Namibia Vice President Witbooi to Meet Traditional Leaders for Remembrance Day Talks

21 April 2025

The Namibian (Windhoek)

Vice president Lucia Witbooi will be engaging traditional leaders of various communities this week for Genocide Remembrance Day slated for 28 May.

Former president Nangolo Mbumba on 28 May last year declared 28 May as Genocide Remembrance Day with effect from 2025.

The day was also declared a public holiday to allow Namibians, especially the affected communities of Ovaherero, Nama and San people, to pay homage to their forefathers who were killed between 1904 and 1908 by the German colonial forces.

A statement indicates that Witbooi will kick off her visit in the //Kharas and Hardap regions on Tuesday, 22 April, accompanied by chief Dawid Gertze, Charles Eiseb and Timotheus Tiboth.

The engagement will take place in Keetmanshoop.

On the same day, Witbooi's envoy, including former National Assembly speaker Peter Katjavivi, assisted by Michael Tjivikua, Moses !Omeb and Ueriuka Tjikuua, will visit the Otjozondjupa region to meet with traditional leaders there.

Kunene governor Vipuakuje Muharukua will also join the vice president's envoy supported by John Kasaona and Naledi /Uiras to meet traditional leaders at Khorixas.

On Wednesday, Witbooi will be at Gobabis in the Omaheke region, where she will be in the company of Freddy Nguvauva and Willem Abuse as her supporting staff.

Also on Wednesday, Katjavivi, with the support of Tjiviku and !Omeb, will head to the Erongo region to meet the affected community leaders at Omaruru.

Muharukua will also meet the traditional leaders at Opuwo on Wednesday, and he will be accompanied by Kasaona and /Uiras.

The dates for the Khomas regional engagements, as well as the venues for all meetings in each region, are yet to be announced.

Each traditional leader is requested to be accompanied by two councillors or advisors, and is also urged to contact the vice president's supporting staff as per their respective regions.

Former member of parliament Usutuaije Maamberua in 2016 tabled a motion for a genocide remembrance day. His reason at the time was that it was on this day that the commander of the colonial German Schutztruppe ordered the formal closure of all Ovaherero and Nama concentration camps in then German South West Africa, now known as Namibia since independence in 1990.

"This day is for all Namibians, and is not just about commemoration. It is to educate our children and for nation building," he had said.

Read the original article on Namibian.