Lüderitz keeps its name - for now

WINDHOEK ELLANIE SMIT

The recent announcement that Lüderitz would be renamed has sparked widespread reaction in Namibia and also from the international community - residents protested and there were even threats of legal action against the name change.
However, it turns out that the town of Lüderitz will keep its name.
Presidential Affairs Minister and Attorney-General Albert Kawana yesterday confirmed to Namibian Sun that it is only the constituency name that has been changed to !Nami#Nüs and not the name of the town itself.
This does not mean that there won't be a name change in future, though.
Kawana lashed out against people who are clinging to colonial-era names such as Lüderitz and organising protests in support of a name that, according to him, is the very essence of colonialism.
He warned that opening these old wounds could be very dangerous for the country.
“Namibia must come first and people should not cling to colonialism. Lüderitz was the beginning of colonialism. It was a dark chapter in Namibia's history.”
Kawana said that even in Germany statues of communist East German leaders have been destroyed.
“Why should we hold on to these colonialist names? Is this not an insult to our people? Why would you go and protest to keep a name for someone that has colonised your people and treated them sub-humanly. It is an insult to those people who died for this country,” he said.
In 2004 Germany apologised for the colonial-era genocide