TODAY WE CELEBRATE THE 90TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GREAT NAMIBIAN FREEDOM FIGHTER HENDRIK WITBOOI WHO DIED IN ACTION AGAINST THE GERMAN COLONIAL POWER ON HORSE BACK - AGED 75 - ON 29.10.1905, AT VAALGRAS OR KOICHAS IN SOUTH-EAST NAMIBIA.

HENDRIK WITBOOI AND THE NAMA COMMUNITY OF THE KHOWESIN REPRESENT A KINGPIN OF NAMIBIAN HISTORY - A HISTORY OF RESISTANCE WARS.

THE NAMIBIAN HISTORY DID NOT BEGIN WHEN FIRST EUROPEAN ADVENTURES, HUNTERS, TRADERS MISSIONARIES AND SETTLERS ARRIVED IN NAMIBIA. NAMIBIAN SOCIETIES HAD BEEN LIVING CHANGING AND DEVELOPING IN THIS PART OF THE WORLD FOR MANY CENTURIES.

4. THE HISTORY OF THE NAMIBIAN COMMUNITY OF THE WITBOOIS IS A SYMBOL FOR PARTS OF NAMIBIA'S PRE-COLONIAL HISTORY AND RECOUNTS THE COMPLEX.HISTORY OF NAMIBIA'S DEVELOPMENT TO NATIONHOOD.

5. HENDRIK WITBOOI WAS ONE OF THE MOST POWERFUL AFRICAN LEADERS IN NAMIBIA AT THE TIME THE GERMANS BEGAN TO COLONISE THE COUNTRY. HIS REALISATION THAT THE AFRICAN CONFLICTS BETWEEN NAMIBIAN COMMUNITIES WERE SECONDARY TO A THREAT OF AN ENTIRELY NEW DIMENSION OF IMMENSE PROPORTIONS, NAMELY CONQUEST AND COLONISATION BY GERMANY WHICH COULD ONLY BE RESOLVED BY AFRICAN UNITY, MAKES HENDRIK WITBOOI ONE OF THE MAJOR RESISTANCE FIGHTERS AGAINST COLONIAL RULE IN AFRICA.

6. WHAT WAS THE HISTORICAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE WITBOOI COMMUNITY? THE BASIC OUTLINE OF EARLY WITBOOI HISTORY IS RELATIVELY WELL RESEARCHED AND CAN BE FIRMLY PLACED WITHIN THE SO-CALLED ORLAM MIGRATIONS FROM THE CAPE COLONY IN SOUTH AFRICA TO NAMIBIA, STARTING AROUND 1750. ORLAM WAS A TERM ADOPTED TO INDICATE THE DISPOSSESSED AND ENSLAVED BUT RESOURCEFUL DESCENDANTS OF THE KHOESAN GROUPS SOUTH OF THE ORANJE RIVER. SOME OF THE ORLAMS REJECTED THE SUBORDINATE ROLE FORCED ON THEM BY THE SOUTH AFRICAN COLONIALISTS (EAST INDIA COMPANY) AND ESCAPED TO THE FREE NORTH IN THE PRESENT-DAY NAMIBIA.

7. IN THE CONTEXT OF THE WITBOOI HISTORY -WHICH IS PART OF THE ORLAM RESISTANCE AGAINST THE SOUTH AFRICANS - WE CAN DIFFER BETWEEN THREE BASIC PERIODS:

DEFENSIVE PERIOD 1750 - 1830

MISSIONARY PERIOD AROUND 1840 - 1850

ACTIVE PERIOD: FROM 1890 - 1905

ACTUAL PERIOD FROM 1920 TO 1990 AS FAR AS WITBOOIS WERE CONCERNED.

8. THE DEFENSIVE PERIOD WAS COINED BY TWO OUTSTANDING COMMUNITIES: THE WITBOOI NAMA AND THE ORLAM AFRIKANERS. THE ORLAM AFRIKANERS CREATED THE FORTIFIED TOWN OF ||KHAUXA!NAS WHICH SYMBOLISED THE FIRST RESISTANCE TO EUROPEAN OCCUPATION IN THE 18^TH CENTURY AND WHICH IS THE OLDEST NAMIBIAN PRE-COLONIAL SETTLEMENT IN AN ENGINEERING SENSE (RE-DISCOVERED BY MYSELF IN 1986). IT IS THE FIRST NAMIBIAN RESISTANCE SYMBOL ON RECORD. WHERE HAVE THE WITBOOIS BEEN PLACED IN THE ORLAM MOVEMENT IN THE 1820s? FIRSTLY THEY HAD TO FIND A PERMANENT HOME UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF KIDO WITBOOI. KIDO WITBOOI AND HIS COMMUNITY WENT TO GRIQUALAND, AND LATER, TWO DECADES LATER TO SOUTHERN NAMIBIA. WHILE THEY HAVE BEEN AT THE ORANJE RIVER REGION, CONTACT WITH THE FIRST EUROPEAN MISSIONARIES (FIRSTLY THE LONDON MISSIONARY SOCIETY; SECONDLY THE WESLEYAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY AND THIRDLY THE RHENISH MISSIONARY SOCIETY) WAS MADE THERE IN THE 1820s. IN 1863 THE WITBOOIS ESTABLISHED THEMSELVES AT GIBEON (KHAXA-TSŪS) UNDER KIDO WITBOOI. THE RHENISH MISSIONARY AT THIS TIME WAS JACOB KNAUER (UNTIL 27.11.1867), FOLLOWED BY JOHANNES OLPP (1867-1879). THIS BRINGS US TO THE SECOND PERIOD: THE MISSIONARY PERIOD.

