Renewed calls to commemorate genocide
28 May proposed as Genocide Remembrance Day
There have been renewed calls for a National Genocide Remembrance Day in Namibia.
There have been renewed calls for a day to be set aside for the genocide to be commemorated nationally, following the recent Cassinga Day celebrations held on 4 May.
Newly elected Swanu president Evilastus Kaaronda said the genocide deserved to be celebrated in equal measure to other national celebrations held annually.
“Swapo as a government should also extend commemorative activities such that all ages and eras of our liberation struggle. To this day, if you consider the number of Namibians who perished and consider the number of people who perished during Cassinga, these two things do not speak to each other,” Kaaronda said.
According to him, no statue or day has been set aside for the day to be commemorated. Kaaronda called for the genocide commemoration to be held on 28 May, saying extensive consultations had been made in the past.
Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) spokesperson Imms Nashinge also said his party would set aside a day for the genocide to be commemorated once it came to power.
“[The] IPC-led government will make sure we have a Genocide Day on our calendar as a nation. We must remind ourselves the pain our people went through, at the hands of the then colonialist Germany,” he said.
28 May
National Assembly Speaker Peter Katjavivi in February expressed his desire to see talks around genocide commemorations finalised as soon as possible.
“We are currently reviewing proposed dates for an annual commemoration of the genocide that took place in Namibia during the German colonial period. We encourage the members of the relevant parliamentary standing committee to finalise this important matter as soon as possible,” Katjavivi said.
Former Swanu president Usutuaije Maamberua in 2016 tabled a motion for the government to recognise a Genocide Remembrance Day annually. Maamberua proposed that 28 May should be declared National Genocide Remembrance Day, as it was on that day that the official and formal closure to the Ovaherero and Nama genocide episode was reached when all concentration camps in Namibia were ordered closed in 1908.
Newly elected Swanu president Evilastus Kaaronda said the genocide deserved to be celebrated in equal measure to other national celebrations held annually.
“Swapo as a government should also extend commemorative activities such that all ages and eras of our liberation struggle. To this day, if you consider the number of Namibians who perished and consider the number of people who perished during Cassinga, these two things do not speak to each other,” Kaaronda said.
According to him, no statue or day has been set aside for the day to be commemorated. Kaaronda called for the genocide commemoration to be held on 28 May, saying extensive consultations had been made in the past.
Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) spokesperson Imms Nashinge also said his party would set aside a day for the genocide to be commemorated once it came to power.
“[The] IPC-led government will make sure we have a Genocide Day on our calendar as a nation. We must remind ourselves the pain our people went through, at the hands of the then colonialist Germany,” he said.
28 May
National Assembly Speaker Peter Katjavivi in February expressed his desire to see talks around genocide commemorations finalised as soon as possible.
“We are currently reviewing proposed dates for an annual commemoration of the genocide that took place in Namibia during the German colonial period. We encourage the members of the relevant parliamentary standing committee to finalise this important matter as soon as possible,” Katjavivi said.
Former Swanu president Usutuaije Maamberua in 2016 tabled a motion for the government to recognise a Genocide Remembrance Day annually. Maamberua proposed that 28 May should be declared National Genocide Remembrance Day, as it was on that day that the official and formal closure to the Ovaherero and Nama genocide episode was reached when all concentration camps in Namibia were ordered closed in 1908.
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