Herero people
The Herero are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting parts of Southern Africa. 178,987 Namibians identified as Ovaherero in the 2023 census. They speak Otjiherero, a Bantu language. Though the Herero primarily reside in Namibia, there are also significant populations in Botswana and Angola, and a small number in South Africa. The Hereros in Botswana and South Africa are there because of displacement during the 1904–1908 genocide committed by the German Empire.
Overview
Unlike most Bantu, who are primarily subsistence farmers, the Herero are traditionally pastoralists. They make a living tending livestock. Cattle terminology in use among many Bantu pastoralist groups testifies that Bantu herders originally acquired cattle from Cushitic pastoralists inhabiting Eastern Africa. After the Bantu settled in Eastern Africa, some Bantu nations spread south. Linguistic evidence also suggests that the Bantu borrowed the custom of milking cattle from Cushitic peoples; either through direct contact with them or indirectly via Khoisan intermediaries who had acquired both domesticated animals and pastoral techniques from Cushitic migrants.Though the Herero primarily reside in Namibia, there are also significant populations in Botswana and Angola. In Botswana, the Hereros or Ovaherero are mostly found in Maun and some villages surrounding Maun. These villages among others are Sepopa, Toromuja, Karee and Etsha. Some of them are at Mahalapye. In the South eastern part of Botswana they are at Pilane. There are also a few of them in the Kgalagadi South, that is Tsabong, Omawaneni, Draaihoek and Makopong Villages.
Organization
The Herero claim to comprise several sub-divisions, including the Himba, Tjimba, Mbanderu, and Kwandu. Groups in Angola include the Mucubal OvaKuvale, Zemba, OvaHakawona, OvaTjavikwa, OvaTjimba and OvaHimba, who regularly cross the Namibia/Angola border when migrating with their herds. However, the OvaTjimba, though they speak Herero, are physically distinct indigenous hunter-gatherers. It may be in the Hereros' interest to portray indigenous peoples as impoverished Herero who do not own livestock.The leadership of the Ovaherero is distributed over several heads of clans of which some are more prominent and referred as royal houses, among them:
- Ovaherero Traditional Authority, of the Ovaherero central governance system established in 1863, chief Mutjinde Katjiua
- Maharero Royal Traditional Authority, chief Tjinaani Maharero
- Zeraeua Royal Traditional Authority at Omaruru
- Ovambanderu Royal Traditional Authority, chief Eben Nguvauva
- Onguatjindu Royal Traditional Authority at Okakarara, chief Sam Kambazembi
Paramount Chiefs
The highest office is that of the Paramount Chief, the leader of all Herero people. The position and in dispute, and so far, no formal gazetting has been done by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development. Potential candidates are Prof Mutjinde Katjiua and Dr Hoze Riruako. Meanwhile, Chief Vipuira Kapuuo from Ovitoto is acting in the position since Rukoro's death.The genealogy of the Paramount Chiefs of the Herero is:
- Vekuii Rukoro In June 2014, when Riruako died, the chairman of the Chiefs Council, Tumbee Tjombe, who was deputized by Vipuira Kapuuo, became the acting Paramount Chief. In July of the same year, Tjombe also died, and a senior traditional councilor, Tjipene Keja, was elected in August 2014 by the Chiefs' Council to serve as the acting Paramount Chief. Acting Paramount Chief Keja convened a senate meeting in September 2014 at Ehungiro, to elect the substantive Paramount Chief, and Advocate Vekuii Rukoro emerged as the sole candidate.
- Kuaima Riruako In March 1978, after the assassination of Kapuuo, the chairperson of the Chiefs' Council, Senior Headman Gerson Hoveka became the acting Paramount Chief. A senate meeting was convened in the same year where Kuaima Riruako was elected, as the substantive Paramount Chief.
- Clemens Kapuuo Due to the advanced age of Kutako, in 1960 Clemens Kapuuo, who was the secretary of the Chiefs Council, was elected as deputy Paramount Chief to take the mantle in the eventuality that Kutako passes on. In 1970, two days following Kutako's death, Kapuuo assumed the position of a substantive Paramount Chief.
