Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro
This weekend, South Africans of Namibian descent, particularly of the Ovaherero and Ovambanderu blood line, with their brethren from Botswana and Namibia, converge in the Limpopo Province, South Africa for a historic event.
They commemorate 100 years of the arrival of erstwhile Paramount Chief Samuel Maharero in the then heartland of Afrikanerdom, the Transvaal.
Certainly things do change. A few years back, one could not have imagined that this nerve of Afrikanerdom would today be the Limpopo Province of a free and independent Republic of South Africa where blacks enjoy free passage. Not only that, but also where descendants of dispossessed, banished, displaced and uprooted warriors of the war of resistance against German colonialism would today be free and equal citizens freely engaging in their history and culture as they propose to do this weekend.
True, the only permanent thing is change itself.
Adding to the historicity and interest of this weekend is that at the same time South Africans are celebrating Heritage Day on 24 September. On this day, South Africans across the spectrum are encouraged to celebrate their cultural heritage and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions but in the wider national sense of all their people.
For South Africans of Namibian descent the context is much wider crisscrossing the two neighbouring countries, Namibia and South Africa.
This month also sees the commemoration of the demise, by South African Apartheid regime’s design, of the son of the soil, the founder of the Black Consciousness Movement, Steve Bantu Biko. Thus for the South Africans of Namibian descent this is triple billing, if you like.
“The tracks left behind during the Genocide Trek by our ancestors {those that endured and those who succumbed} shall never perish and for ever we shall retrace and follow,” reads part of the theme under which the centenary commemoration is being held.
A strong contingent from Namibia is expected to attend the commemoration.
Certainly, part of retracing of the ancestral tracks shall, as per the theme of the commemoration, take place through calling up the history of the ancestors and passing it on to those who may not have been privy to it.
But most importantly and in the context of Heritage Day, our sisters and brothers may not only have been deprived of their history and the history of their ancestors but also of their cultures and traditions, especially as far as this relates to their Namibian origin. That is why besides featuring history, culture must play a big part in this commemoration.
I trust that the Namibians who are going to attend this event are not going empty-handed but take along a strong contingent of cultural performers and gurus to ensure that the commemoration is forever inscribed in the socio-cultural psyche of our brothers and sisters.
This is particularly in view of the strong identification by the South African brothers and sisters of Namibian descent with the culture of their forefathers and mothers. Unfortunately, this identification finds little expression, as few of the elderly members are around today to pass on the culture.
Thus the best thing colleagues from Namibia could do is to actively engage in cultural exchange with our brothers and sisters in both South Africa and Botswana. This centenary commemoration and other similar events offer the perfect beginning for such an exchange.
It also offers those at the helm of the reparation movement to forge closer ties with their fellows in Botswana and South Africa in the advancement of their demand for reparation. Botswana and South African citizens of Namibian origin, especially of Ovaherero and Ovambanderu origin, should be at the centre, if not at the forefront, of the reparation movement.
More often than not, reference as far as reparation is concerned has in the past only been on Namibians forgetting that in Botswana and South Africa, we have descendants of the direct victims of the infamous Extermination Order by General Lothar von Trotha, the then Commander of the German Imperial Forces in South West Africa, as Namibia was known in colonial times.
Yes, they may be Botswana and South African citizens. Laws of the three countries permitting, they could just as well be dual citizens of either Botswana and Namibia or South Africa and Namibia.
But the bottom line is that historically, they are intrinsically linked to the Ovaherero and the Ovaherero and their history, the most telling one of which is the genocide committed against their people. However, what role they play in the reparation movement depends much on them and their leaders as much as it also depends on the leaders of the reparation movement in Namibia and their willingness to reach out to them as equal partners but not as convenient appendages to strengthen the case.
South Africans of Namibian descent can especially play a vital role through their government in ensuring that the campaign spreads throughout the continent and beyond. Likewise Batswana of Namibian origin can play no lesser role.
Meanwhile, one cannot but indulge this opportunity to salute the governments and the people of Botswana and South Africa for harbouring these African sons and daughters and integrating them into their societies.
For upholding free societies of equals among equals. May the cordial and sisterly relationships that exist between our people and governments forever continue.