than now. Because surely his spirit lives on. That his spirit lives cannot but be amplified and testified by the fact that not only have the various Ovaherero and Ovambanderu traditional leaders rallied together in the cause of genocide and reparation, but have done so through what has come to be known as a Memorandum of Understanding among them.
As much another MoU has also been formulated between the Ovaherero and Nama traditional leaders. “Commit to deal with all matters relating to genocide and reparation through this vehicle from the date of signing of this MoU,” the various parties pledge to the cause through the MoU. Never in the history of the campaign for reparation has one seen such camaraderie, unity, determination and resilience among the affected communities as represented by the alliance that has been forged through the two respective MoUs.
Most instructive because these two MoUs are soon to translate into a monolithic and steadfast unity in purpose, an action modus operandi culminating in a unified technical committee serving one people and one cause of reparation. This cannot but allay fears and belie the lie that his departure may have signalled the end of the reparation cause.
On the contrary, since his departure the movement seems to have been going from strength to strength. Testimony to the strong foundation that he has laid. Not only this but also a sign that his spirit very much lives among the affected communities, and their leaders, who since his departure seem to have carried the torch of reparation unwaveringly despite the challenging times that the movement and the cause seem to have entered and been enduring lately.
Every Tom, Dick and Harry is now jockeying and pretending to be a bona fide in the cause, genuinely representing the affected communities and to be forthrightly pushing the cause towards its logical conclusion. But while well aware of the latest shenanigans and pretences surrounding the claim for reparation, and perturbed by such, the sole and authentic affected communities have remained steadfast that it cannot be “about us without us”, in the true spirit of the indomitable lion of the reparation cause, the late Paramount Chief of the Ovaherero, Dr Kuaima Riruako.
In the same vein as the land and the people remember Dr Kuaima Riruako, they cannot also not but pause and salute another son of the soil, George Kozonguizi, who died in a car accident last week. It is not incidental that he is being buried this weekend when the reparation movement is remembering Dr Riruako.
Because Kozonguizi was instrumental in shaping Ozombuzovindimba as it has been shaped today. Literally he has been an epitome of the architecture of Ozombuzovindimba. Thus in the memory of Dr Riruako and son of the soil Kazoe, and many others, those in the reparation movement, needless to say, having demonstrated their invincibility and indomitable spirit, backward never forward ever to reparation! And this equally may have been the spirit of the motion tabled on Tuesday in the Swakopmund Town Council chambers for the removal of colonial statues and monuments.