zuidelijk Afrika: Herero - leiders van de Zeraua (white flag)

Zeraua was born at Otjimbingwe. The exact date of his birth is unknown. He rose to prominence as a chief of the Hereros in the 1850’s, and through his association with European traders, was instrumental in arming the Hereros, a fact that would play an important role in the wars between the Hereros and the Namas. Although he was the senior of Samuel Maherero, he turned down supreme chieftancy of the Herero people, and Maharero became the Paramount Chief in 1863. In 1867, following a drought, he settled in Omaruru. During that period, the British sought to expand their influence in the territory. Their representative, William Coates Palgrave was sent to establish a protectorate. At the same time, local peoples were anxious of encroachment on their lands by the Boers. Palgrave initiated negotiations between the tribes, and in September 1876 at Okahandja, Zeruau became a signatory to a letter requesting protectorate status, alongside Maherero, the Ovambanderu Chief, Salomo Aponda from Otjikango and Wilhelm Maharero, oldest son of Maharero. The letter was witnessed by missionaries Peter Heinrich Brincker, Carl Ludwig Hermann Hegner and Botolf Bernhard Björklund, and traders Heinrich Kleinschmidt, Robert Lewis and JJ Christie. The Cape Parliament went on to declare areas of Nama and Ovaherero as protectorates, but baulked at annexation, as they only had a police force at their disposal, as the traders complained about taxes and as another war broke out between the Namas and the Hereros in 1880. They did however get a foothold by annexing Walvis Bay. Zeraua was aging. Although he had consistently refused to be converted to Christianity, he requested Rhenish Missionary Viehe to baptise him with the names Christian Wilhelm. He died at Omaruru in November 1876. He was the first chief to be buried in a coffin, which is why the Ovaherero refer to the year 1876 as ‘ojotjikesa’, the ‘year of the coffin’. The Hereros of Omaruru remember Zeraua by marching to his grave every year on the last weekend before 10 October. Uit: www.tourbrief.com Herero leader's remains returned, reburied (The Nambian, by P. Kuteeue, 6-10-2004) The remains of one of the veterans of the Herero-German war, King Michael Tjiseseta, who fled to South Africa in the early 1900s, were reburied at Omaruru in the Erongo Region last weekend. The return of King Tjiseseta's mortal remains on Friday brought to an end a three-year-long struggle by the Ovaherero from Omaruru to persuade the Krugersdorp local authority to have the remains disinterred so that they could give him a "fitting burial" back home. "This is indeed an emotional but also joyous moment for people of Omaruru, and of course all Namibians. Our leader deserved a proper and dignified funeral in his land now that Namibia is free," said Alfons Tjiurutue, one of the senior leaders of the Otjizemba White Flag. The remains were met at the Hosea Kutako international airport by dozens of Ovaherero from both the Red and White Flags, as well as members of the Ovambanderu's Green Flag. Tjiseseta, who died in 1927 "bravely and gallantly" led his people against German imperial forces, said Tjiurutue. He first fled to Botswana in 1904 at the height of the war in which tens of thousands were slaughtered by German soldiers. Tjiseseta returned to Namibia a year later before being forced to flee again, with a number of his subjects, to South Africa with the help of an English missionary. Uit: www.namibian.com.na, The Nambian, by P. Kuteeue, 6-10-2004