Young people under the banner of the Nama Traditional Leaders Association (NTLA) held a roundtable discussion titled “Rewriting Remembrance: Towards an Honest Reckoning with Namibia’s Past” in Keetmanshoop.

The discussions focused on May 28, 1908, questioning whether it truly marked the end of atrocities against prisoners in concentration camps during the German colonial era.

The Namibian government declared May 28, which marks the closure of the German concentration camps, as Genocide Remembrance Day.

NTLA Chairperson Johannes Isaack delivered the keynote address at the event.

"The Goagu are very happy that you took this initiative to have this panel discussion, which aims to tell the world our story and to protect it at all costs. As for those who gathered in the capital city of our republic. History is and has always been the best judge. As far as the Nama Goagu are concerned, we will never sell the souls of our ancestors for political expediency based on lies."

The NTLA Vice Chairperson, Dawid Hanse, reiterated the association's call to the government to engage in inclusive negotiations on reparations for the genocide committed against the Nama and Ovaherero people during the Germans' colonial rule over the land now known as Namibia.