ON this day 52 years ago, the territory then known as South West Africa was officially renamed Namibia by the United Nations General Assembly. The name was coined by veteran Namibian politician Mburumba Kerina (formerly known as William Eric Getzen).
In an interview with in 2014, Kerina detailed an encounter with President Sukarno of Indonesia while he [Kerina] was studying in that country.
“We talked about his country and mine as well. He asked me, ‘What is the name of your country?’ I said, ‘South West Africa.’ He said: ‘That’s not a name, that is a geographical area. My son, slaves and dogs are named by their masters. Free men name themselves.’”
This inspired Kerina’s search to rename South West Africa. He wrote an article that the country should be named the “Republic of Namib” and the nationality of the people must be referred to as Namibians.
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