The dam will not mean the end of the Himba. The dam will mean the end of interference from treehuggers and such from Europe. The dam will mean that some Himba will have to move some km further on.

All, and I mean all, the exitement and incitement has been caused by European do-gooders!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is it really, Pietro!? NOt if you care an iota what the HImba's themselves have to say about it. Here's just one small quote: "As we are, we are weak - I think this is why the government wants to build a dam without consulting us, because they think we are nothing," said Hunga. "They think they can just construct a dam without asking permission."

But then in your mind the Himba aren't really that a sophisticated people who deserve to be respected and consulted, right? I mean why on earth consult people you are about to "move a few km" if you can bulldoze them a few km this or that way, right? Apart from that there are not many trees to hug in Kunene.

The "excitement" you refer to be has been caused by people who think a bit about this scheme and conclude that it does not make sense.

Comrade_007,

It is not quite as easy as you try and make it.

The plan has been on the cards even before independence and the late Polla Brand (the MD of SWAWEK, the forerunner of NAMPOWER) spearheaded the project. When Dr. Leake Hangala took over the MD position some time after independence, he commissioned a number of pre-feasibility and feasibility studies. The nothing was really known about "global warming and the devastating effect it could have upon Namibia, but I do seem to remember that the dam was not the only thing to be developed. IF my memory serves me right, a huge tourist attraction was going to be developed, with water sports, etc, as well as areas for the more environmentally-sensitive tourist.

Even in those years it was a billion N$ project.

Ample provision had been made for the local population (the Himbas) and their (economic) future.

Then European (you see, I have, unfortunately, to agree with Pietro) started sticking their noses into the project. They invited some of the Himba chiefs to Germany and treated them with every imaginable courtesy - all the while impressing upon them the need to keep their ancestral land and categorically reject ANY development of the area. It is believed, but never proven, that substantial amounts of money may have changed hands.

Even at that time the Himbas were split on the issue. Those favouring the opposition against it and those favouring the ruling party for it.

Once the media got hold of this, every so-called "friend of the environment" - including Bertchen Kohrs of the Local Earthlife Namibia - jumped upon the bandwagon and started making a big hullabaloo. They had the full support of the German Greens and their other friends - incidentally the same people who are supporting Chief Riruako in his multi-million N$ dollar claims against Germany..

In those years Namibia needed a wholesome image (being just after independence) and the plan was not shelved, but put on the backburner - simply because, at that time, it was not all that urgent and there were some other alternatives.

Now, with SA running out of power and staying out of power for the foreseeable future, Zimbabwe having slid much further down the slipperly slope of damnation, Angola not getting anywhere very fast, the other countries in the region also not being all that eager to share, the picture started changing again.

Global warming and all its dire consequences for the country became the flavour of the year and Namibia urgently started needing both water AND electricity.

The plan was resurrected and the dam moved further away from the so-called traditional areas of the Himbas - to the Baynes Mountains (earlier a possible second choice).

Hangala would have stood up against the eurocentric and very unprofessional howling of those who only know what they read and have never been in Namibia or have experienced Namibia or, even, have made a proper study of the area and its people, but Shilamba will probably succumb to the vociferous, yet useless and dangerous absolute, minority.

Prepare for water-saving measures and load-shedding....................

How many shares have you in the thing, Oneword?? Or how much are they paying for that PR?