Apartheid Issues

The segregation that existed in colonial Africa in the late 1800's and early 1900's intensified when South Africa implemented a policy of apartheid. In Afrikaans "apartheid" means "separateness" and it was used to keep black Namibians, colored Namibians and white Namibians separate.

Katutura "A place where we do not want to settle."

Within this segregation, ethnic groups were also separated; the Damara, Nama, Ovambo and Herero kept to their sections by the municipal administrative designations. Dividing the people of Namibia left them powerless to fight back against their apartheid rule. As Windhoek grew and the blacks and whites grew in proximity, the black people were forcibly moved northwest of Windhoek to Katutura. In Herero, "Katutura" means "the place where we do not want to settle". Today, Katutura is a growing place where people, faced with poverty, unemployment and HIV/AIDS, are trying to overcome the social injustices they have endured for decades. ⁷

During a presentation by Jade McClude, an archivist at the Namibian National Archives, in Windhoek on June 6, 2006, he stated "it's just rubbish to say apartheid is over". This sentiment was seconded during a presentation in Swakopmund (a coastal town west of Windhoek) on June 9, 2006.

Katutura Young children in Katutura.

Freddy Kaukungua, public relations officer, said apartheid is still very much alive in Namibia and gave us a tour of Swakopmund so we could witness the current state of the town. Kaukungua explained that after independence in 1990, black and colored students started to move into traditionally white schools. Parents of white children wanted to keep their children separate from the black and colored children and sent their children to boarding schools in South Africa or Europe. The parents then realized that their children were coming back with different values -- the children were learning that, in fact, blacks and whites are equal and that whites are not superior to blacks. The parents then brought their children back to Namibia and developed private schools to keep their white children separate from black and colored children. We saw evidence of the disparity between the blacks and whites as we drove around Katutura, Windhoek and Swakopmund.