9. THE MISSIONARY PERIOD

TODAY WE KNOW THAT THE MISSIONARIES PLAYED A VERY SINISTER ROLE IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN NAMIBIAN COMMUNITIES IN THE MID 1800s, ESPECIALLY BETWEEN NAMA AND OVAHERERO COMMUNITIES; BUT EVEN IN THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN NAMA COMMUNITIES IN SOUTHERN NAMIBIA. IN THE 1860s KIDO WITBOOI, UPON ESTABLISHING HIMSELF AS GIBEON, BECAME A MEMBER OF THE NAMALAND LEADERS - THE SOUTHERN ALLIANCE - WHO BY 1863 PREPARED WAR UPON THE DOMINANT ORLAM AFRIKANER POWER UNDER JAN JONKER AFRIKANER. THIS WAS IN SPITE OF THE FACT THAT OLD JONKER AFRIKANER HAD FOR MANY YEARS HOPED TO WIN KIDO WITBOOI AS AN ALLY: THE MISSIONARIES OF THE RHENISH MISSIONARY SOCIETY AGAIN PLAYED A MALEVOLENT ROLE IN THESE TRAGIC EVENTS WITH THE RESULT THAT EUROPEAN TRADERS, HUNTERS AND MISSIONARIES COULD OPERATE WITHOUT ANY MAJOR HINDRANCES IMPOSED BY INDIGENOUS NAMIBIANS UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF FORMAL COLONISATION. BY LATE 1882 THE PICTURE WAS AGAIN ONE OF DECENTRALISATION AND OF ISOLATED SKIRMISHES BETWEEN NAMA AND OVAHERERO. THIS ROUGHLY WAS THE GENERAL SETTING AT THE TIME OF HENDRIK WITBOOI'S (H.W.) ASCENDANCY IN 1884. THIS EVENT COINCIDED WITH THE ADVENT OF THE GERMAN COLONIAL POWER AND THE THIRD BASIC PERIOD.

10. THE ACTIVE PERIOD OF ANTI-COLONIAL STRUGGLE

10.1 IN 1884 HENDRIK WITBOOI PREPARED TO LEAVE GIBEON WITH HIS FOLLOWERS AND TO EMIGRATE TO THE NORTH. THIS MOVEMENT NATURALLY BROUGHT HIM IN CONTACT WITH THE OVAHERERO LEADER MAHARERO (KAMAHARERO). IT WAS A BIG SUCCESS FOR HENDRIK WITBOOI WHEN HE CONCLUDED A PEACE AGREEMENT WITH MAHARERO BUT HOSTILITIES CONTINUED THROUGH THE 1880s IN SPITE OF THIS PEACE TREATY DUE TO WEAK COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN NAMA AND OVAHERERO.

10.2 FOR TWO YEARS AFTER HENDRIK WITBOOI HAD LEFT GIBEON, HE LIVED IN THE AREA OF GURUMANAS RATHER QUIETLY WITH HIS GROWING FOLLOWING. BY THIS TIME THE PRESENCE OF THE GERMANS HAD COMMENCED - WE CAN CALL IT PHASE ONE OF THE GERMAN COLONISATION: 1884 - 1885 WHOSE ADMINISTRATION HAD HARDLY BEEN NOTICED BY NAMIBIANS.

10.3 THE NEXT TWO - THREE YEARS FROM JULY 1888 - 1890 SAW THE WHOLE OF NAMALAND IN RE-ARRANGEMENT. THE PERIOD WAS COINED BY TREMENDOUS DIPLOMATIC AND MILITARY EFFORTS BY HENDRIK WITBOOI TO UNITE THE WHOLE OF NAMALAND BEHIND HIM. WHILE IN 1888 HENDRIK WITBOOI LIVED AROUND HOACHANAS, SINCE SEPTEMBER 1889 HE HAD BEEN FIRMLY ESTABLISHED AT HORNKRANZ, A FULLY FORTIFIED AND STRATEGICALLY-PLACED SETTLEMENT EAST OF THE GAMSBERG.

10.4 BY THIS TIME PHASE 2: 1890-93 WAS ENTERED WHEN GERMANY DECIDED TO SEND A FIRST MILITARY FORCE : 21 MEN; THE NUCLEUS OF THE "SCHUTZTRUPPE" LED BY CURT V FRANCOIS. THEY ARRIVED IN JULY 1889 AT WALVIS BAY. THEY WERE FIRSTLY STATIONED AT OTJIMBINGWE, TSAOBIS (WILHELMSFESTE) AND AS FROM 1890 WINDHOEK. THEY WERE REINFORCED BY ANOTHER 40 SCHUTZTRUPPE SOLDIERS IN JANUARY 1890.

