YES my heart cannot otherwise but be bleeding. Bleeding for my kinspeople who have been trying to reach out to their own and find their roots. But somehow such reaching out seems to be misinterpreted, misread if not taken for granted and for a ride by those who are supposed to fully embrace it, take their fellows’ hands and together march with them on to the promised land of cultural re-awakening, renaissance and emancipation. If such a promised land is not to be misread by fellows from Namibia that it per se means repatriation to Namibia. What Namibia? Does this Namibia ever mean anything to the fellows in the Diaspora? Or does it even exist in figments of their imaginations? It cannot be in this age, of the third or fourth generation of the descendants of the victims of Imperial Germany’s genocidal escapades wherever they today find themselves whether in Botswana, South Africa or anywhere they may be scattering today. If they are in Botswana these brothers and sisters are Batswana and their home is Botswana. If in South Africa they are South Africans and their home is South Africa. We must stop daydreaming that anyone of them would wish to denounce their South African citizenship. No! Yes they are descendants of South West Africans, not Namibians. Given the generation gap. Thus, at most their longing cannot be territorial but foremost cultural, and the roots thereof. And this is where those who are supposed to be embracing the outreached hands of kinship of their fellows, seem to be missing the point altogether that our fellow brothers and sisters are country less or stateless. If anything and no more they only lost and are deprived of their cultures and cultural roots. But territorially they cannot be said to have been uprooted as much as they cannot be said to be uprooted de-culturalised zombies. They are cultural human beings albeit their original cultures are mere vestiges of their original cultures. They are citizens of their respective countries whose only longing is for cultural re-awakening and renaissance, which can be effected within their current territories. But some of our traditional leaders in Namibia seem to be out of touch with such realities of our fellow brothers and sisters in the Diaspora.
Once again Namibian traditional leaders at the end of last month descended on the village of Omauaneno in the Tsabong district of Botswana. The idea was to visit, see and connect with their fellows, descendants of the Ovaherero, Ovambanderu and Nama who were exiled by the wars of resistance in the then colonial German South West Africa in the years 1896, 1904-1908. It is not the first visit by traditional leaders to Tsabong.
This comes ten years after the Ovambanderu visited the area in 2004. In between, one would want to know with these initial contacts having been made, what has been happening to consolidate them, especially with respect to fostering the necessary cultural links between the brothers and sisters in the Botswana Diaspora, especially in Tsabong?
My take is that little seems to have been happening since until the recent trip. Not that the recent trip may not have been necessary. But as necessary as it may have been did it serve the purpose?
A big NO! Because the essence of such a trip should have been cultural connections, interactions and interrogations but there was little thereof recently. Time was not only the factor, but it seems some of the traditional leaders were once again out to use the platform for own hackneyed and egoistical agendas that has little to do with the historical trek of the fellows, let alone their cultural revival.
Instead what was evident was some traditional leadership posturing and showmanship, sometimes sublime and at times blatant. With the exception of the Nama traditional leaders one could observe in a meeting with their fellows from Botswana and South Africa, if there was any meeting and/or close interaction between the huge contingent of the Ovaherero and Ovambanderu with their fellows from Botswana and South Africa, it must have taken place in isolation and behind closed doors.
Instead two days of what was supposed to have been devoted to cultural activities saw little cultural exchanges with the only semblance of cultural exchange being some Nama Stap troupes and a Nama brass band. As far as the Ovaherero and Ovambanderu are concerned the only semblance of culture was at best perhaps the fact that speeches were either in Otjiherero or translated into Otjiherero.
Towards what end given the fact most of the Batswana of Namibian, or Ovaherero and Ovambanderu descent in Tsabong, hardly speak or hear Otjiherero?
Looks like the paramilitary green, white and red traditional regalia, and attendant troops, could have been seen to be a cultural representation to the full. All credit to the Ovaherero-Ovambanderu folklorist, Hiangaruu Veseevete, who was at hand to share with fellows aspects of an Otjiherero traditional wedding after the showing of a video but with little impact given the technological hiccups. And of course the dissecting of a slaughtered animal into various meat cuts the traditional way which no doubt was one cultural aspect the brothers in the Diaspora especially may have appreciated.
But now this may be water under the bridge. The question now, what next? If such cultural links are to be meaningful in any way towards real cultural re-connection and reawakening among Namibians in the Botswana and South African Diaspora, then this cannot be an one-off event dominated by interminable speeches by the traditional leaders.
But continuous cultural exchanges must be established on a more practical and personal level devoid of the posturing of our traditional leaders. Especially this is something the youths of our various Ovaherero, Ovambanderu and Nama traditional structures can be well advised to actively steer ahead.