An unusual tower juts out of the landscape at Nauas on the road between Dordabis and Uhlenhorst. It has an equally unusual story.
The hundred-year-old blockhouse, dubbed ‘The tower of fear’, was built by German farmers to defend themselves from possible uprisings by Rehoboth Basters.
For thirty years the 1885 ‘Treaty of Protection and Friendship’ between the Germans and the Basters had remained in place, guaranteeing the Basters autonomy in return for allegiance and assistance to the Germans in cases of conflict with other population groups. Following the treaty, the Basters fought side by side with the German Schutztruppe against the Mbanderu Herero in 1896, the Swartbooi-Nama in 1897, the Bondelswart-Nama in 1903 and the OvaHerero in 1904.
The situation changed at the outbreak of World War One in 1914 when Union of South Africa troops entered the country on the side of the Allies. The Basters quickly realized that they needed to remain neutral to protect their autonomy should the South Africans defeat the German forces.
In 1915 Baster kaptein, Cornelius van Wyk, secretly travelled to Walvis Bay to meet up with South African general, Louis Botha, assuring him that they would not fight against his troops unless coerced. But soon the Schutztruppe needed every man on the front and required Baster soldiers to guard South African prisoners of war. This compromised the neutrality of the Basters. The situation came to a head when on 18 April 1915 forty-five Baster soldiers left their posts after POWs supposedly threatened them with reprisals. One of the Basters was shot when the Germans attempted to disarm them. The news quickly spread and Baster commandos subsequently killed several German policemen and farmers.
When Schutztruppe units pursued the Baster troops, the Basters entrenched themselves in a basin-shaped valley at Sam Khubis, southwest of Rehoboth. The first shots rang out on the morning of 8 May. By the end of the day there were fatalities on both sides. The Germans, in danger of being cut off by advancing South African forces, retreated the following morning. Two months later, on 9 July 1915, they surrendered at Khorab, north of Otavi, ending the country’s involvement in World War One.
When the treaty was signed the German farmers were able to return to their farms. Fearing another Baster uprising, they built the Nauas defence tower.
A century later, the tower still stands, its limestone walls remembering the vicissitudes of history as the sun of Namibia shines down, the years having levelled the scales and moved us forward into a more peaceful era.