Why 'Hornkranz' for crime operation?
Part I of an open letter to pres. Hage Geingob by the Nama Chiefs of the Nama Traditional Leaders Association:
On 21 December 2018, the President of the Republic of Namibia, His Excellency Dr. Hage Geingob, launched “Operation Hornkranz”, a major crime fighting operation led by the Namibia Police Force and supported by the Namibian Defense Force. The operation is meant to patrol crime hotspots in the capital in order to ensure visible policing during the festive season and beyond, as a deterrent against crime. This initiative by the President deserves to be celebrated, because it serves as a welcome and much needed measure of safety for the citizens and visitors alike.
Crime in the city has been on the rise in recent years. The festive season in particular offers a prime opportunity for criminals to conduct their criminal activities, mainly in the form of housebreaking, shop burglary, vehicle theft, rape and violence against women, armed robbery, and common assault. Many of these crimes are related to socio-economic challenges faced by this nation. Young people are pulled to the city in search of jobs and other opportunities to feed their families. Rural areas are unable to sustain a growing population and for many the cities are their only hope for survival. However the cities offer little hope and aspirant youth end up in informal settlements on the fringes of the city without basic amenities such as portable water, sanitation, housing and basic income. Today, the outskirts of Windhoek are marked by sprawling shanty towns where crime is orchestrated as a means for survival.
What on the other hand is Hornkranz, and how is the current reality of crime in the city related to Hornkranz. The reasons behind the code name of the operation, coined “Hornkranz, has left many startled and taken aback, seeking clarity for the choice of the code name.
Historically, Hornkranz is associated with the 13th of April 1893 massacre of the /Khowese Nama tribe, under the leadership of the legendary Gaob Hendrik Witbooi. The massacre was conducted on the instruction of the then Governor of colonial German South West Africa, Captain Curt Von François. On the night of 12 April 1893, Von Francois and two hundred of his men rode through the /Khomas Mountains on the pretext that they were on a night patrol. It was only when the German troops reached the foot of the Hornkranz hills, that Von Francois announced to his men the objective of the night excursion, stating that “the object of this mission is to destroy the tribe of the Witbooi”. Destroy means get rid of them and reduce them to ashes, in lay language. Historical evidence shows that Von Francois could not defeat the mastery Witbooi in an open battle and therefore decided to attack the tribe during their sleep, with the intention of exterminating them.
On this fateful day, the Witbooi were peacefully sleeping when Von Francois gave the signal for 200 rifles to fire simultaneously at them. Caught off-guard and in confusion, Gaob Hendrik Witbooi instructed his troops to move towards the dry riverbed, hoping that the German soldiers would chase after them and leave the women and children untouched, as would be normal in ethical warfare. Instead, the huts in which the women were huddled with the children were set on fire, burning both dead and alive to ashes. Witbooi's twelve year old son, who had a partial paralysis, was shot by a German soldier while trying to escape and was shot with a bullet to his head. Witbooi's elder son, Klein Hendrik, later gave the following eye witness account:
“We thought the men might be killed not the women… The women and children they shot in the houses, the wounded and the dead they did not bring out, but burned the houses over them”
Petrus Jafta who was a Witbooi fighter, narrated his account that one woman was killed while a child clung to her screaming. A soldier shot the child through the head, blowing it to pieces. The women who were seized were brought to Windhoek and distributed among the troops as house slaves.
Kurt Schwabe, a German soldier who took part in the attack wrote:
“In another place the body of a woman obstructed the footpath, while two three-to-four year old children sat quietly playing beside their mother's corpse”.
It is important to understand what motivated this brutal massacre because it will help explain why many have been startled and disapprovingly shocked by the code name “Operation Hornkranz”.
Since of the annexation of German South West Africa as a German Protectorate, the Imperial Government of Germany required legal ownership of the territory. The land was legal property of its African tribes. However in order to take ownership of the land and property, the German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck instructed the predecessor of Von Francois, Commissioner Ernst Goring, to sign a series of “Protection Treaties” with the natives of the territory. The treaties gave vague promises of protection against European superpowers that purportedly planned to invade the territory and take over their land. In return for protection, the natives were to be bound to the German Reich.
