The long-time refugees fled Namibia at the height of the brutal German colonial war of occupation waged against the Herero people of northern Namibia around 1904.

The Namibian descendants, who settled as refugees around Maun and Shakawe areas, initially wrote to the Botswana government requesting for repatriation back to their ancenstral lands in northern Namibia in mid-2013.

Since then, several inter-governmental consultation meetings have been held to work out the modalities of the repatriation.

The chairman of the Namibian Repatriation Committee in Botswana, Justice Muinjo, was qouted byt the weekly Ngami Times newspaper as saying that Namibian High Comissioner to Botswana, Mbapeua Mavungua, had since requested committees from the two countries to supply their respective governments with the exact number of people, livestock and assets they wish to take to Namibia.

“We have registered more than 1,000 people who want to be repatriated, and the number keeps going up. A lot more people are going to register now that there is a real possibility of repatriation,” Muinjo said.

“The two committees will be working together to facilitate the repatriation process. We have long been waiting for the Namibian government to give us feedback since Botswana has long given the go-ahead.”

An estimated 70,000 Herero people live in the Ngamiland District of Botswana, predominantly in villages which include Tsau, Semboyo, Makakung, Kareng, Bothatogo, Toteng, Sehithwa, Bodibeng, Komana and Chanoga.

Herero populations are also dominant in the urban centres of Charleshill and Maun, where their unique coloured African attire and headresses make them distinct.

If the planned repatriation is successful, it will be the second mass population swap between the two countries following the first mass return of Herero people to Namibia in 1993.

In 2006, Botswana received thousands of Kalanga people of the Nswazvi tribe, who were repatriated at their request, from the Plumtree area of Zimbabwe.

In 1948, the Kalanga people led by Chief John Nswazwi fled inter-tribal wrangling and persecution by the colonial government of Botswana and settled in Plumtree north, Zimbabwe, among local Kalanga tribes.

Their return in 2006 was facilitated by the governments of Botswana and Zimbabwe.

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