GABORONE, Sept. 30 — At least 98 Namibian descendants, whose ancestors were displaced to Botswana by German forces between 1904 and 1907, have relocated to Namibia. This relocation, coordinated by Botswana and Namibia, took place last Friday and was highlighted by Botswanan Minister of Labor and Home Affairs Annah Maria Mokgethi. “It is a poignant moment,” Mokgethi said while addressing journalists in Francistown, Botswana‘s second-largest city, on Monday. She said that after long residency and deep-rooted ties in Botswana, the Namibian descendants chose to retrace their ancestry by returning to Namibia. The relocation reflects a commitment to the democratic principle of respecting the will of the people, as the two nations agreed to honor the wishes of the Ovaherero, Ovambanderu, and Nama communities, Mokgethi said, noting that these three tribes have voiced their desire for relocation since at least 1956. This initiative also aligns with the Southern African Development Community Protocol on the Facilitation of Movement of Persons, she added. In the early 1900s, German colonizers in Namibia killed thousands from these communities during an uprising, according to Thomas Molefe, a senior history lecturer at the University of Botswana. He noted that there are no official figures for the number of victims of this genocide. In 2021, Germany formally apologized to Namibia for the atrocities and pledged 1.2 billion U.S. dollars in development aid as part of its commitment to support the affected communities, according to the Namibian government.
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