Will the Ovaherero and Nama generations throw stones to the tombstone of President Hage Geingob or decorate it with flowers
and roses?  

Anything that does not start well never ends well. If the house foundation is poorly compacted, it will have cracks and will eventually collapse – and the owner will be homeless. Ironically, this is exactly what is happening to the Nama and Ovaherero people. 

The end of the negotiations between Namibian and the German government has left the two affected communities – the Nama and Ovaherero – homeless again, and it can be translated that this is the second genocide committed by both governments towards the siblings of  victims and survivors of the first genocide by the agreement signed by President Geingob and Chancellor
Merkel. 

Let me quote from the prayer of
Paramount Chief Katjikururume Kutako: “The birds have a nest to sleep in the wild, animals have holes to sleep in but a human being has no dwelling place to sleep in”. 

This goes to Dr Hage Geingob and Dr Zed Ngavirue that by signing this
agreement, then be assured that you have left human beings in the name of Ovaherero and Nama communities homeless – with
no dwelling place. 

We have been telling President Geingob that the formula or model he used to
establish the negotiations team from the Namibian side was very wrong, as there
was no consultation with the affected communities on how best we can approach the negotiations as guided by the motion of Paramount Chief Riruako of 2006. 

The exclusion of the affected communities was the first mistake our President committed – then again, at ministerial level, the desk of negotiations was given to a person who is not a victim of Genocide, while both
the Nama and Ovaherero have qualified people who were also former ambassadors
and high commissioners who were
supposed to head that desk on behalf of
their own people. We needed people with passion and affection towards the whole negotiations – not just any Namibian to be appointed there. President Geingob has continuously ignored the call from the majority groups of victims, who feel the process has been wrongly initiated. 

This negotiating team has now concluded a raw deal that will have no single substance and impact to Ovaherero and Nama people as well as the entire Namibian nation at the end of the day. The excuses from the Geingob administration that the right-wing in Germany will be part of the regime after their election and we will end up with nothing is just fictions and there is no factual
evidence to that effect. 

How do you base the reparations of
your people on wrong political argument or analysis until you rush into a deal that will satisfy the perpetrators and not the victims? Only the victims feel the pain – not the perpetrators, neither the observers. 

Mr President, we, the victims, feel the pain and please hear our call; don’t sign that deal with Germany. The genocide
committed by Germany does not need a right-wing, neither a left-wing government to approve or disapprove what their
ancestors committed. We just need the German government to accept on behalf of every German citizen. We need every
German citizens to come to their senses
and accept the wrong that took place, then even if it will take another 100 years to negotiate, the end result must make the victims decedents happy. The Namibian, Africans and the world nations at large
should be proud of the negotiations. 

If Cabinet has resolved to sign the agreement, then our Namibian government has resolved to commit a second genocide to Ovaherero and Nama community in support of the German government’s actions of 1904-1908. 

The President has claimed the Namibian government is representing the victims in this deal but from what we are hearing and seeing, even the affected communities that have joined the negotiation table are not happy with the agreement the Namibian envoy, Dr Ngavirue, has settled upon. In fact, Dr Ngavirue has betrayed his own people and he will go back to his ancestors with no answer why he settled for the agreement. 

Even though the Germans have accepted they committed a genocide, it is still with reservations according to their minister of foreign affairs. We still have to hear what the apology will sound from the German president. What is so difficult to declare that the negotiations did not reach consensus
on the reparations part and it is thus declared over until the next government comes in place? With this, my question remains: Will the Ovaherero and Nama generation throw stones at the tombstone of President Geingob or decorate it with flowers? 

The same goes to my uncle, Dr Ngavirue, when you are going to rest at Otjozondjupa, next to Kaondeka (Waterberg Plateau). 

Please revisit your decision to agree to a no deal and suspend the negotiations because the quantum you have settled for is not in the interest of your brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers, uncles and everyone in Namibia. Remember that the current one-sided bilateral agreement between Germany and Namibia was signed by you, Dr Ngavirue, when you were at the National Planning Commission. 

Since then, no single project from that money benefited the area affected by the historical past or deeds of Germany. This money goes to some other parts of Namibia and benefits the elites only. Therefore, we the deascendants of the victims of the 1904-1908 genocide, will not settle for anything less than a N$1 trillion over the same period of 30 years. I rest my case!