Tribute – chief David Frederick (1932-2018)

• SALMAAN JACOBSTHE passing on of chief David Frederick of the !Aman Traditional Authority from Bethanie on 12 January 2018 came as a shock and dismay to many.

I lost a loving and supportive brother who traversed the Land of the Brave searching for answers to pertinent questions he had. Maybe he found the answers, perhaps not, but in the process, he left remarkable footprints.

William Shakespeare said some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.

Chief Frederick was the combination of all these exceptional qualities.

He was a relentless soul, a warrior, trotting the ancestral land. He was burning from within to see the return of his ancestors’ skulls to Namibia from Germany.

In September 2011, we both cried when we met at the airport.

“I thank God, the enabler, the consoler, that our age-old yearning for the return of these essential parts of our grandparents, could be realised, let us praise His holy name”.

Chief Frederick experienced the brutality of the apartheid regime when he was barely 10 years old and in Standard 2.

He was expelled from the Rhenish Missionary School at Bethanie because his father, and uncle chief Josef Frederick together with a large group of community members, walked out of the Rhenish Missionary Church in 1942.

Subsequently, they joined the African Methodist Episcopal Church around the year 1946.

His father told him how his grandfather, captain Cornelius Frederick, one of the !Aman chiefs were beheaded, together with many Namas and other tribes at Shark Island, Lüderitz.

Captain Cornelius Frederick was beheaded on 16 February 1907, on Shark Island, or Death Island where many Namibia were hanged, decapitated, and exposed to diseases like cholera.

Because of his efforts, and efforts of others, maybe his offspring may live to see the realisation of Shark Island being declared a heroes’ acre.

Chief Frederick was first appointed as a senior counsellor under chief Samuel Herero from 1960 after chief Josef Frederick died in 1957.

This enabled him to work closely with his community, consulting widely on issues of water and grazing points, peaceful co-existence, cooperation and combating theft.

He also arranged traditional festivals and dignified burials for those who passed away in the community.

Sometimes he had to go to white people’s farms to speak to their workers, which was not an easy task.

Chief Frederick spoke about how some white farmers in Helmeringhausen farming area chased him away during the visits.

Chief Samuel Herero together with chief Frederick was part of the leaders who negotiated with the South African regime that occupied Namibia in search for an end to apartheid rule.

The early to late 70s and 80s were the time of political divide in the south of Namibia, as it was elsewhere in the country.

However, this did not separate us, as some of us from the family were staunch supporters of the Swapo-driven solution towards independence of Namibia.

The mandate accorded by the Traditional Authorities Act of 1992 is unequivocal – to protect, promote and preserve cultures and traditions.

Chief, Frederick raise at appropriate platforms, the issue of genocide, reparations and the return of the skulls taken to Germany.

He raised these issues way back at one of the !Aman festivals at Shark Island in 2005, where he asked during his maiden address to his subjects: “Where are the heads of our forefathers and mothers?” and went on to lament the fact that this chapter gave him sleepless nights.

It was therefore natural for him to have joined like-minded forces, the likes of late paramount chief Kuaima Riruako, who tabled the motion in parliament in 2006, a for debate on genocide and reparations.

He wanted a national debate on the atrocities meted out on the Nama and the Herero in the protracted extermination war from 1904 to 1907, and thereby to find direction and closure to the matter.

He was at the forefront to see unity among the Nama community, for them to benefit from mineral and natural resources found in their areas. Also for children of this community to receive an adequate education, and the use of the Nama language by the Nama people themselves.

What was remarkable about him was his total devotion to his people and his responsibilities. Late Chief Frederick was hospitalised around June 2015 and landed in the intensive care unit. But with God’s help, and with prayers from the nation who genuinely loved him, he recovered until he could talk to those who came to visit him.

While in the hospital bed, in the presence of his beloved wife, he dictated to my wife and me, to write down all details around the !Aman festival scheduled to take place that year in September 2015. These instructions were around logistics and the content of the programme. Many people were expected to come from Botswana, South Africa, Omaheke and other regions of Namibia to Bethanie.