The Herero () are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting parts of Southern Africa. 178,987 Namibians identified as Ovaherero in the 2023 census. They speak Otjiherero, a Bantu language. Though the Herero primarily reside in Namibia, there are also significant populations in Botswana and Angola, and a small number in South Africa. The Hereros in Botswana and South Africa are there because of displacement during the 1904–1908 genocide committed by the German Empire.
Overview
Unlike most Bantu, who are primarily subsistence farmers,Immaculate N. Kizza, The Oral Tradition of the Baganda of Uganda: A Study and Anthology of Legends, Myths, Epigrams and Folktales, , p. 21: "The Bantu were, and still are, primarily subsistence farmers who would settle in areas, clear land, organize themselves in larger units basically for protective purposes, and start permanent settlements." the Herero are traditionally pastoralists. They make a living tending livestock.Mark Cocker, Rivers of Blood, Rivers of Gold: Europe's Conquest of Indigenous Peoples, Grove Press, 2001, p. 276 Cattle terminology in use among many Bantu pastoralist groups testifies that Bantu herders originally acquired cattle from Cushitic pastoralists inhabiting Eastern Africa. After the Bantu settled in Eastern Africa, some Bantu nations spread south. Linguistic evidence also suggests that the Bantu borrowed the custom of milking cattle from Cushitic peoples; either through direct contact with them or indirectly via Khoisan intermediaries who had acquired both domesticated animals and pastoral techniques from Cushitic migrants.J. D. Fage, A History of Africa, Routledge, 2002, p. 29: "In the north-east, the Bantu entered 'Azanian' lands inhabited by peoples speaking southern Cushitic languages. Indeed, this was of some importance because there is firm archaeological evidence that modern Kenya and northern Tanzania were the home of a succession of societies, once known as the 'Stone Bowl' cultures, which from about the middle of the third millennium B.C. onwards had cattle and were developing food-producing techniques well suited to the environment. It is unlikely that the Bantu would have brought large cattle with them through the forest, and their cattle terminology suggests that they acquired cattle from eastern African speakers of Cushitic languages, possibly through the mediation of Khoisan-speaking peoples. There is also linguistic evidence to suggest that at a later stage the Bantu may have borrowed the practice of milking directly from Cushitic-speaking peoples in East Africa."
Though the Herero primarily reside in Namibia, there are also significant populations in Botswana and Angola.Vivelo, F. (1976). The Entry of the Herero into Botswana. Botswana Notes and Records, 8, 39. Retrieved May 21, 2021. In Botswana, the Hereros or Ovaherero are mostly found in Maun and some villages surrounding Maun. These villages among others are Sepopa, Toromuja, Karee and Etsha. Some of them are at Mahalapye. In the South eastern part of Botswana they are at Pilane. There are also a few of them in the Kgalagadi South, that is Tsabong, Omawaneni, Draaihoek and Makopong Villages.
Organization The Herero are related to several groups including the Himba, Tjimba (Cimba), Mbanderu these groups get mistaken for being sub groups of the OvaHerero, but they are just closely related. However, the OvaTjimba,OvaHimba and (together called Uraha) though they speak a language related to OtjiHerero, they are physically distinct indigenous hunter-gatherers.Roger Blench, Are the African Pygmies an Ethnographic Fiction?
The leadership of the Ovaherero is distributed over several heads of clans of which some are more prominent and referred as royal houses, among them: Ovaherero Traditional Authority, of the Ovaherero central governance system established in 1863, chief Hoze Riruako"Katjiua installed as Ovaherero chief" The Namibian, 2022-07-09 Maharero Royal Traditional Authority, chief Tjinaani Maharero Zeraeua Royal Traditional Authority at Omaruru Ovambanderu Royal Traditional Authority, chief Eben Nguvauva Onguatjindu Royal Traditional Authority at Okakarara, chief Sam Kambazembi Since conflicts with the Nama people in the 1860s necessitated Ovaherero unity, they also have a paramount chief ruling over all clans of Ovaherero, although there is currently an interpretation that such paramount chieftaincy violates the Traditional Authorities Act, Act 25 of 2000.
Paramount Chiefs The highest office is that of the Paramount Chief, the leader of all Herero people. The position and in dispute, and so far, no formal gazetting has been done by the Ministry of Urban and Rural Development. Potential candidates are Dr Hoze Riruako (elected by the Ovaherero Traditional Authority, OTA) and Dr Hoze Riruako . Meanwhile, Chief Vipuira Kapuuo from Ovitoto is acting in the position since Rukoro's death.
