Hundreds of Ovaherero and Nama descendants are expected to march to the German Embassy in Gaborone on Monday, pressing Germany to recognize their communities’ losses and provide reparations for a colonial-era genocide in what is now Namibia.
Professor Mutjinde Katjiua, the paramount chief of the Ovaherero, is expected to join the demonstration and deliver a petition to Germany’s diplomatic representative in Botswana.
The march follows a similar action in Pretoria, where Ovaherero representatives presented a petition to the German Embassy in South Africa last Friday.
The Rev. Rupert Hambira, chairman of the Ovaherero Genocide Foundation in Botswana, confirmed the planned demonstration in an interview with the Weekend Post.
“It is true that on Monday the 3rd, the Ovaherero and Nama will be petitioning the German Embassy in Botswana,” Mr. Hambira said.
He said the delegation would include representatives from Namibia and about 80 other participants. The United Congregational Church of Southern Africa will host the visitors, an act Mr. Hambira described as a welcome gesture of solidarity.
The foundation has previously appealed to Botswana’s government for support, he said, but those efforts produced little progress. At the center of the dispute is Germany’s decision to negotiate primarily with the Namibian government rather than directly with representatives of the communities that endured the violence.
Mr. Hambira called that approach “childish and unprofessional.”
Ovaherero and Nama descendants in Botswana continue to bear the consequences of the atrocities, he said, including the loss of property, language and cultural traditions.
“We lost our property, our language and culture,” he said.
Mr. Hambira argued that the descendants of those killed or driven from their homes must have a meaningful role in discussions about the genocide and any resulting reparations.
“Nothing can be done for us without us,” he said. “We need to be present to present our case. We rightly demand some form of reparations for what happened.”
He called on members of the public to join the march and witness the petition’s delivery.
The delegation is also expected to meet government officials and submit a detailed report setting out its objections to Germany’s handling of the genocide and reparations process.
“I strongly believe that the engagement will be fruitful,” Mr. Hambira said.
After the petition is delivered, Professor Katjiua is expected to hold a news conference at the U.C.C.S.A. Broadhurst Church in Gaborone.
Ovaherero and Nama communities in Botswana have also established the Botswana Genocide Foundation, which will campaign for reparations from Germany and seek a greater role for descendants in negotiations.
The genocide took place from 1904 to 1908 in German South West Africa, the colonial territory that later became Namibia. German forces waged a campaign of extermination after the Ovaherero and Nama resisted colonial rule.
Tens of thousands of people were killed. Many others were driven from their land or forced to flee into neighboring territories, including present-day Botswana and South Africa. Ovambanderu communities were also persecuted.
Historians estimate that as much as 80 percent of the Ovaherero population and about half of the Nama population died.
Germany formally acknowledged in 2015 that the killings constituted genocide, but its admission did not settle the questions of representation, responsibility and reparations.
The Namibian government has maintained that it should negotiate with Germany on behalf of those affected. Ovaherero and Nama traditional leaders and advocacy groups have rejected that position, insisting that survivors’ descendants and recognized community representatives must have a seat at the negotiating table.
That disagreement remains one of the most contentious issues in relations between Namibia and Germany.
Monday’s march in Gaborone is expected to intensify pressure on Germany to engage directly with affected communities and to address demands for reparations and other forms of redress more than a century after the killings.
