!Nami≠Nüs residents against new name

CONTROVERSIAL ... President Hifikepunye Pohamba points out some of the changes to con-stituency boundaries he announced last week. Some Namibians are unhappy with the changes.

Photograph by Jordaania Andima

So far, the disgruntled community has started an SMS campaign to oppose the name change.

“All concerned buchters, let’s mobilise and march from all four directions to the office of the regional councillor to protest against the forced, imposed name change on Monday 13h00. We are a democratic society and our input and votes count. Let us express our disapproval. We were not consulted, informed to discuss or deliberate on a name change. Forward to 100 000 buchters over the globe and join,” read one of the SMSes.

Although !Nami≠Nüs mayor, Susan Ndjaleka, confirmed yesterday that some residents have inundated her with comments opposed to the name change, she said she would rather remain neutral on the matter.

“I have to be neutral in the matter. I have to protect the government. The only thing I can do is harmonise the community through a dialogue to ensure that the name change takes place,” she said.

The regional councillor for !Nami≠Nüs constituency, Jan Scholtz, said the name change “has been a long time coming”.

Scholtz said the //Karas governors’ office communicated to the local authority to advise residents to attend and give their input at the public hearing held by the Delimitation Commission at Keetmanshoop.

Scholtz said !Nami≠Nüs is Luderitz’ original name given by the !Aman community, a Nama sub-tribe which was the first to settle at the coastal town before the arrival of the German tobacco merchant, Adolf Luderitz.

Through this name change, Scholtz added, more people will learn about the history of !Nami≠Nüs.

“We’re building a nation, therefore, we must be willing to accommodate others. To say we’re buchters rejecting the name change will only create division among us,” said Scholtz.

The former chairperson of the Fourth Delimitation Commission, Judge Alfred Siboleka, yesterday said people were consulted on the new names of the regions and towns earlier this year.

Siboleka said all meetings were publicised on radio and in print media when the commission started its work in February this year until April when the consultations in all the regions were completed.

“These were open public meetings and attendance was also free. All dates were made public,” Siboleka said without giving details since their term as commissioners ended when they handed over the delimitation report to the President Hifikepunye Pohamba last month.

On Friday, Pohamba who also announced the split of Kavango Region into Kavango West and Kavango East, said this move would ensure that all the people receive good service delivery.

The Governor of the Kavango Region, Samuel Mbambo, told The Namibian that he has so far only heard positive reactions regarding the creation of the two regions.

“It was a good decision, born and blessed by people of the region,” Mbambo said adding that the proposal to split the region into two has been “long time coming” after it was initially suggested during the country’s third delimitation exercise done in 2002.

Mbambo reiterated Pohamba’s assertion that the split of the region would bring delivery closer to the people.

In 1998, the third delimitation commission whose members were Lazarus Hangula, the late Judge Johannes Karuaihe and Mbambo recommended that Kavango Region discard its old name Okavango.

Now that the region has been split, Mbambo said it’s up to the president to decide which region he would serve.

He, however, said Nkurenkuru will be the main town in Kavango West while Rundu will remain the main town in Kavango East.

The Delimitation Commission dominated news when they began their work early this year with some people, especially in Oshana, proposing tribal regions while border disputes erupted in the Kavango and Caprivi regions.

The renaming of Caprivi to Zambezi Region has also not been without controversy either. Caprivi was named after a German general and statesman, Count Leo von Caprivi, who was the German Chancellor between 1890 and 1894.

Minister of Presidential Affairs Albert Kawana last week confirmed that many other recommendations made were rejected by President.