- Hosea Kutako Following the Herero Wars from 1904 to 1908, Paramount Chief Samuel Maharero fled to Bechuanaland. This created a leadership vacuum amongst the Ovaherero, more so when the Ovaherero were incarcerated into the concentration camps. When the Ovaherero were released from the concentration camps in 1915, an election was held in 1916/17 among the clan leaders and their councillors to choose between two candidates, Hosea Kutako and Kaevaka Kamaheke, for the position of Acting Paramount Chief. Hosea Kutako emerged victorious, and was later confirmed as Paramount Chief in 1920.
- Samuel Maharero When Paramount Chief Maharero died in 1890, his son Samuel Maharero assumed the position in 1892 with the aid of the German Administrative Governor Theodor Leutwein.
- Maharero ka Tjamuaha With Tjamuaha death in 1861, hostilities started between the Nama people and the Herero. This made it necessary for the clans to unite as a group. That is how, on 15 June 1863 at Otjizingue, Maharero was elected as the commander-in-chief of all Herero clans. Later Maharero was elected the first Paramount Chief of the Herero people.
History
Pre-colonial
In the 15th century, the Herero migrated to what is now Namibia from the east and established themselves as herdsmen. In the beginning of the 19th century, the Nama from South Africa, who already possessed some firearms, entered the land and were followed, in turn, by white merchants and German missionaries. At first, the Nama began displacing the Herero, leading to bitter warfare between the two groups, which lasted the greater part of the 19th century. Later the two peoples entered into a period of cultural exchange.German South West Africa
During the late 18th century, the first Europeans began entering to permanently settle the land. Primarily in Damaraland, German settlers acquired land from the Herero in order to establish farms. In 1883, the merchant Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz entered into a contract with the native elders. The exchange later became the basis of German colonial rule. The territory became a German colony under the name of German South West Africa.Soon after, conflicts between the German colonists and the Herero herdsmen began. Controversies frequently arose because of disputes about access to land and water, but also the legal discrimination against the native population by the white immigrants.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, imperialism and colonialism in Africa peaked, affecting especially the Hereros and the Namas. European powers were seeking trade routes and railways, as well as more colonies. Germany officially claimed their stake in a South African colony in 1884, calling it German South West Africa until it was taken over in 1915. The first German colonists arrived in 1892, and conflict with the indigenous Herero and Nama people began. As in many cases of colonization, the indigenous people were not treated fairly.
Between 1893 and 1903, the Herero and Nama peoples' land and cattle were progressively being taken by German colonial settlers. The Herero and Nama resisted expropriation over the years. In 1903, the Herero people learnt that they were to be placed in reservations, leaving more room for colonialists to own land and prosper. The Herero, 1904, and Nama, 1905, began a great rebellion that lasted until 1907, ending with the near destruction of the Herero people. "The war against the Herero and Nama was the first in which German imperialism resorted to methods of genocide...." Roughly 80,000 Herero lived in German South West Africa at the beginning of Germany's colonial rule over the area, while after their revolt was defeated, they numbered approximately 15,000. In a period of four years, approximately 65,000 Herero people were killed.
Samuel Maharero, the Paramount Chief of the Herero, led his people in a large-scale uprising on January 12, 1904, against the Germans. The Herero, surprising the Germans with their uprising, had initial success.
German General Lothar von Trotha took over as leader in May 1904. In August 1904, he devised a plan to annihilate the Herero nation. The plan was to surround the area where the Herero were, leaving but one route for them to escape, into the desert. The Herero battled the Germans, and the losses were minor. It was when the majority had escaped through the only passage made available by the Germans, and had been systematically prevented from approaching watering holes, that starvation began to take its toll. It was then that the Herero uprising changed from war, to genocide. Lothar von Trotha called the conflict a "race war". He declared in the German press that "no war may be conducted humanely against non-humans" and issued an "annihilation order":
"... The Herero are no longer German subjects. They have murdered and stolen, they have cut off the ears, noses, and other body parts of wounded soldiers, now out of cowardice they no longer want to fight. I tell the people: Anyone who delivers one captain will receive 1,000 marks, whoever delivers Samuel Maharero will receive 5,000 marks. The Herero people must, however, leave the land. If the populace does not do this, I will force them with the Groot Rohr . Within the German borders every Herero, with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot. I will no longer accept women and children, I will drive them back to their people or I will have them shot at."
On the 100th anniversary of the genocide, German Minister for Economic Development and Cooperation Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul commemorated the dead on site and apologised for the crimes on behalf of all Germans. Hereros and Namas demanded financial reparations; however, in 2004 there was only minor media attention in Germany on this matter.