zuidelijk Afrika: Herero - Tjamuaha, Maherero & Samuel Maherero (red flag)

Tjamuaha (1790-1861) was a Herero captain and a “Keeper of the Holy Fire” from approximately 1820 until his death in 1861.  He became a wealthy man through smart breeding, the traditional borrow-system and the raiding of other Herero herds.  Tjamuaha was also known as a friend of the notorious Jonker Afrikaner.  His son, Maharero, and grandson, Samuel Maharero, were both strong leaders and each made an enormous contribution to Namibian history. Tjamuaha came to central Namibia with his father a while before 1820.  They were of the original Herero tribes that came from Kaokoveld and he settled with his family in Okahandja. In 1840 his life changed forever when Jonker Afrikaner, a captain of the Nama, came to settle in Windhoek.  The Nama, under Jonker Afrikaner, were feared people.  They murdered and plundered Herero and Nama alike for their cattle.  Jonker honored Tjamuaha by asking him permission to build his home in Windhoek, and they formed an unusual friendship that lasted a lifetime. When Tjamuaha and Jonker signed a peace treaty on Christmas Day 1842, Tjamuaha moved his “kraal” to Windhoek on Jonker’s request.  Jonker wanted a “buffer” between him and the hostile Herero tribes.  Tjamuaha plundered his fellow Herero too. Being closer to the mighty Jonker Afrikaner, Tjamuaha felt he would be safe from his own enemies.  Under Jonker’s protection, Tjamuaha became submissive.  All he cared for was his growing wealth, so much so that he did nothing to prevent Jonker’s abuse of his, Tjamuaha’s, sons. The treaty between the Nama and Herero was broken in 1848, and even though Tjamuaha had no interest in the war, he was put in a difficult position.  Apart from the political pressure on him as Herero living with the Nama, one of his sons was murdered by a tribesman of Jonker Afrikaner. This man received no punishment from Jonker Afrikaner.  Tjamuaha used the excuse of inadequate grazing to move back to his old “kraal” in Okahandja. Around 1860-1861, Tjamuaha and Jonker both went on raiding expeditions.  Tjamuaha went to Kaokoveld and Jonker to Owamboland.  They both came back mortally ill (probably malaria), and Jonker went to stay in Okahandja, wanting to be close to his dying friend.  Their huts were only a hundred meters apart, and each day messengers went back and forth reporting on the deterioration of the other. Both being strong leaders, neither wanted to die first. On his deathbed, Jonker Afrikaner called in the two successors, Christian (Jonker’s eldest son) and Maharero (Tjamuaha’s eldest son).  In a ritual, he gave them each a shoe, the left for Maharero, the right for Christian, symbolizing Christian’s superiority.  Following Jonker’s death in August 1861, Tjamuaha also called in the two men and repeated the ceremony.  This time he gave Maharero the right shoe, symbolizing the return of power to the Herero.  He then spit into Maharero’s mouth, making him the new “Keeper of the Holy Fire”. Tjamuaha died in Desember 1861.  On the day of his death, a very strong wind blew through the Nama “kraal”, destroying a couple of huts.  After Tjamuaha’s burial, Christian Jonker, the new Nama Leader, sent a representative to view Tjamuaha’s grave, as done as proof of respect in the Nama culture.  On his way back to Windhoek the representative fell of his horse and died instantly.  These incidents, so close to Tjamuaha’s death, filled the Nama with superstitious awe.  Did the “Keeper of the Holy Fire” strike out at them from beyond the reach of death?  No one knows the answer, but the winds of change swept through the landscape, and from that day forward, the Nama feared and distrusted the Herero.  Under Maherero, Tjamuaha’s successor, the Herero flourished and they ruled Namibia once again. Uit: http://completenamibia.com/History%20individuals.htm Two figures dominated central Namibia during the mid-19th century: Jonker Afrikaner and Maherero (c1820-1890). The latter was a prominent chief among the central Herero. There were two central issues in Maherero's chieftainship: One was the never-satisfied desire of the Herero for more, better, and safer grazing for their cattle (in other words, an expansionist tendency) and the other was the superior might of Jonker Afrikaner and his people, who forced back and held the Herero herdsman behind the line of the Swakop River (in other words, a constraining reality). In fact, for a considerable period of Maherero's youth, the central Herero were virtually vassals of Jonker Afrikaner, regularly paying tribute in cattle. Indeed, for a time during his teens, Maherero lived in Windhoek and commanded a group of young Hereros whose task was to seize cattle from other Hereros for Jonker Afrikaner. At that time Maherero's father, chief Tjamuaha, was forced to live in close proximity to Jonker Afrikaner, thus demonstrating the hold that the one had over the other. The fulcrum for this sway of forces between the Oorlam Afrikaners and the central Herero was the area around Windhoek and Okahandja, with the former mainly having their centre of power in Windhoek (as it is now called) and the Herero in Okahandja. Contestations between the two parties over cattle, land and water, which were frequent, usually occurred in a band that stretched east and west through these two centres. However, while the Afrikaners were superior in arms, they were able to raid much further afield to seize cattle, causing considerable suffering amongst Herero communities that lived even 300 kms or more north of Windhoek. Jonker Afrikaner and Tjamuaha died in the same year, 1861, and, as the eldest son, Maherero immediately took over the chieftainship. He moved his household, followers, and the cattle he was herding for the Afrikaners to Otjimbingwe, about 100 kms south-west of Okahandja. There he prepared for the struggle that he hoped would release him from the overlordship of the Afrikaners. When the Afrikaners and their allies attacked, they were defeated and their new leader, Christian Afrikaner, son of Jonker, was killed in the battle. Subsequently, Jan Jonker, Christian's brother and the new leader, attacked Otjimbingwe on a number of occasions, seeking revenge and restoration of the Afrikaner's dominant position