Henning Melber
(Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation / Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsala)
Revisiting the Windhoek Old Location
BAB Working Paper No 3: 2016
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BAB Working Paper 2016:03 1
Revisiting the Windhoek Old Location
Henning Melber1
Abstract
The Windhoek Old Location refers to what had been the South West African capitals Main Lo-
cation for the majority of black and so-called Colored people from the early 20th century until
1960. Their forced removal to the newly established township Katutura, initiated during the late
1950s, provoked resistance, popular demonstrations and escalated into violent clashes between
the residents and the police. These resulted in the killing and wounding of many people on 10
December 1959. The Old Location since became a synonym for African unity in the face of the
divisions imposed by apartheid.
Based on hitherto unpublished archival documents, this article contributes to a not yet exist-
ing social history of the Old Location during the 1950s. It reconstructs aspects of the daily life
among the residents in at that time the biggest urban settlement among the colonized majority in
South West Africa. It revisits and portraits a community, which among former residents evokes
positive memories compared with the imposed new life in Katutura and thereby also contributed
to a post-colonial heroic narrative, which integrates the resistance in the Old Location into the
patriotic history of the anti-colonial liberation movement in government since Independence.
O Lord, help us who roam about.
Help us who have been placed in Africa
and have no dwelling place of our own.
Give us back a dwelling place.2
The Old Location was the Main Location for most of the so-called non-white residents of Wind-
hoek from the early 20th century until 1960, while a much smaller location also existed until
1961 in Klein Windhoek. Being adjacent to the white centre of town, urban planning replaced
the Old Location by the newly established township Katutura at the Northern outskirts of Wind-
hoek in the late 1950s, but many residents refused to be re-located. Protest resulted in boycotts
1 Paper presented at the 3rd Namibia Research Day organized by the Basler Afrika Bibliographien on 30
September 2016. Henning Melber is Director emeritus of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and Senior Research
Associate at the Nordic Africa Institute, both in Uppsala/Sweden, Extraordinary Professor at the Department
of Political Sciences/University of Pretoria and the Centre for Africa Studies/University of the Free State in
Bloemfontein, and a Senior Research Fellow with the Institute for Commonwealth Studies/School for Advanced
Study at the University of London.
2 Prayer by Chief Hosea Kutako, delivered on occasion of the annual Herero ceremony at the ancestral graves in
Okahandja, as recorded by Scott (1958: 223).
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 2
and demonstrations, which ended in a massacre on 10 December 1959. As from 1960, forced
removalswereintensified.Butresidentsindefiancecontinuedtorefusebeingmoved.TheOld
Locationofficiallyclosedonlyin1968.3
This paper recapitulates aspects of the social dynamics unfolding in the shadow of apartheid
prior to the forced removal until 1960. It is an initial effort to contribute to the partial recon-
structionofaplaceinaspecificcontextofspaceandtime,throughtheofficialdocumentsand
observations on record.4 Among these, the by far most instructive source is the undated detailed
report of the German ethnologist Günther Wagner compiled mainly during 1951, copies of
which are in the Windhoek and Basel archives.5 During the later 1950s and early 1960s, the
local photographer Ottilie Nitzsche-Reiter and her staff were among the few taking pictures,
thereby documenting visually the township life. Many of their photos are now in the possession
of the Namibian National Archives. In a rare exhibition, a selection of these was displayed in
late 2011. They illustrated street scenes, portraits, dance events, funerals and beauty competi-
tions. They gave the Old Location and its residents a face.6
Missing History
Morethanhalfacenturylateritisdifficulttofullyreconstructthestoryoftheplace,itspeople,
their exchanges and engagements with each other and with the authorities. Based on the acces-
sible memories of those growing up there, the forms of social life were far more positively re-
membered than the realities in the newly constructed, in terms of internal ethnical sub-division
much stricter segregated township, which was called Katutura (a place where we do not stay).
The Anglican bishop Colin OBrien Winter (1977: 4651) has maybe best captured the ambiva-
lence of the Old Location, where the poor material conditions contrasted with the social spirit
3 This paper maintains the terminology used in the context of the times, though many of the terms were/are
derogatoryandoffending.Thelanguagereflectsanddocumentstheviewsofthoseclaiming(andexecuting)the
power of definition at the given time.This does of course notmean that such language is reproduced in the
affirmative.ReferenceismadeintodaysperspectivetowhathasbeentheMainLocationuntil1960astheOld
Location or Location.
4 Documents were accessed during visits of the National Archives of Namibia in Windhoek (August 2013),
the Basler Afrika Bibliographien in Basel (September/October 2013) and the archive of the United Evangelical
Lutheran Mission (Aktenbestand Archiv- und Museumsstiftung der Vereinigten Evangelischen Mission/VEM,
Bestand Rheinische Mission/RMG, hereafter RMG) in Wuppertal in March 2014 and February 2015. A visit to the
site of the Old Location took place in May 2015.
5 Wagner (19081952) was employed from 1950 onward as an Assistant Government Anthropologist for South
West Africa by the South African government. For one of the rare recognitions of his work, applauded as a
monument, see Gewald (2002). Part of his chapters title (A Teutonic Ethnologist in the Windhoek District) is
inspired by the telling fact that Wagner, who arrived with his family by ship from Germany to Cape Town at the
end of January 1950, entered the form for an entry permit under applicants race with Teutonic (ibid.: 24).
6 Social Life in the Old Location in the 1950s is a collection of 57 photos, many dated from 21 May 1961.
TheywerefirstatdisplayinanexhibitionattheNationalArchivesbetween14Septemberand6October2011and
are electronically accessible at: http://dna.polytechnic.edu.na/location/. For a recent effort to reconstruct by means
of photos a visualized history of another old location for the 1920s to 1960s see Grendon et al. (2015); for a
complementing analysis of the process see Miescher (2015).
