Following criticism from local activists, authorities in Namibia’s capital Windhoek removed and reinstalled a statue of a contentious German colonial officer on Wednesday.
Curt von Francois, a German army commissioner who has been credited with creating Windhoek, while local campaigners and historians contest this, was honoured by the monument.
Von Francois was portrayed in the statue, which was on a tall pedestal outside of municipal buildings, wearing a military uniform, a big hat, and wielding a sword.
“This moment is a recollection of dignity, our city has been white-washed,” Hildegard Titus, an activist with the A Curt Farewell movement that pushed for the statue’s removal, told AFP.
“There is an emotional tie to the statue being taken down but it also has to do with historical accuracy”.
The statue, which A Curt Farewell called “a memorial of genocide,” will now be maintained at the Windhoek City Museum, according to the city council.
According to museum curator Aaron Nambadi, it will be presented there along with a description of the historical setting.
“We as historians and curators were involved in this project to correct the false narrative that von Francois was the founder of the city,” Nambadi told AFP.
Between 1884 to 1915, Namibia was a German colony.
In what historians have dubbed the first genocide of the 20th century, German invaders massacred tens of thousands of indigenous Herero and Nama people between 1904 and 1908.
After protracted, contentious negotiations, Germany admitted the genocide last year.
It provided more over one billion euros ($1 billion) in financial aid to the victims’ heirs, who many Namibians claim were not given enough opportunity to participate in the negotiations.
Namibia requested that the terms of the deal be renegotiated last month.
The destruction of von Francois’ statue comes two years after protesters at the University of Cape Town in neighbouring South Africa beheaded the statue of British colonialist Cecil Rhodes amid demonstrations spurred by George Floyd’s passing.