10.5 THE VON FRANCOIS ERA 1890-93 WAS CHARACTERISED BY THE GRADUAL REALISATION ON THE PART OF GERMANY THAT NO COLONISATION OF NAMIBIA COULD BE EFFECTED UNLESS HENDRIK WITBOOI WAS DEFEATED AND BROUGHT UNDER GERMAN CONTROL. HENDRIK WITBOOI CLEARLY COMPREHENDED THE GRAVE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE NAMIBIAN PEOPLE. HE REALISED THAT THE INTERNAL NAMIBIAN CONFLICTS WERE SECONDARY TO THE TREMENDOUS THREAT TO THE NAMIBIAN NATION BY THE GERMAN COLONIAL POWER.

10.6 CONSEQUENTLY BY THE END OF 1892 HENDRIK WITBOOI SUCCESSFULLY NEGOTIATED PEACE WITH THE OVAHERERO, AS HE THEN PERCEIVED THEIR CONFLICT AS MUCH LESS HARMFUL TO THE THREAT POSED BY GERMAN IMPERIALISM.

10.7 IN APRIL 1893, THE GERMANS LAUNCHED INTO OPEN WAR AGAINST HENDRIK WITBOOI ANS HIS NAMA COMMUNITY. THIS LED TO PHASE THREE OF GERMAN COLONISATION AS FROM 1893. IN MARCH 1894 VON FRANCOIS WAS REPLACED BY THEODOR LEUTWEIN, WHO BROUGHT NEW GERMAN TROOPS WITH HIM. AT THIS STAGE LITTLE ELSE COUNTED BUT TO SUBDUE WITBOOI, BECAUSE BY NOW THE GERMANS UNDERSTOOD THAT OTHERWISE NO "SETTLERS COLONY" COULD BE ESTABLISHED. THE GERMAN-NAMIBIAN WAR LASTED NEARLY TWO YEARS WITH THE CULMINATE EVENTS OF THE BATTLES OF HORNKRANZ IN APRIL 1893 AND THE NAUKLUFT CAMPAIGN IN SEPTEMBER 1894. AFTER THE NAUKLUFT BATTLE BOTH ARMIES WERE EXHAUSTED. THE GERMANS HAD SUFFERED MANY CASUALTIES. LEUTWEIN NOTED THAT STRATEGICALLY LITTLE HAD BEEN WON, THE WITBOOI FORCE WAS INSIDE THE MOUNTAIN AND THE GERMANS WERE OUTSIDE WHEN WITBOOI OFFERED A CONDITIONAL SURRENDER WHICH LEUTWEIN IMMEDIATELY ACCEPTED.

10.8 IN THE YEARS BETWEEN THE GERMAN-NAMIBIAN WAR 1893/94 AND THE OUTBREAK OF THE GREAT RESISTANCE WAR 1903-1909 BOTH THE SPIRIT AND LETTER OF THE LEUTWEIN-WITBOOI TREATY WAS RESPECTED BY BOTH PARTIES. THE KHOWESIN, HOWEVER WERE KEEPING HENDRIK WITBOOI’S WORD, BUT IN DEFIANCE OF GERMAN COLONIALISM, HENDRIK WITBOOI LEFT GIBEON AND WITHDRAW TO RIETMOND, KEEPING DISTINCTLY DISTANT FROM BOTH THE GERMAN GARRISON AT GIBEON AND THE RHENISH MISSIONARY SOCIETY WHICH HAD PLAYED SUCH A SINISTER ROLE IN ALL THESE TRAGIC EVENTS.

10.9 THE THIRD PERIOD - THE ACTIVE PERIOD - IN NAMIBIA'S HISTORY OF STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM REACHED ITS FIRST CULMINATION POINT IN THE GREAT RESISTANCE WAR AGAINST GERMANY: 1903-1909.THE PATTERNS OF ALL SOCIAL-POLITICAL RELATIONS IN NAMIBIA WERE FUNDAMENTALLY ALTERED BY THIS WAR. THE "LEUTWEIN SYSTEM" BASED ON A COMBINATION OF DIPLOMACY AND MILITARY FORCE BROKE DOWN. LEUTWEIN WAS UNSEATED IN 1904 AND GENERAL LOTHAR VON TROTHA WAS CALLED IN. THE EXTREME SUFFERING AND THE GENOCID AGAINST THE NAMA AND OVAHERERO COMMUNITIES THIS WAR HAD CAUSED CAN BE DEMONSTRATED BY THE FACT THAT FROM ± 20,000 NAMA IN 1901 ONLY 9 810 WERE LEFT IN 1911.THUS 50% OF THE NAMA HAD FALLEN - VICTIMS TO GERMANY COLONIAL RULE.