Iuze Mukube 

An application that sought to have the Federal Republic of Germany joined as a party to answer to the atrocities committed during the country’s colonial regime in Namibia was on Tuesday dismissed in the Windhoek High Court. 

The decision read by Judge Beatrix de Jager and concurred by Judge Hannelie Prinsloo and Judge Orben Sibeya came on the basis that the application was filled with procedural irregularities. This application stemmed from a review application (main application) that seeks a review of the Joint Declaration and an order declaring it unlawful as it was not ratified in terms of rule 55 of the Standing Rules of the National Assembly. The main application also seeks to declare the Declaration as being inconsistent and incompatible with various articles in the Constitution, such as article 1 and 5. The parties seeking relief are Bernadus Swartbooi, the Landless Peoples Movement and eleven traditional authorities. Judge De Jager decided not to join Germany as a respondent in the main case, also turned down an application for the court to allow Namibian court documents in the matter to be served to Germany in Germany, which is outside the court’s jurisdiction. Another application that sought for an order to declare the answering papers of the respondents in the main application to be declared irregular and improper as the answer was filed in violation of a High Court rule, claiming it prejudiced them, was also dismissed.Furthermore, De Jager ordered that 24 Namibian traditional authorities which are not among the applicants in the case be joined as parties to the matter. In the joint declaration, the German government acknowledged its responsibility for events in Namibia from 1904 to 1908, during Germany’s colonial rule of the country, and declared that those events constituted a genocide from the current historical perspective. The German government also agreed to make an amount of 1.1 billion euros (about N$21.9 billion) available to Namibia as development aid to implement projects as part of reconstruction and development projects over a period of 30 years. 

Their main application against the speaker, the National Assembly, the President, the Cabinet, the Attorney General and now also 24 other traditional authorities was postponed to 11 March 2026. 

–mukubeiuze@gmail.com