Ester Mbathera
Vice President Lucia Witbooi has called on the nation to embrace forgiveness as a path to healing and unity in the aftermath of the 1904–1908 Nama and Herero genocide.
She made the remarks on Tuesday during the high-level panel hosted by Open Society Foundations and Action Coalition-Namibia on the topic: Women’s leadership and the reparations agenda – past, present and future prospects for acknowledgement, solidarity and justice.
“I believe when we forgive each other, then we will get even. We’ll close this chapter of genocide, and we will benefit much more from Germany,” she said.
Her remarks come as the country continues to grapple with the historical trauma of the 1904–1908 genocide, during which tens of thousands of Nama and Herero people were killed by German colonial forces.
While government negotiations with Germany over reparations have drawn both support and criticism, Witbooi, who herself is a descendant of the affected community, stressed that emotional healing is equally important.
“I want to leave you with the word: forgiveness. We cannot stand for years and say, ‘You did this to us.’ So this is my view – forgiveness and moving together,” she said.
On Monday, Minister of Information and Communication Technology Emma Theofelus spoke on the same issue during a high-level panel hosted by Open Society Foundations and Action Coalition-Namibia in Windhoek.
Since the start of negotiations, she said, the highest level of government has handled the genocide issue.
“Since last year, the then former Vice President Nangolo Mbumba tasked our now President, Her Excellency Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwa, to ensure extensive consultations with the affected communities,” Theofelus said.
The process started under former President Hage Geingob, who deployed the first special envoy to lead negotiations with Germany almost nine years ago.
Theofelus said government leaders have since engaged the affected communities across the country to get input on the Joint Declaration (JD).
“The Government of the Republic of Namibia is at its final stages of the JD after, of course, the former Vice President and our President, along with many cabinet ministers, just to demonstrate the seriousness that this matter concerns, provided feedback on the JD to the affected communities, which ended sometime last year,” she said.
She said Witbooi has been assigned to continue the consultations.
Theofelus pointed to some progress, saying Germany has since 2023 recognised that the atrocities committed between 1904 and 1908 were genocides.
“And I think that progress needs to be acknowledged and that the continuous engagement by the Office of the President through the Office of the Vice President continues so that they can find a middle ground to ensure that the three things that we advocated for, which is the recognition that it was genocide. Second, that an apology be issued to the affected communities and lastly, that reparations be paid,” she said.
