In 1920, Hosea Kutako was officially appointed as leader of the Herero people by Frederik Maharero. Mahahero had been empowered to transfer power by his father, Herero chief Samuel Maharero, who had been exiled after the Herero War and was since banned from entering the country by the South African Mandatory Administration. Hosea Kutako took over his role as a commitment to preserve the memory of the Herero before and during the German colonisation as well as of the Battle of Waterberg. The aftermath of this battle was recognised in 2004 by Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, Germany's development aid minister, as being equivalent to genocide.