Dr Ngarikutuke Tjiriange writes:
There have been articles in the press recently about the colonial statue in Windhoek. Let us take into consideration that this statue was erected exactly at the place where there was a notorious concentration camp where many people of this country perished at the hands of German colonisers. Nothing is today mentioned about that infamous, wicked and evil concentration camp which was precisely on the spot where the horse monument was later erected. To make things even worse not even a sign is left on the place where this terrible concentration camp was, as if those who were killed and murdered in that camp were not human beings.
It is just unbelievable that some people in this country of ours are not sensitive to the feelings of the victims of the terrible and cruel atrocities committed against the people of this land by their ancestors. It is true that we have a policy of national reconciliation in place in this country. But the policy of national reconciliation does not in any way mean or intended not to correct the wrongs of the past colonial dispensation in the country. We as mature people have to forgive those who committed these crimes against us but we surely cannot forget. Anything that reminds us of the terrible mayhem which happened in this country will just provoke unnecessary melancholy in the minds of the victims of the past colonisers in this land. We have got revered and great heroes and heroines in this country who resisted and fought against German colonial occupation of their motherland but they never got or awarded any recognition by colonisers of this country. But how can we have monuments and statues which are erected in our country to glorify the killers of our people and commemorate, praise and admire them for crimes they have committed against us?
The few Germans who are threatening to take our government to court are provoking situations that they may regret later. They should be advised not to take the formerly oppressed people for granted and support colonial arrangements. One cannot help to conclude that they might have the same mentality which their ancestors had towards the black people of this country during those dark days when unbelievable cruelty was committed by Germans against our ancestors. We have got thousands of our people who are still languishing in abject poverty in this country because of many years of colonial racial discrimination and deprivation of basic property rights to which they have been subjected by successive colonial regimes while the land and property which was confiscated from them is still in the hands of few former colonisers. The process of rectifying this situation is being frustrated by our laws which protect those who have accumulated massive properties during colonial occupation of the country. That as it may, the black people for the sake of peace and stability of this country have introduced a policy of national reconciliation. But that does not mean that they do not have feelings or they do not remember what hellish situation they were forced to leave under successive colonial administrations.
The people of this country did not sacrifice their lives during the bitter liberation wars just for the mere sake of hoisting flags and remaining under the same notorious colonial arrangements in this country. The liberation struggle has also to liberate them from anything that resembles colonialism or reminds them of the past colonial oppression including but not limited to colonial artefacts and colonial mentalities of people. The German people who are challenging the government must be reminded that the courts to which they want to resort and take the government because the government has dared to liberate the people of this country from the presence of the annoying statue were put in place by the provisions of the Constitution which was intended to protect the freedom of the people from any colonial hangovers. Some of the duties and functions of the Cabinet as provided for in Article 40 (L) and those of the National Assembly in Article 62(i) is to remain vigilant and vigorous in not allowing colonialism to manifest itself in any form in free and independent Namibia, thus protecting people of this country from those who are longing for and defending colonial symbols to be retained and remain in this country. The horse which some of the Germans are fighting for its retention is indeed nothing else but an insult to the people of this country since it is praising and glorifying premeditated killings of the people of this land and occupation of their country by foreign murderers. Nevertheless, I am happy to have read that the German ambassador to Namibia, Onno Hünckman, has stated that the German embassy does not consider itself to be a party in this matter. So am I happy that the chairperson of the German Cultural Council, Eckhard Müller, slammed the three German organisations that are threatening to take the government to court over the Reiterdenkmal. It is just so pleasing to hear from him that the three organisations are not representative of German-speaking Namibians and that they are not supporting the action to take the government to court at all. Such German countrymen and women need to be supported by all of us.