During all the time Goring served as Commissioner, he was never able to convince Gaob Hendrik Witbooi to sign the treaty. When Goring wrote a letter to Witbooi, threatening that the wrath of the German Army would come unto him if he did not sign a protection treaty, the eloquent and protective leader of the /Khowese Nama clan ignored the letter and Goring never succeeded to convince Witbooi into signing any treaty. In fact, in response to a letter requesting a conciliatory meeting, Witbooi replied:
“You are someone else's representative, and I am a free and autonomous man answering to none but God. So I have nothing further to say to you… a representative has less power than an autonomous man, I see no need to follow your summons”.
After Goring failed, Captain Curt Von François was sent to German South West Africa to replace him. In July 1892, Von Francois met with Witbooi at his mountain fortress of Hoornkranz, during which he warned the Nama leader that “large numbers of Europeans will arrive by ship soon” and that he needed to be protected from them through a protection treaty. Witbooi coldly dismissed Von Francois, telling him: “I cannot conceive that a chief, being an independent chief and ruler over his land and people, able to defend his people against all danger, can if he accepts protection from another, still be regarded as an independent chief. Everyone under protection is a subject to the one who protects him”.
Annoyed by Witbooi's scoffs, Von Francois, unable to convince Witbooi and unable to defeat him militarily, committed the Hoornkarnz massacre on the fateful day of 13 April 1893, with the intent aim to exterminate the entire Witbooi clan.
This is the story of Hornkranz. It sounds like something from a horror action movie. But regrettably it happened on Namibian soil, just south of our capital city, Windhoek.
With this background, many are alarmed at the reasons why an ordinary crime prevention operation, aimed at ensuring the safety of the capital's citizens from criminal activity rooted in poverty, unemployment and a desperation to survive, has been code named after a massacre aimed at “destroying and exterminating” an entire tribal clan who refused to be subjugated into slavery to give up their land and their dignity. This tribe stood to the last man, woman and child to fight foreign occupation of their space, culture, traditional and spiritual values, as well as their governance systems.
On 21 December 2018, the President of the Republic of Namibia, His Excellency Dr. Hage Geingob, launched “Operation Hornkranz”, a major crime fighting operation led by the Namibia Police Force and supported by the Namibian Defense Force. The operation is meant to patrol crime hotspots in the capital in order to ensure visible policing during the festive season and beyond, as a deterrent against crime. This initiative by the President deserves to be celebrated, because it serves as a welcome and much needed measure of safety for the citizens and visitors alike.
Crime in the city has been on the rise in recent years. The festive season in particular offers a prime opportunity for criminals to conduct their criminal activities, mainly in the form of housebreaking, shop burglary, vehicle theft, rape and violence against women, armed robbery, and common assault. Many of these crimes are related to socio-economic challenges faced by this nation. Young people are pulled to the city in search of jobs and other opportunities to feed their families. Rural areas are unable to sustain a growing population and for many the cities are their only hope for survival. However the cities offer little hope and aspirant youth end up in informal settlements on the fringes of the city without basic amenities such as portable water, sanitation, housing and basic income. Today, the outskirts of Windhoek are marked by sprawling shanty towns where crime is orchestrated as a means for survival.
What on the other hand is Hornkranz, and how is the current reality of crime in the city related to Hornkranz. The reasons behind the code name of the operation, coined “Hornkranz, has left many startled and taken aback, seeking clarity for the choice of the code name.
Historically, Hornkranz is associated with the 13th of April 1893 massacre of the /Khowese Nama tribe, under the leadership of the legendary Gaob Hendrik Witbooi. The massacre was conducted on the instruction of the then Governor of colonial German South West Africa, Captain Curt Von François. On the night of 12 April 1893, Von Francois and two hundred of his men rode through the /Khomas Mountains on the pretext that they were on a night patrol. It was only when the German troops reached the foot of the Hornkranz hills, that Von Francois announced to his men the objective of the night excursion, stating that “the object of this mission is to destroy the tribe of the Witbooi”. Destroy means get rid of them and reduce them to ashes, in lay language. Historical evidence shows that Von Francois could not defeat the mastery Witbooi in an open battle and therefore decided to attack the tribe during their sleep, with the intention of exterminating them.
