OTA takes aim at NNN over genocide … says struggle incomplete

Zebaldt Ngaruka

A faction of the Ovaherero Traditional Authority (OTA) has condemned public statements purportedly by President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah that Germany has accepted responsibility for the genocide committed against the Ovaherero and Nama.

Similar sentiments were also recited by Attorney General Festus Mbandeka, OTA further claims.

Nandi-Ndaitwah has been on record, saying she hopes the genocide talks conclude before the end of the year.

In a statement, the paramount chief (PC) Mutjinde Katjiua-led OTA faction claimed that these assertions are not supported by the documented facts and risk misleading both the Namibian public and the international community.

According to OTA, Germany has offered a political declaration accompanied by a development package in which it explicitly states that the Joint Declaration is not about reparations but atonement and carries no legal liability.

This distinction, the statement added, is central to the continued rejection of the current arrangement by the victim communities.