Heroes Acre Namibia Openenin Ceremony
Statement By His Excellency President Sam Nujoma On The Occasion Of The Official Inauguration Of Heroes' Acre 26 August
HEROES' ACRE WINDHOEK NAMIBIA. Statement By His Excellency President Sam Nujoma On The Occasion Of The Official Inauguration Of Heroes' Acre 26 August 2002
As leaders of the first Government, we saw it fit to pay homage to our heroes and heroines by funding the construction of this Heroes' Acre. The planning construction, and even the very concept of the Heroes' Acre was received with different feelings among the citizenry, In a democracy such reactions are to be expected. It is part and parcel of our people's freedoms and rights to express themselves in different ways. It is well and good that the genuine majority of our patriots raised their voices in concurrence with the construction of this national monument in the broadest sense of that concept. In the final analysis, it must be seen as one of those tangible expressions of our policy of national reconciliation, Statehood and unity as a nation.
It is a place for all Namibians irrespective of their political, racial, ethnic, or religious backgrounds to come and honor those sons and daughters of our soil who sacrificed their lives, and those who, during their lifetimes, made great and meaningful contributions to the liberation of the Land of the Brave and all her people in their diversity. Compatriots, this monument was built as our token of honor to our forefathers and mothers.
I ask all of you, who will in the future pass through these gates and set foot on this Heroes' Acre, to do so with due respect and honor, for, here will lay the remains of those who shed their blood for the irrevocable sovereignty of our Republic. At this Heroes' Acre we, the Namibian people, are writing the history of Namibia, the history of victory, the history of unity, the history of dedication, indeed, the history of nationhood. Fellow Namibians, we are writing the history of our country from our own perspective and through our own suffering and sacrifices. The time when colonizers distorted our history is now gone forever.
WE as Namibians have learned greatly in the process of establishing our Heroes' Acre and we continue to draw lessons from neighboring countries and others far afield in this regard. I call on all Namibians to contribute to the national effort of honoring our heroes and heroines in this befitting manner by proposing the names, and where possible, giving the details of heroic deeds for inclusion in the list of those whose names will appear at the Heroes' Acre now and in the future.
I admit that many Namibians have achieved great feats and historic deeds that qualify them as heroes and heroines. In fact, over the years, and in our daily lives, many heroes and heroines manifest themselves by performing deeds of gallantry, bravery, selfless sacrifice and honor. All of them deserve to be honored and recognized in the most fitting manner, because they are indeed heroes and heroines in their own right.
You will, however agree with me that for practical, logistical and other reasons, not all of the names that we received from the Regions will find place for inclusion here at the Heroes' Acre. However, our citizens must rest assured that through transparency the identification process will be thorough, balanced and objective. Therefore, in order to ensure that justice is done to all our deserving national heroes and heroines, each city and each town, all communities, each village and each settlement must participate in this process.
As the saying goes, "a people who do not know their history, or where they came from will not know where they area going." In our own context, if we as Namibians neglect and forget our history, we will not be able to chart the future course for our country and her people. This fitting memorial to the rich history of our country must serve to remind and to educate our people about where we came from and where we intend to go as an independent nation.
The Heroes' Acre must serve as an inspiration to our citizens, both young and old alike, that through determined and united action we can achieve our national goals, despite the obstacles that may seem insurmountable. Indeed, we must draw strength, inspiration and courage from this monument and all that it represents as we forge ahead with the noble task of national development. May the eternal flame continue to illuminate our path towards a stronger, united and more prosperous Namibia.
As we inaugurate this Heroes" Acre today, we will unveil the graves of nine of our national heroes and heroines whose names have already been engraved here in the Heroes' Acre. These heroes and heroines were identified from the period of our people's resistance against German colonialism to the era of modern anti-colonial struggle, specifically the Windhoek Old Location Uprising on 10 December 1959.
