Simon Kooper was a resolute leader of the ǃKharakhoen, a subtribe of the Nama people in Namibia from 1863 to 1909 who became famous for leading the Nama in the resistance against German colonial forces during the Herero and Nama War of 1904-1907.
Born in Pella, Northern Cape, Simon Kooper ascended to chieftaincy in 1863, after the death of Piet Koper, the previous leader of the ǃKharakhoen, a subtribe of the Nama people. The ǃKharakhoen had moved from South Africa to South-West Africa (present-day Namibia) in the mid-19th century, becoming one of the Nama clans allied with the Orlam Afrikaners in Windhoek. Following the defeat of this alliance by merchant Charles John Andersson’s private army at the Battle of Otjimbingwe in 1863, Kooper assumed leadership of the clan, beginning his long and storied role in the region’s turbulent history.
Kooper’s early years as a leader were marked by a quest to find a permanent settlement for his people. In 1889, the Fransman Nama finally settled in Gochas, establishing it as their main settlement.
Resistance Against German Colonialism
The dawn of the 20th century brought increasing German colonial pressure in South-West Africa. Kooper initially attempted to protect his people by joining forces with Hendrik Witbooi of the ǀKhowesin tribe to resist german colonialism. However, after this resistance effort failed, Kooper was compelled to sign a protection treaty with the German Empire under the governorship of Theodor Leutwein. This uneasy arrangement persisted until the outbreak of the Herero and Nama War in 1904 shattered any hopes of a peaceful existence under German rule.
Herero and Nama genocide
The Herero and Namaqua genocide or the Herero and Nama genocide was a campaign of ethnic extermination waged by the German Empire against the Herero, the Nama, and the San in German South West Africa. It was the first genocide of the 20th century, occurring between 1904 and 1908.
During the early 1880s, after Germany got control of South-West Africa (now Namibia) in the “Scramble for Africa” they envisioned a predominately white “new African Germany,” wherein the native populations would be put onto reservations and their land distributed among settlers and companies.
Under German colonial rule, colonists were encouraged to seize land and cattle from the native Herero and Nama peoples and to subjugate them as slave laborers.
This continued subjugation and unending insults by the Germans brewed resentment among the native populations and eventually led to the Herero wars that began in 1904.
In January 1904, the Herero people, led by Samuel Maharero, and the Nama people, by Captain Hendrik Witbooi, rebelled against German colonial rule by killing more than 100 German settlers in the area of Okahandja, although women, children, missionaries and non-German Europeans were spared.
In a retaliatory attack in August of that same year, German General Lothar von Trotha with an expeditionary force of 10,000 troops defeated Herero rebels in the Battle of Waterberg killing thousands and driving the remaining survivors into the desert of Omaheke, where most of them died of dehydration.
Following the defeat of the Hereros, Hendrik Witbooi rallied his people, over 3000 of them to fight for their freedom from the imperialists. Aligning once again with the ǀKhowesin under the leadership of Hendrik Witbooi, Kooper became a central figure in the Nama resistance.
The war was brutal, with German forces employing a scorched-earth policy and committing atrocities against the Herero and Nama peoples.
Despite initial setbacks, including the devastating defeat at the Battle of Swartfontein in January 1905, Kooper and his people refused to submit. They fled into the harsh Kalahari Desert and then into Bechuanaland (modern-day Botswana), from where they launched relentless guerrilla-style attacks on German forces.
After Hendrik Witbooi’s death in late 1905, Kooper, alongside Jacob Morenga, assumed leadership of the Nama resistance. When Morenga was captured by British forces in 1906, Kooper became the sole leader of the Nama rebellion. His ability to evade capture and continue the fight against the Germans for years made him a symbol of unyielding resistance.
In 1907, Kooper was eventually captured and imprisoned on Shark Island, a notorious German concentration camp near Lüderitz where prisoners were cramped into inadequate tents, and endured daily beatings, human experimentation and sexual violence at the hands of their captors. However, he managed to escape, after which he sought refuge in the Karas Mountains, where Morenga had used the old Nama fortress ǁKhauxaǃnas as hideout for his rebels.
Kooper’s final stand came in 1908 at Seatsub, where a German raid resulted in the deaths of most of his followers and the capture of his wife. Despite this, Kooper managed to escape once more, becoming the last Nama leader to continue fighting against German forces. His persistence forced the German and British colonial authorities to negotiate a ceasefire. In exchange for his cessation of hostilities, Kooper was granted an annual allowance by the colonial powers.
Simon Kooper lived out his final years in relative peace, receiving an annual stipend from the colonial authorities as part of the ceasefire agreement. However, the struggle and hardships of the resistance had taken their toll. He passed away on 31 January 1913 in Lokgwabe, Botswana.
