CITY of Windhoek spokesperson Lydia Amutenya said the future utilisation of the site where the statue of German military officer Curt von François stands will be the subject of public consultations.
Amutenya confirmed that this morning the controversial colonial statue would be removed.
“The statue will be removed on 23 November 2022 from 09h00, and moved to the Windhoek City Museum for storage. The re-erection date will be communicated in 2023,” she said.
Amutenya stated that the future use of the site will require further public consultations. This will include adverts being placed on two local newspapers, and a process that includes a strategic executive for economic and community development in collaboration with the chief executives officer.
At its meeting on 27 Oct, the municipal council approved a plan to remove the statue.
After public calls to remove the statue, considered a symbol for colonial oppression, the decision was made.
An online petition demanding its removal, which garnered 1 666 signatures, was handed to the municipality recently.
The statue is located at the intersection of Independence Avenue & Sam Nujoma Drive, Windhoek.
The statue was unveiled at the 75th anniversary celebration of Windhoek’s founding, which took place in October 1965.
Hildegard Titus, Windhoek resident in 2020, started an online petition asking for the removal and replacement of the statue by Jan Jonker Afrikaner (Windhoek’s former founder).
“While we cannot change our city’s dark and violent history, we can change what we commemorate from that history. Afrikaner, Samuel Maharero and Hendrik Witbooi are responsible for this.
“We owe it to our current and future generations that the true history of our beautiful, yet complex city is not forgotten,” Titus said.
According to the petition, Von François was responsible for the building of the Alte Feste, a military fort meant to protect the interests of the German colonial regime, and that is where his statue belongs.
“He should be confined within the walls that he built, next to the other statue of a bygone and violent era – the Reiterdenkmal – to contemplate their violent colonial legacies until the end of time,” Titus said.
The family of Von François say they fear their great-grandfather’s statue could suffer the same fate as the Reiterdenkmal, which was removed from its mount in Windhoek in 2013.
Last year, Von François’ great-grandson Ruprecht von François told The Namibian removing the statue disrespects Von François’ legacy, and amounts to discrimination against Damara history.
He said Von François, whom he said was married to his Damara great-grandmother, is the founder of Windhoek and “has done a lot for this country”.
“He was a land surveyor, not a killer, as some people claim he was. He was not like Maharero and Afrikaner, who came to fight for the country which is not theirs,” he said.
Ruprecht claimed the Ovaherero subscribe to “historical lies” that Von François was a killer.
“When the Hereros came here, they also killed the Damaras in a horrible way like the Germans. Herero and Nama people were held in chains because they stole ammunition and alcohol from the English people,” he said.
Ruprecht said Maharero and Afrikaner “have been honoured for doing nothing for the country”.
Source: namibian
