MPs: Germany must be made to pay Majimaji war damages

MEMBERS of parliament sitting in Dodoma yesterday tasked the government to file a legal suit against the Federal Republic of Germany in pursuit of compensation for more than 30,000 people who were killed during the Majimaji war in southern Tanzania more than a century ago 
The legislators also called for a proper official research to find out the real facts about the famous 1905-1907 rebellion and whether it was indeed led by Chief Kinjekitile Ngwale, as has been frequently reported.
They said it was important to start the legal proceedings against German authorities as soon as possible in order to ensure that Tanzania’s former colonial master pays befitting compensation like what happened with similar rebellion wars in other parts of Africa.
The MP for Kilwa North, Vedasto Ngombale (CUF), noted that Kenya for example has managed to secure adequate compensation for victims of the 1952-1960 Mau Mau uprising, which was basically a revolt against British rule. 
The British government in June 2013 agreed to compensate more than 5,000 Kenyans said to have been tortured and abused by colonial army soldiers during the insurgency. Ngombale queried whether the government was ready to press German authorities to do likewise for the sake of Majimaji war victims.
Kigoma Urban MP Zitto Kabwe (ACT-Wazalendo) wondered why the government itself hasn’t ever properly acknowledged Majimaji heroes and victims, including those whose farms were destroyed by German soldiers in the Mahenge-Morogoro area.
“Even the Namibian government paid compensation to its people who were killed by Germans at Nama-Herero...how about us?” Zitto said.
Special Seats MP Riziki Said Lulida (CUF) queried whether the government was prepared to make correction to the official history version of the Majimaji war after the research findings, since it is widely believed that the rebellion began at Nandele-Kipatimo, Kilwa Kivinje and not Songea in Ruvuma Region.
In his response, Defence and National Service Minister Hussein Mwinyi said the ministry will consult with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation to see how such litigation against Germany as a country can be initiated.
According to Mwinyi, a proper investigation and research will be conducted to first determine which Majimaji victims’ families deserve to be compensated, and delegations will be sent to Kenya and Namibia to draw lessons on how the compensation exercises were done there.
“We will learn from the Mau Mau experience…inquiries will also be made in Mahenge to see the possibilities of paying the said victims,” the minister when responding to the MPs’ queries.
On the matter of where exactly the Majimaji rebellion began, Mwinyi said that will depend on the research findings. 
The war was reportedly triggered by a German colonial policy designed to force the indigenous population to grow cotton for export. 
According to reports, each village was charged with producing a quota of cotton, and the village headmen were put in charge of overseeing the production, which set them against the rest of the population.
A drought that threatened the region provided the spark that triggered open rebellion against the Germans in July 1905. The insurgents are said to have turned to magic to drive out the German colonisers and used it as a unifying force in the rebellion. 
Supposed rebellion leader Kinjekitile Ngwale, also known as Bokero, developed a belief that the local people had been called upon to eliminate the Germans.
According to German anthropologists, he gave his followers war medicine that would turn German bullets into water. This 'medicine' was in fact water mixed with castor oil and millet seeds. Hence the name 'Majimaji war' was born.