- Home affairs ministers of the two countries presided over relocation
- OvaHerero fled to Botswana during the 1904-1908 German genocide
- Namibian government gifts them five commercial farms to settle
BONGANI MALUNGA
The governments of Botswana and Namibia completed the first phase of the repatriation of 98 Batswana of Namibian descent to Namibia last week.
The repatriation process was first discussed by the two nations in 2013.
The historic event saw 98 individuals from 49 households in Botswana relocated to Namibia.
Botswana’s Minister of Labour and Home Affairs Annah Mokgethi and her Namibian counterpart Dr Albert Kawana presided over the historic repatriation at the Dobe Border Post on Thursday last week and were destined or resettling in Namibia’s Hardap, Omaheke and Otjozondjupa regions.
With and without livestock
The relocation is expected to be done in two phases. The first one included people without livestock while the second phase is designed for people with livestock.
Namibia’s Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform, Calle Schlettwein, recently told the country’s National Assembly that the relocated group had renounced their Botswana citizenship collectively. “About 100 Batswana of Namibian descent have been registered for repatriation,” he said.
“But only 98 people distributed across 49 households or families will definitely arrive. Phase One comprises the less complicated group. The second phase will comprise a more logistically complicated group which will come with livestock.”
Genocide
Between 1904 and 1908, the genocide of the Nama and the OvaHerero in Namibia by German colonial troops forced scores of the latter tribe to flee to Botswana for safety.
“These communities have made a calculated decision to come to their ancestral land after their ancestors were forced to flee this country due to the atrocities committed by imperial Germany,” Schlettwein said.
According to The Namibian newspaper, the Batswana of Namibian descent will be provided with five commercial farms that collectively amount to 23 000 hectares where they will settle. They will be in the designated reception land that has enough space for their livestock to graze in a protected area.
Social grant programmes
Schlettwein’s ministry has reportedly drilled boreholes, installed water tanks and solar lights and constructed animal handling facilities.
The returnees will also be issued with Namibian identity cards and birth certificates with their children set to be integrated into the public school system with immediate effect. This will be done to enable them to benefit from the country’s social grant programmes.
Tax-exempted
The Namibian said the new residents will be exempted from value added tax (VAT) on personal moveable assets and household goods that they will bring with them from Botswana.
Namibia’s Ministry of Health and Social Services is currently conducting registration for the returnees in order to help them gain access to healthcare.