The Battle of Waterberg on 11 August 1904 was the final battle of the Herero Wars. Following the defeat of the Herero force, the surviving Hereros fled under the leadership of Samuel Maharero, who died in exile in the Transvaal. After his death on 14 March 1923, the South African administration of South West Africa granted permission for his reburial at Okahandja, unaware of the role it would play as a commemoration of anti-colonialisation and a symbol of nationalism.