There is a line in Mama Namibia that captures the heart of what the Herero relationship with the land actually meant.
“Land is a gift from Njambi Karunga. No one can own it.”
Njambi Karunga is the Herero creator God. In traditional Herero belief, the land doesn’t belong to anyone – it belongs to everyone, entrusted across generations. The cattle, the land, the holy fire: these were the sacred triad of Herero life.
When Germany claimed “ownership” of that land and declared the Herero trespassers in their own ancestral home, it wasn’t just a legal act. It was a spiritual annihilation.
Germany and Namibia are still negotiating what justice looks like, more than 120 years later. The reparations discussions that began in 2015 are still unresolved. Still incomplete.
That is why the story must keep being told.
Three days until Remembrance Day.
Should land be part of Germany’s reparations to Namibia? I’d genuinely like to hear your thoughts.