By Emilia Mbishi
Windhoek, 23 Nov. – The fall of the colonial oppression symbol, Curt von François’ statue, which stood at the Windhoek council headquarters for 50 years has left many Namibians celebrating.
The statue was removed on Wednesday morning.
Council spokesperson Herold Akwenye said even though the statue was removed, it will not be cast away but re-erected at a location yet to be decided, but for the meantime it will be stored at the museum.
“Anyone who wants to view the statue can come to the museum to view it,” he said, adding that the council will take a decision on its new location next year.
The former mayor of Windhoek Job Amupanda said the statue has an inscription that he was the founder of Windhoek in 1890 but Namibians know that Jan Jonker Afrikaner had settled earlier than that in 1850.
Founder of petitions to remove the Curt von François statue and colonial activist Hildegard Titus said she was excited that 57 years after the statue was unveiled, it’s been taken down, and that Von François was wrongly called the founder of Windhoek, which he was not.
“That the statue was a symbol of colonial oppression,” she said.
