Windhoek
Outspoken politician and former Cabinet minister Kazenambo Kazenambo has broken his silence on the ongoing discussions on how best to bring closure to the brutal German-sanctioned colonial genocide committed on Namibian soil.
“I see the blood of the Nama and Ovaherero being betrayed. I strongly make this observation because of what I am seeing on the ground, which is an issue of a lack of ownership of this matter. It appears as if this issue is an orphan,” Kazenambo said.
His comments follow the announcement by German Ambassador to Namibia, Christian Schlaga, that the German government would not give money as reparation but would increase its funding of Namibian projects.
Kazenambo say the appointment of Zed Ngavirue by the Namibian government, and Ruprecht Polenz by the German government respectively as special envoys for German-Namibian talks on the issue has given the impression that the two governments are preparing the field for negotiations and to further engage various stakeholders, including the victim communities.
Kazenambo says he was further confused and flabbergasted by Schlaga’s pronouncement and that of Polenz in which they said Germany has elections next year and hence the matter must be finalised by December this year or it will usurped by the elections.
“If we want to bring closure to this issue we must not kid one another. We must use modern tools and strategies of engagement of diplomacy to avoid conflict. They must forget about the numbers. It is not a number game. Our number does not take away our rights,” Kazenambo told New Era in an interview over the weekend.
“Germany must not lose focus, it must bring civility into this thing; have respect, must respect international diplomatic norms of doing things. They are fooling themselves. If they think that they will get away with this issue – they didn’t get away with murder in 1904. The people who engaged imperial Germany back then – they are no more – but this issue is still with us,” Kazenambo said.
Special envoy Ngavirue, when approached declined to “comment unilaterally on [Kazenambo’s] remarks”. “All I am saying is that our people and government have been working on a document to present our position, which has been approved by government. This document has been submitted to the German government through its special envoy. We are waiting on a response to start official negotiations,” said Ngavirue.
But Kazenambo says “the way the issue is being handled – it appears as if no one claims legitimacy, it is lacking ownership, in the air, as sensitive as it is, emotive and historical as it. It is now an issue of those who are powerful, who have the means to handle it they want. The historical emotiveness and sensitivity is not being appreciated.”
“The voice of the Namibian government is not being heard on this matter. It is the Germans’ pronouncement that is dominating the media. Now we wonder whether the negotiations have been concluded? Are the Germans bullying other stakeholders with their position? We do not hear our Namibian government pronouncing itself vis-à-vis these pronouncements by the German government.
As citizens, we at a loss,” he said, adding: “We are wondering are there negotiations? Have the negotiations started or are people negotiating to negotiate. And is the agenda set already? Has there been an agreement on the agenda points to be discussed on the negotiations?”
Ngavirue however said “I would not think the German government would have arrived at any position with the negotiations, based on our position.”