The German government has availed approximately N$2 billion (U.S.$149.1 million) in loans and grants for technical and financial cooperation projects and programmes – But Namibians are demanding U.S.$30 billion in reparations – not aid.
Since December 2015, both governments have been locked in negotiations about colonial-era massacres that saw an estimated 100,000 Namibians killed. Indigenous Namibians say this is an insult to the victims’ descendants.
Namibia has thus received about N$2 billion from the German government through development cooperation agreements between the two countries.
The N$2 billion was sourced through the German development agency Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) and the German state bank KfW, with GIZ providing a N$1,1 billion grant, while KfW has extended an interest-subsidised loan of about N$900 million.
Economic planning minister Obeth Kandjoze said during the signing ceremony yesterday that the funds secured through financial and technical cooperation agreements would fund projects aimed at the “reduction of poverty, improving the sustainable use of natural resources, and foster economic development”.
These agreements resulted from bilateral negotiations last year between the two countries. Projects to be funded through the agreements include supporting anti-poaching initiatives, communal land development programmes, construction of a vocational training centre at Gobabis, and a business advisory programme.
State-owned enterprises would also benefit from the N$2 billion, Kandjoze said.
He emphasised the government’s commitment to stimulate and sustain economic growth in order to “create employment and reduce poverty and income inequality”.
“The signing of these agreements will facilitate and ensure the implementation of the programmes and projects agreed upon between the two governments.
“The economic and social challenges that Namibia is facing call for the re-engineering of strategies and support from valuable development partners in general and Germany in particular,” he said.
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