On this fateful day, the Witbooi were peacefully sleeping when Von Francois gave the signal for 200 rifles to fire simultaneously at them. Caught off-guard and in confusion, Gaob Hendrik Witbooi instructed his troops to move towards the dry riverbed, hoping that the German soldiers would chase after them and leave the women and children untouched, as would be normal in ethical warfare. Instead, the huts in which the women were huddled with the children were set on fire, burning both dead and alive to ashes. Witbooi's twelve year old son, who had a partial paralysis, was shot by a German soldier while trying to escape and was shot with a bullet to his head. Witbooi's elder son, Klein Hendrik, later gave the following eye witness account:
“We thought the men might be killed not the women… The women and children they shot in the houses, the wounded and the dead they did not bring out, but burned the houses over them”
Petrus Jafta who was a Witbooi fighter, narrated his account that one woman was killed while a child clung to her screaming. A soldier shot the child through the head, blowing it to pieces. The women who were seized were brought to Windhoek and distributed among the troops as house slaves.
Kurt Schwabe, a German soldier who took part in the attack wrote:
“In another place the body of a woman obstructed the footpath, while two three-to-four year old children sat quietly playing beside their mother's corpse”.
It is important to understand what motivated this brutal massacre because it will help explain why many have been startled and disapprovingly shocked by the code name “Operation Hornkranz”.
Since of the annexation of German South West Africa as a German Protectorate, the Imperial Government of Germany required legal ownership of the territory. The land was legal property of its African tribes. However in order to take ownership of the land and property, the German Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck instructed the predecessor of Von Francois, Commissioner Ernst Goring, to sign a series of “Protection Treaties” with the natives of the territory. The treaties gave vague promises of protection against European superpowers that purportedly planned to invade the territory and take over their land. In return for protection, the natives were to be bound to the German Reich.
During all the time Goring served as Commissioner, he was never able to convince Gaob Hendrik Witbooi to sign the treaty. When Goring wrote a letter to Witbooi, threatening that the wrath of the German Army would come unto him if he did not sign a protection treaty, the eloquent and protective leader of the /Khowese Nama clan ignored the letter and Goring never succeeded to convince Witbooi into signing any treaty. In fact, in response to a letter requesting a conciliatory meeting, Witbooi replied:
“You are someone else's representative, and I am a free and autonomous man answering to none but God. So I have nothing further to say to you… a representative has less power than an autonomous man, I see no need to follow your summons”.
After Goring failed, Captain Curt Von François was sent to German South West Africa to replace him. In July 1892, Von Francois met with Witbooi at his mountain fortress of Hoornkranz, during which he warned the Nama leader that “large numbers of Europeans will arrive by ship soon” and that he needed to be protected from them through a protection treaty. Witbooi coldly dismissed Von Francois, telling him: “I cannot conceive that a chief, being an independent chief and ruler over his land and people, able to defend his people against all danger, can if he accepts protection from another, still be regarded as an independent chief. Everyone under protection is a subject to the one who protects him”.
Annoyed by Witbooi's scoffs, Von Francois, unable to convince Witbooi and unable to defeat him militarily, committed the Hoornkarnz massacre on the fateful day of 13 April 1893, with the intent aim to exterminate the entire Witbooi clan.
This is the story of Hornkranz. It sounds like something from a horror action movie. But regrettably it happened on Namibian soil, just south of our capital city, Windhoek.
With this background, many are alarmed at the reasons why an ordinary crime prevention operation, aimed at ensuring the safety of the capital's citizens from criminal activity rooted in poverty, unemployment and a desperation to survive, has been code named after a massacre aimed at “destroying and exterminating” an entire tribal clan who refused to be subjugated into slavery to give up their land and their dignity. This tribe stood to the last man, woman and child to fight foreign occupation of their space, culture, traditional and spiritual values, as well as their governance systems.
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