Oneword

This is Part 2

Chapter 21 - Pages 181 - 190 of "Words cannot be found" German Colonial Rule in Namibia

An annotated reprint of the 1918 Blue Book

Jeremy Silvester & Jan-Bart Gewald BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2003

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
South-West Africa. Administrator’s Office. [Report on the natives of South-West Africa and their treatment by Germany] Words cannot be found : German colonial rule in Namibia : an annotated reprint of
the 1918 Blue Book / by Jeremy Silvester and Jan-Bart Gewald.
p. cm. – (Sources for African history, ISSN 1570-8721 ; v. 1)
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 90-04-12981-2 (pbk.)
1. Indigenous peoples–Namibia–Government relations. 2.
Namibia–History–1884-1915. I. Silvester, Jeremy. II. Gewald, Jan-Bart. III. Title IV.
Series.
DT1603.S68 2003 323.1’6881’09034–dc21



continued from Part 1



I was born at Windhuk before the Berg-Damaras came to Okambahe. Old Abraham was the Chief then. I came with old Abraham to this district. and have lived here ever since under the Berg-Damara Chief at his werft. I know all about the agreement with the Germans under Leutwein. It is as stated by Gottlieb. The Germans did not keep any of their promises. They broke their word. They promised to let us keep our rifles, but after the agreement was signed they disarmed us all. No one could trust them or place any reliance on their word. I would a hundred thes prefer to live under and be governed by the Hereros in preference to the Germans. The Hereros had some mercy, and always respected our women, even in war-time; but that was never the case with the Germans. Neither one’s self, one’s wife, nor one’s children were safe under the Germans. The German soldiers treated us like dogs, every German did; and our young daughters, even those who had not yet grown to womanhood, were not safe from them. They are a very bad people. We have not a bit of respect for them.
We never saw such white people. Our natives were shocked at what they saw the Germans do. As for thrashings and floggings by the police, I don t know where to begin when I talk about that. We saw no courts, and had no place to go to for justice. The German police governed us. They were the Government; we knew of no other Government. They could do as they pleased.
Speaking of the taking over of Okambahe and the Berg-Damaras by the Germans, the Chief Judas Goresib states on oath:–
The Germans established a police post at Okambahe. They immediately began to flog our people and put them into gaol. Our liberty was curtailed in every way, and they interfered in such a way that Cornelius soon had no more control over his people and was only like an ordinary Berg-Damara. The German police sergeant was really the chief, and he did what he liked and treated all very badly. We remained neutral during the Herero rebellion, as we had all been disarmed and were afraid of war. The traders had also robbed us, but we had not nearly so much stock as the Hereros. The German traders were very dishonest, and we lost by trading with them. They used simply to come and take cattle and sheep for debts. Still, we always tried to obey the Germans and to avoid trouble, as we knew they were very strong. We hated the Germans. Never have we had the truth from them, and they never kept their promises. We could not trust them. Of course, I have met good Germans, but they are few. When my father Cornelius died in 1910 the Council and men of the tribe looked to me as the lawful Chief according to our ancient customs and usage. I proclaimed myself as Chief in succession to my father, but the German Governor refused to recognise me and said I was not to be Chief, as they had decided to do away with all Chiefs. They said they would govern the Berg-Damaras themselves with the aid of a Council of Five. They said I could be a member of the Council. I said I was the heir of the Chief, and declined to be member of any Council. I said that if I were not Chief I was nothing at all. They then ignored me. They appointed as a Council the following: Joshua, Hosea. Kaleb, Alpheus and Titus. This Council was merely to give advice. The German police were the masters. The large majority, I may say the whole nation, was upset and annoyed at this. They had never heard of five councillors without a Chief. The five men who accepted positions on the Council were severely criticised, and the Berg-Damaras did not respect or recognise them. Even now they are thought nothing of …
It was only after the British conquest of South-West Africa in 1915 that the Chief Judas Goresib was recognised and tranquillity and satisfaction restored.
The persons who have made the above statements are all of the Omene or settled class of Berg-Damara.
The wild Chau-Damaras’ views are also of interest. The writer succeeded in finding a comparatively tame and intelligent member of this class, Jacob Dikasip, living at Ghaub, between Grootfontein and Tsumeb under the so-called Bushman Chief, Johannes Kruger. Johannes is a Bastard who in early days had hunted with Erickson, Green and others. Eventually he settled down near Grootfontein, and in 1896 was formally appointed by Governor Leutwein as Chief of the Bushman Berg-Damaras and other natives in the Grootfontein area. Jacob Dikasip said:–
I have been under German masters and have been brutally treated. I show you the scars on my back from the floggings I have received (he was marked like a zebra)… I look old and worn, but it is from the bad treatment… See! all my teeth in front are knocked out. A German policeman Grossmann did that. I had been pulled down for a flogging, and it hurt so much that I tried to get away, whereupon I was hit on the mouth and lost my teeth. I don t wish to see Germans ruling this land again, they have been too unjust. They came into the country, and ever since they came natives have been killed and flogged and beaten nearly to death. We never got justice or fair treatment… We cannot agree with the Germans, we hate them. A German has no respect for our women. They have been known to come into the pontoks and chase married men out of their beds in order that they might sleep there. We protested, but what could we do? … I have seen this sort of thing with my own eyes.
Innumerable statements of this nature can be produced, but once again the details are too indecent and revolting for publication.
The Berg-Damaras never at any the rebelled or gave any trouble to their German masters, yet it availed them nothing. The treatment meted out to them seems to have been exactly the same as that received by the other tribes.