over the central Herero. The young Samuel Maherero (1856 - 1923) witnessed all these events. At the same time, he came under the influence of the Rhenish Lutheran missionaries at Otjimbingwe and attended school together with his older brother, christened Wilhelm by the missionaries. Samuel got his name when he was christened in 1869. By 1870, Maherero had gained the ascendancy and the Afrikaners sued for peace. As he grew into manhood, Samuel's brother, Wilhelm, began to play an increasingly important role as his father's right hand man while Samuel seems to have remained in the background. However, this changed dramatically in 1880, when Wilhelm was killed in battle during an outbreak of hostilities with the Oorlam Afrikaners and their allies. After that, his father began to entrust more duties to Samuel. At this time, Germany was beginning to look at south and central Namibia as a sphere in which it could expand its influence. With hostilities boiling between the Hereros and the Oorlam-Namas, amongst whom Hendrik Witbooi was beginning to play an important role, Maherero accepted the offer of a protection treaty with the Germans. However, in 1888, having received no protection because there were no German troops in the territory, he declared that the treaty was null and void and began to flirt with the possibility of making an agreement with the British government. The German response was to send Captain Curt von Francois with a detachment of 21 soldiers to Namibia in the following year. The era of active German involvement had begun. Contemporary accounts by missionaries state that neither Maherero nor Samuel attached much importance to written treaties and signatures, which they regarded as being on the same level as spoken agreements, to be re-negotiated and re-discussed from time to time as circumstances changed. Another source of misunderstanding between the Hereros and the Germans was the fact that all Herero land was tribal land, which they could allow others to occupy for shorter or longer periods, but which could never be alienated by being bought and sold in the European manner. October 1890 was a significant month for central Namibia because in that month Maherero died and the Germans adopted Windhoek as their base, strategically situating themselves between the central Hereros and Hendrik Witbooi and his forces. When Samuel took over the chieftainship, he was faced with a European power that was determined to advance its interests, while having to deal with the fact that his position was not secure because of the complicated Herero inheritance customs. For instance, he faced competition and challenges not only from the Germans and Hendrik Witbooi, but also from fellow Herero chiefs. The new German representative, Major Theodor Leutwein, exploited the situation by throwing his political and military weight behind the new chief, thus strengthening Samuel's position at the expense of his rivals. A significant event occurred in 1896 when a revolt against spreading German influence in the Gobabis area, about 200 kms east of Windhoek, provided the pretext for the arrest of the eastern chiefs Nikodemus Kavekunua and Kahimemua Nguvauva. Although the whole episode was engineered by the Germans, Leutwein ensured that Samuel was present at every stage, including the trials and executions. With Witbooi defeated and quiet behind a treaty with the Germans, Samuel's position was much stronger. However, the storm clouds were gathering fast, in the matter of the large pieces of land that were being sold to Europeans, thus depriving the Hereros of some of their best grazing areas. Most of this land was sold to defray debts to traders; a considerable number of these debts were incurred by Samuel and his councillors, who bought hard liquor as well as other imported European goods on a grand scale. Pouring oil on a fire that had already been lit, the colonial administration also announced that it intended to establish reserves for the Herero which, although they would preserve tribal land from further alienation, were also much smaller than the areas over which the Herero had been accustomed to graze their cattle. As dissatisfaction mounted, more and more Hereros, including chiefs and headmen, began to call on Samuel to lead a revolt that would restore their land to them. To: Herero uprising against German colonial rule (German - Namibian War) The most fortunate of all the survivors of the revolt against the Germans were the few thousand Hereros who made it to safety in Botswana (then British Bechuanaland). These survivors included Samuel Maharero. As a depressed fugitive without a country, Samuel lived in poverty and despair until he was approached by an agent who recruited labour for the gold mines in the Transvaal, soon to become a province of the new Union of South Africa. The deal was that Samuel and a number of his people would be provided with a farm in the Transvaal. Every male occupant above the age of 18 years would work in the company's gold mines for half a year at the going rate. Samuel accepted and during mid-1907 he and his followers, together with their cattle, moved to the farm. However, the life was not to his liking, and he and his followers later left the farm and spread out over the Transvaal. As the years passed, Samuel yearned to return to the country of his birth. When this was refused, he moved to Bechuanaland, where he died in Serowe on 14th March 1923. Finally, Samuel did return to his home, when the coffin containing his remains arrived by train in Okahandja, to be buried at the Herero Grave Complex, on 23rd August 1923. There he was buried, amidst a great crowd of mourners that included not only Herero notables but also representatives of the South African administration in South West Africa, this being the new colonial power that had replaced the Germans during the First World War and now administered the territory in terms of a mandate that was granted to the British government by the League of Nations. The South Africans continued and intensified the German policy of confining the Hereros to reserves that were not only inadequate in size but were mainly located in barren and unfertile parts of the country. Uit:www.namibian.org/travel/namibia/history/maherero.html