Goering, Kamaherero and Witbooi Once upon a time in history, there was a German fugitive called Dr Goering whose sole vocation was to secure Namibia as a German colony, warding off Cecil John Rhodes’ avaricious hand, represented in that land by one Robert Lewis, a prospector. Lewis had skilfully upset the nebulous agreements German imperialists had struck with various African chiefs who ruled that land. Outmanoeuvred by Lewis, Goering decided to exploit the rivalry between two African chiefs, immemorially fighting for better pastures, thanks to arms sold to both by entrepreneurial German missionaries and traders. One was Hendrik Witbooi in charge of the Namas. The other was Kamaherero in charge of the Hereros. Witbooi had won previous contests, all of them bloody, and Kamaherero obsessively sought vengeance against his Nama bete noire. Fatally, at that time of mutually ruinous hate, Goering came by, tantalizing German military might to a defeated African leader bitterly vengeful. Kamaherero bit the bait, and declared himself a subject of the mighty Kaiser, represented by the fugitive Goering. Message from man of iron Fearing Lewis and the Rhodes he fronted, Goering wasted no time in writing Witbooi a menacing letter, curtly urging him to cease his wars against the Hereros, all of them now snugly sitting pretty under German protection. “The German Government cannot tolerate your constant disturbance of the peace of a land and people which are under German protection, and whereby work, trade, and travel suffer. You will therefore be compelled by all means to restore Peace, which is necessary in the entire Land . . . That the German Government possesses quite other powers to damage you, will be made plain. Therefore, I again earnestly request you to make Peace if you wish to preserve yourself, your land, and your people”. It was a chilling message from the representative of a mighty potentate whose guns were known to shoot far, shoot well. The missionary trader Historians have long noted that in all her colonies, the missionary has always been Germany’s advance agent. What is more, unlike for the British empire, the German missionary was also the pioneer of her trade. The Rhenish Mission Society of Berlin, itself a forerunner to German colonial imperialism in Namibia, was more real as a roving trader than as a proselytising force. From 1840 when it took notice of Namibia, up to 1870 – a good thirty long years – it only managed one convert among the Hereros. This came in the form of one pious old lady, reportedly of Otjimbingwe, who one day forsook the worship of her ancestors, in the process embracing a new German god in whose beginning was trade, well before the Word. So the reference to travel, trade and work by the man of iron called Goering went straight to the heart of German mission (no pun intended) abroad, and Witbooi had better listened. The day Witbooi answered back It was Witbooi’s response which was amazingly prescient. Firstly, in who he chose to address in his response. And it was not to Goering he wrote, that the German fugitive and scoundrel. It was to Kamaherero, his fellow Namibian and rival. Its contents did not address the German threats against him, his people and his land. Rather, it addressed the German threat to Namibian’s sovereignty, German threat to both him and Kamaherero, the chief who falsely, has glowed under imagined German protection. To Kamaherero, Witbooi wrote: “From the contents of Dr Goering’s letter I hear and understand that you have placed yourself under German protection, and that thereby Dr Goering has acquired full influence and power to order and arrange things and to interfere in the affairs of our land, even to intervene in this war which of old existed between us. You astonish me and I greatly blame you because you call yourself the Paramount Chief of Damaraland and that is true. Because our arid country has only two names “Damaraland” and “Namaland” that is to say Damaraland belonging to the Herero nation and is an independent nation and is an independent kingdom, and Namaland belongs to all the red coloured nations in independent kingdoms, just as the same is said of the lands of the white people, Germany, England, and so on. They are independent kingdoms and all the different nations have their own heads and each head has his own land and people, over which he alone can rule, so that no other person or chief can order or compel him… You now carry the burning sun “For in this world each Head of a nation is merely the representative of our Almighty God and stands responsible alone to that God, the King of all Kings, the Lord of Lords, before whom we all, who live under Heavens, must bend the knee. But Captain (Kamaherero), you have now accepted another Government; you have surrendered to that Government in order to be protected by another human Government from all dangers, chiefly and foremost to be protected from me in this war . . . You are to be protected and helped by the German Government, but dear Captain do you appreciate what you have done? . . . You have looked upon me as a hindrance and a stumbling block and so you have accepted this great Government in order to destroy me by its might . . . but it appears to me that you have not sufficiently considered the matter, having in view your land and people, your descendants who will come after you and your Chieftain’s rights. Do you imagine that you will retain all the rights of your independent chieftainship after you shall have destroyed me (if you succeed)? This is your idea, but dear Captain in the end you will have bitter remorse, you will have eternal remorse, for this handing of your land and sovereignty over to the hands of white people . . . But this thing which you have done, this giving of yourself into the hands of white people for government, thinking that you have acted wisely, that will become to you a burden as if you were carrying the sun on your back. I cannot say whether you have sufficiently pondered over and whether you actually understand what you have done by giving yourself into German protection . . . You will not understand and will be dissatisfied with Dr Goering’s doings, because he will not consult your wishes or act in accordance with your laws and customs. This you will discover too late however as you have already given him full powers.” The year of the foreboding letter was 1890, around May, a mere four months before Zimbabwe fell to the British. Before long, Namibia also fell, with it the chieftainship of both Namas and Hereros, all of whom lost their leadership, land and live Nathaniel Manheru 2014
Posted on: Mon, 03 Feb 2014 08:52:30 +0000
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