WINDHOEK - Namibian government delegation for the repatriation of skulls of Namibians, who were killed and taken to Germany for experimentation, paid a courtesy call on President Hage Geingob at State House yesterday.
The 41-member delegation led by Minister of Education, Arts and Culture Katrina Hanse-Himarwa is expected to leave the country in three weeks’ time to reclaim about 22 human skulls used by colonial-era scientists who sought to prove the racial superiority of white over blacks.
The delegation consists of traditional leaders mostly from the Nama, Ovambanderu and the OvaHerero communities and a good number of government officials.
Accompanied by Vice-President and Chairperson of the Political Committee on Genocide, Reparations and Apology, Nangolo Mbumba, Hanse-Himarwa briefed Geingob on planned activities in Berlin.
She told Geingob that among other highlights during the visit will be the witnessing of the renaming of streets in Berlin in the African Quarter in the northwest of the German city after Anna Kakurukaze Mungunda and celebrated leader of the !Aman (Bethanie Orlam), Cornelius Fredericks.
She said the purpose of the visit yesterday was to receive blessings from Geingob whom she referred to as their “father”.
Geingob asked the delegation to behave while in Berlin and not to repeat what had happened during the last time without stipulating what had happened.
“If you are going on a mission like this, it is required that there must be order, not shouting or fighting, go and collect the remains of those who passed away or killed, bring them with dignity so that we can honour them at the parliament gardens, so all I am saying is farewell,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) Chief Advocate Vekuii Rukoro recently told the international media that he has been excluded from the delegation.
“My name has been excluded because I took the German government to court,” Rukoro, who has been the “Paramount Chief” of the Herero since 2014, told DPA in New York. The German government has not officially responded.