The genealogy of the Paramount Chiefs of the Herero is: Vekuii Rukoro (2014-2021) In June 2014, when Riruako died, the chairman of the Chiefs Council, Tumbee Tjombe, who was deputized by Vipuira Kapuuo, became the acting Paramount Chief. In July of the same year, Tjombe also died, and a senior traditional councilor, Tjipene Keja, was elected in August 2014 by the Chiefs' Council to serve as the acting Paramount Chief. Acting Paramount Chief Keja convened a senate meeting in September 2014 at Ehungiro, to elect the substantive Paramount Chief, and Advocate Vekuii Rukoro emerged as the sole candidate. Kuaima Riruako (1978–2014) In March 1978, after the assassination of Kapuuo, the chairperson of the Chiefs' Council, Senior Headman Gerson Hoveka became the acting Paramount Chief. A senate meeting was convened in the same year where Kuaima Riruako was elected, as the substantive Paramount Chief. Clemens Kapuuo (1970–1978) Due to the advanced age of Kutako, in 1960 Clemens Kapuuo, who was the secretary of the Chiefs Council, was elected as deputy Paramount Chief to take the mantle in the eventuality that Kutako passes on. In 1970, two days following Kutako's death, Kapuuo assumed the position of a substantive Paramount Chief. Hosea Kutako (1917–1970) Following the Herero Wars from 1904 to 1908, Paramount Chief Samuel Maharero fled to Bechuanaland (now Botswana). This created a leadership vacuum amongst the Ovaherero, more so when the Ovaherero were incarcerated into the concentration camps. When the Ovaherero were released from the concentration camps in 1915, an election was held in 1916/17 among the clan leaders and their councillors to choose between two candidates, Hosea Kutako and Kaevaka Kamaheke, for the position of Acting Paramount Chief. Hosea Kutako emerged victorious, and was later confirmed as Paramount Chief in 1920. Samuel Maharero (1890–1917) When Paramount Chief Maharero died in 1890, his son Samuel Maharero assumed the position in 1892 with the aid of the German Administrative Governor Theodor Leutwein. Maharero ka Tjamuaha (1861–1890) With Tjamuaha death in 1861, hostilities started between the Nama people and the Herero. This made it necessary for the clans to unite as a group. That is how, on 15 June 1863 at Otjizingue (now Otjimbingwe), Maharero was elected as the commander-in-chief of all Herero clans. Later Maharero was elected the first Paramount Chief of the Herero people.
History Pre-colonial
In the 15th century, the Herero migrated to what is now Namibia from the east and established themselves as herdsmen. In the beginning of the 19th century, the Nama from South Africa, who already possessed some firearms, entered the land and were followed, in turn, by white merchants and German missionaries. At first, the Nama began displacing the Herero, leading to bitter warfare between the two groups, which lasted the greater part of the 19th century. Later the two peoples entered into a period of cultural exchange.
German South West Africa
During the late 18th century, the first Europeans began entering to permanently settle the land. Primarily in Damaraland, German settlers acquired land from the Herero in order to establish farms. In 1883, the merchant Franz Adolf Eduard Lüderitz entered into a contract with the native elders. The exchange later became the basis of German colonial rule. The territory became a German colony under the name of German South West Africa.
Soon after, conflicts between the German colonists and the Herero herdsmen began. Controversies and disputes frequently arose over access to land and water, but also the legal discrimination against the native population by the white immigrants.
In the late 19th and early 20th century, imperialism and colonialism in Africa peaked, affecting especially the Hereros and the Namas. European powers were seeking trade routes and railways, as well as more colonies. Germany officially claimed their stake in a South African colony in 1884, calling it German South West Africa until it was taken over in 1915. The first German colonists arrived in 1892, and conflict with the indigenous Herero and Nama people began. As in many cases of colonization, the indigenous people were not treated fairly.Jan-Bart Gewald (1998) Herero heroes: a socio-political history of the Herero of Namibia, 1890-1923, James Currey, Oxford Peace and freedom, Volume 40, Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, page 57, The Section, 1980
Between 1893 and 1903, the Herero and Nama peoples' land and cattle were progressively being taken by German colonial settlers. The Herero and Nama resisted expropriation"A bloody history: Namibia’s colonisation", BBC News, 29 August 2001 over the years. In 1903, the Herero people learnt that they were to be placed in reservations,Samuel Totten, Paul Robert Bartrop, Steven L. Jacobs (2007) Dictionary of Genocide: A-L, p.184, Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn. leaving more room for colonialists to own land and prosper. The Herero, 1904, and Nama, 1905, began a great rebellion that lasted until 1907, ending with the near destruction of the Herero people. "The war against the Herero and Nama was the first in which German imperialism resorted to methods of genocide...."Chalk, Frank, and Jonassohn, Kurt. The History and Sociology of Genocide: Analyses and Case Studies. Published in cooperation with the Montreal Institute for Genocide Studies. (Yale University Press: New Haven & London, 1990) Roughly 80,000 Herero lived in German South West Africa at the beginning of Germany's colonial rule over the area, while after their revolt was defeated, they numbered approximately 15,000. In a period of four years, approximately 65,000 Herero people were killed.UN Whitaker Report on Genocide, 1985, paragraphs 14 to 24, pages 5 to 10 Prevent Genocide International
Samuel Maharero, the Paramount Chief of the Herero, led his people in a large-scale uprising on January 12, 1904, against the Germans.The New York Times. 18 August 1904 The Herero, surprising the Germans with their uprising, had initial success.
German General Lothar von Trotha took over as leader in May 1904.The Times (London). 7 May 1904 In August 1904, he devised a plan to annihilate the Herero nation.Mahmood Mamdani (2001) When Victims Become Killers: Colonialism, Nativism, and the Genocide in Rwanda, Princeton University Press, Princeton The plan was to surround the area where the Herero were, leaving but one route for them to escape into the desert. The Herero battled the Germans, and the losses were minor. It was when the majority had escaped through the only passage made available by the Germans, and had been systematically prevented from approaching watering holes, that starvation began to take its toll. It was then that the Herero uprising changed from war to genocide. Lothar von Trotha called the conflict a "race war". He declared in the German press that "no war may be conducted humanely against non-humans" and issued an "annihilation order":