A popular and widely available anthropological guide to the population groups of Namibia still argues that the way in which the Damara people came to be in Namibia remains a ‘mystery’. Malan, J.S. Peoples of Namibia, p. 128. Rhino Publishers, Wingate Park, 1999. It has been argued that linguistic evidence suggests that ‘proto-Damara’ groups migrated from ‘northern Botswana’ through ‘northern Namibia’ and that Damara communities have not ‘lost’ a language, but are ancient speakers of Khoekhoegowab. On this, as on many issues concerning pre-colonial Namibian history, there is a need for greater academic debate between the disciplines. Wilfrid Haacke ‘Linguistic Evidence in the Study of Origins: the Case of the Namibian Khoekhoe-speakers’, Inaugural Lecture, University of Namibia, 2001

When Cornelius Goreseb the leader at Okombahe died on 3rd April, 1910, his Council of five councillors continued to lead the community, but the arrangement was considered unsatisfactory. In July, 1915 the new South African administration, through the local ‘Native Commissioner’, Maj. Pearson, appointed Judas Goreseb, as ‘Captain’. Judas Goreseb appointed a new Council of three to advise and support him. Opposition to the new system was reported to have continued up to the death of Judas on 26th April, 1923 (Köhler 1959c: 37)

The official German reply to the Blue Book was particularly critical of the statistics given for Damara losses during the war. It claimed that the Blue Book bases its post-war Damara population figures on the German census of 1911 and argues that it, incorrectly, quotes the Damara population as 12,831. In fact it is claimed that the figure given in the 1911 census should be 19,581 as the figure given by the British excludes 6,750 Damara children. Unfortunately, as Brigitte Lau points out, it has not been possible, to date, to locate the 1911 census figures. Some initial research on the impact of the war on the Damara community has recently been carried out by Ivan Gaseb. German Colonial Office, Treatment, p. 45; Lau, ‘Uncertain’, p. 44, Gaseb, Ivan ‘A historical hangover’:The absence of Damara from accounts of the 1904-08 war’, paper presented at the ‘Public History: Forgotten History’ Conference, University of Namibia, August, 2000.

(Page 109 in original) Leutwein desired to pose as the emancipator of the Berg-Damaras. In a footnote he adds:- “This knowledge I acquired shortly beforehand, as the result of a confidential visit to me in Windhuk of the Berg-DamaraChief, Cornelius. He had come to me solely with the object of begging me to free them from the Herero yoke, and for this reason I more readily took “As against this, continues Leutwein, “Missionary Irle ascribes the emancipation of the Berg-Damaras of Okambahe to the Mission, and says that it had taken place in 1870.
“However that may be, Cornelius did not, in any event, feel that he was free from the Hereros in 1895. If he had, he would not have come to me to Windhuk with that request to take advantage of the opportunity afforded.”

Judas, eldest son of Cornelius, was appointed leader on the arrival of invading South African forces on 18th June, 1915. However the leadership at Okombahe continued to be contested. Köhler, Oswin A Study of Omaruru District, Govt. Printer, Pretoria, 1959: p. 37

ISSN 1570–8721 ISBN 90 04 12981 2