Some of the Nama people were also imprisoned along the Skeleton Coast where they later died in their thousands. Up to this day, their skeletons could still be seen with the naked eyes as the winds constantly blow away the sand dunes which cover their remains. Some of our Nama people were deported, detained and exiled in Togo and Cameroon which were also German colonies where thousands of them died of
sickness caused by the harsh treatment and unfamiliar climatic conditions to which they were exposed. Today, if you go to the southern regions of our country, especially the Hardap and Karas Regions, you Hardly see anybody because the Namas were exterminated as a community by the German Imperial troops. The extermination of the Nama people by the German Imperial troops can be verified by many eyewitnesses. One such eyewitness, a young girl who by 1904 was six years old, by the name of Sophia Neels, personally witnessed the massacres of whole villages between Gibeon and Swartmodder. Whole families were wiped out, especially the men folk. After all the men in her village were killed by the German Imperial troops, she helped her mother to flee with her little brother, Jacob, into the bush. They were attacked by wild animals and unfortunately her little brother died of thirst and starvation. She helped her mother bury Jacob in the riverbed and they covered his body with sand and grass. That evening, the hyenas devoured the small body of Jacob. In this way, thousands of our Nama people who fled from German Imperial troops died between 1904 and 1907. They died of starvation, thirst, trauma and attacks by wild animals which were then still roaming our countryside.
Confronted with this inhumane treatment at the hands of the German Imperial troops, our peace loving people were left with no other choice but to rise to arms and fight back in defense of their land and territorial integrity. Among them was a revolutionary and determined leader and military tactician by the name of Kaptein Hendrik Witbooi. Through his bravery and courage he led and commanded our Nama people in popular armed resistance against the German Imperial Forces of occupation of our land until he was killed in battle on 29 October 1905 at a place which is today known as Witbooiseinde, in the vicinity of Vaalgras.
It is a historical fact that Kaptein Hendrik Witbooi was the first African leader who took up arms against the German imperialists and foreign occupiers in defense of our land and territorial integrity. We, the new generation of the Land of the Brave, are inspired by Kaptein Hendrik Witbooi's revolutionary action in combat against the German Imperialists who colonized and oppressed our peoples. To his revolutionary spirit and his visionary memory we humbly offer our honor and respect.
Prieska which was attended by several journalists including one from the Cape Times who asked him whether his tactical
spelled the end of the war in South West Africa. He answered in the negative and stated that the war would drag on for much longer. "Yes, indeed. It will last as long as there is a single Africa, in the bush".
Although he stated that he would under no circumstances "surrender to the Germans, but only, if need be, to the British Major Elliott", it was the same Major Elliott, accompanied by Hagen and others, who betrayed him and killed him in a battle that lasted over four hours on 20 September 1907 near Eenzamheid, about 100 kilometers north of Upington. This, what the German colonial troops could not achieve on their own, was finally accomplished by Anglo- German collaboration in suppressing the Name uprising by the treacherous murder of Marenga by the very same British authorities whom he trusted.
As a result, in January 1904 the uprising began and chief Maharero's forces surrounded the German colonial settlers at Okahandja , Omaruru and the famous Battle of Ohamakari near the Waterberg Mountain . The strength of his forces compelled the German colonial troops to send in reinforcements under the notorious General Lotha von Trotha who carried out an extermination order to wipe out all women, children and elderly persons.
"Within the German borders, every Herero, with or without a gun, with or without cattle, will be shot. No
women and children will be allowed in the territory; they will be driven back to their people or fired on. These are the last words to the Hereros from me, the great general of the mighty German Emperor". The Hereros retreated tactically while fighting into the waterless Kalahari Desert where the few known water holes were poisoned by the German troops. They died in their tens of thousands after drinking poisoned water. The Nama, resorting once more to guerilla warfare tactics of which they were masters, held out tenaciously for several more years, but due to German troop reinforcements the resistance temporarily ceased. Due to this extermination order, the Herero population had been reduced from about 80,000 to 15,130 and by 1907, the German war machine had exterminated some 60 percent of the population of the then South West Africa. This included more than two-thirds of the herero section as well as half of the Nama and Damara sections of our population.
Chief Kutako was later joined in petitioning the United Nations by Chief Samuel Witbooi, Reverend Thoefilus Hamutumbagela and Sam Nujoma . In this way, he played a major role in Namibia's struggle for freedom and independence.
To her revolutionary spirit and his visionary memory we humbly offer our honor and respect.
With humility and utmost respect I now have the honor to declare the Heroes' Acre of the Republic of Namibia officially inaugurated.
Text reproduced with the kind permission of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting
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