Windhoek
Ovambanderu Chief Kilus Munjuku III Nguvauva says his subjects would not become a tool of politicians wanting to undermine President Hage Geingob by rejecting genocide reparation talks.
Critics have labelled some traditional leaders ‘government puppets’ for accepting Geingob’s appointment of Dr Zed Ngavirue as the special envoy.
“We are today being accused of being puppets of government, just because we accepted our own parliamentary motion tabled by ourselves after realising that individual efforts of a very few, to take on the German government, without the support of our own government, was a futile exercise,” Nguvauva said.
Nguvauva said this while addressing hundreds of his subjects who had gathered at farm Otjunda (Strumfeld) in the Omaheke region during the Ovambanderu commemoration on Saturday.
He said that apart from being called numerous names, they are also being threatened at various platforms on social media by those who proclaim themselves as “Sole and Authentic Representative of All the Affected.”
“We the Ovambanderu people will not be intimidated by anyone,” said Nguvauva, adding that they will also not entrust someone without the required legal standing to launch a legal case in any court on their behalf.
“We shall never allow anyone without proven record, be it political or social, to act or represent our community in serious matters such as genocide,” he added.
In this regard, Nguvauva vowed to continue genocide talks as long as their interests are taken care of through the structures put in place by the community and government. “We remain confident that Ngavirue and his team have what it takes – provided we also bring our side and feed him and our government with what we regard as priorities, which directly and indirectly affect communities who suffered the heinous act meted against our people by the German forces of occupation,” he said.
He said on the question of whether the descendants of genocide want to be represented through direct representation or by government, the simple answer is: “We are represented directly, because Dr Ngavirue, who is the ‘lead negotiator’ is part of us as a direct descendant of the victims of genocide.”
Secondly, he said, whatever Dr Ngavirue through government is going to negotiate will be informed by the inputs they have provided as per their position paper, which is a document developed by the community and submitted to government.
“We are not known to be making lots of noise and to politicise what-not politics,” he said, adding they do not believe in massing hundreds of people to show off to someone how many followers they have, and in the process waste scare resources of their community for events of no significance.