NO ‘CURT’ REMINDER

For a competition usually focused on attractions or places travellers can actually see, this week is something of a departure — pun intended. Because here is something you can no longer see, at least not in the place where it stood for more than half a century.

The 2.4m bronze statue of a German colonial military officer has been removed from its plinth in Namibia’s capital, Windhoek, after a campaign by local activists, who in May 2020 launched an online petition for “A Curt Farewell”.

That’s a pun too, as the statue represents Curt von François, who was stationed in the new German colony of South West Africa as an officer of the Schutztruppe from 1889 to 1894.

The statue was unveiled in 1965 outside the Windhoek municipality’s then-new headquarters on Kaiser Street, the main street in the city, during Windhoek’s 75th anniversary celebrations.

It has been controversial for some time as an uncritical commemoration of German colonisation and for wrongly celebrating Von François as Windhoek’s founder.

As the Review of African Political Economy explains: “Historically, the statue symbolises the continuities between the eras of Namibia under its first and second colonial rulers, Germany and (apartheid) SA. During the heyday of apartheid colonialism in Namibia, the allwhite city council decided in 1965 to honour the purported ‘founder’ of Windhoek by erecting a statue in front of the municipality offices ... A South African sculptor was commissioned to model and cast the statue.”

The petition not only demanded the statue’s removal from the municipal offices, but also suggested an alternative home: the Alte Feste, a military fort “meant to protect the interests of the German colonial regime”, the construction of which in 1890 was overseen by Von François. It now houses the National Museum.

The petition insisted further that the statue be replaced with one to honour Jonker Afrikaner, the Nama leader who first established a settlement in the area that is now Windhoek around 1840.

The Windhoek city council voted last month to have the statue removed. It will not, however, move to the Alte Feste, but will go on display at the Windhoek

City Museum.

Von François also had a street named after him in Windhoek, which was renamed

Sam Nujoma Drive, after Namibia’s first president, in 1993. And the street on which his statue once stood, formerly Kaiser Street, was renamed in 1990.

● To stand a chance of winning R500, tell us the name of Windhoek’s main street, where you will find the Windhoek municipality (but not the statue).

Email your answer to travelquiz@sundaytimes.co.za before noon on December 6.

● Last week’s winner is Louise Herr.

The correct answer is El Castillo.