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 3
and interaction in the daily life. He frequently visited both the last remnants of the Old Loca-
tion in the mid-1960s and the still relatively new Katutura during his seven years of service in
Namibia before being deported in 1972. His account remains as ambiguous as the Old Location
seems to have been.
While a prominent feature and reference point in modern Namibian history, the Old Loca-
tion has to a large extent remained unexplored beyond the memories of those who lived there.7
Reverend Michael Scott, a British clergyman with the Anglican Church in South Africa who
was nicknamed the troublemaker, was the only known outsider who became a nuisance for
the authorities in the history of the Old Location (cf. Troup 1950; Hare and Blumberg 1980;
Yates and Chester 2006). Scott assisted the Herero leadership, in particular Chief Hosea Kuta-
ko, to petition the United Nations, drawing attention to the plight of the Namibians.8 In 1948 he
camped for two months in the dry riverbed of the Gammams River bordering to the Location
(Saunders2007a).ThoseclassifiedasEuropeansrequiredapermittoentertheLocation.Asa
priest, Rev. Scott was like all church people from various denominations exempted from
this rule. But he refused to accept this privilege and hence stayed outside of the settlement area.
Scott interviewed members of the Locations Advisory Board and was also shooting footage
foroneofthefirstprotestfilmsmadeinSouthernAfrica(Gordon2005).Despitethisremark-
able engagement, his interaction with the residents of the Location during these days receives
surprisingly little attention in his memoirs, limited to two paragraphs (Scott 1958: 243).
The administration kept a close control and did not welcome any outsiders, considered to
be intruders. At a meeting of the Locations Advisory Board on 15 July 1953, chairman De Wet
pointed out that Europeans visit the Location after hours or during week-ends. & if unauthor-
ised Europeans are noticed, they should immediately be reported.9 According to the advocate
Israel Goldblatt (2010: 7888), who was in close contact with some of the Herero leaders resi-
dent at the Location, somewhat less informal visits by whites were rare occasions. Reverend
Karuaera (19202013), a widely respected spiritual leader also politically active, was quoted as
no other whites ever came (ibid.: 83).
There was however a regular presence of white clergy people. In particular the missionaries
of the Rhenish Mission Society and two mission sisters from Germany, who took care of health
and education matters were permanently interacting with the residents of the Location.10 The
Bishop of the Anglican Church and his co-workers also had a presence in the Old Location,
7 A noteworthy, hardly acknowledged exception is the unpublished thesis by Hoffmann, who in her chapter on
the Old Location (2005: 82123) uses a Herero praise poem to uncover a neglected aspect of dealing with the
place.
8 For a general account of the local (mainly Herero) responses resisting incorporation into the Union of South
Africaasafifthprovincebetweenthemid-1940sandtheearly1950sseeSilvester(2015).
9 National Archives of Namibia (hereafter NAN), Municipality of Windhoek (hereafter MWI), 19191961,
NativeAffairs/NativeAdvisoryBoard,Fileno.65/3,VolumeI.Nofurtherspecificreferencecouldhoweverbe
traced, if this was aimed at certain individuals.
10 See for this particular interaction Melber (2015).
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 4
especially since the early 1960s, as they held church services and were teaching classes at the
St Barnabas School.11 White shop owners also visited the Location occasionally, if only to make
sure that customers paid their bills.12
Nothing is for obvious reasons on record for the intimate inter-racial contacts, which
presumably chairman de Wet as quoted above mainly referred to. But it is known that children
were regularly interacting across the colour bar:
A German informant who lived on the town side of the Gammams River, in the immediate neighbourhood
oftheOldLocationwhoseborderlinewithwhiteWindhoekwassomewhatfluid,saidthatasachildhe
had played every day with the black children who came running across the footbridge to play in the river
bed. (Jafta et al. 1991: 27)13
Selective History
In marked contrast to the lack of accessible social history documenting the daily life, the Loca-
tions residents play a prominent role as a reference point in the patriotic history presenting the
formation of Namibias modern anti-colonial resistance leading to an armed liberation struggle.
The refusal to be voluntarily relocated to the new township of Katutura, the protest organized
and the escalation into the massacre of 10 December 1959 were turning points in the consolida-
tion of political organizations, and especially the formation of the South West African Peoples
Organization (SWAPO).
In contrast to the prominence given to the 10 December massacre in the struggle history
of Namibia, little has been hitherto published and made accessible for a wider audience on the
organizationandformsofdailylifeintheOldLocation.Itisnoteworthythatthefirstcritical
reports of visitors to South West Africa, bringing the plight of the Namibian people to the atten-
tion of the outside world during the early 1960s (cf. Saunders 2008), made little to no reference
to theOldLocationatall (Lowenstein1962;First1963).Thesignificantexperienceand its
consequences are mentioned in the hitherto by far most authoritative history of Namibia only on
one page (Wallace 2011: 254). The published personal memories of Namibians engaged in the
early anti-colonial struggle of the time (Ndadi 1974; Ya-Otto 1982; Shityuwete 1990; Nujoma
2001) hardly refer to the daily life and interactions in Windhoeks old township beyond gener-
alized statements. A reason for this might be that the (auto-)biographical narratives were from
activists not physically resident in the Location. With the exception of Ya-Otto (1982: 34ff.),
11 According to Mrs Gestwicki, who was part of the Anglican diocese then, she and her late husband were as
US-American volunteers between 1964 and 1968 in charge of these activities and often interacted also beyond
these functions with residents in the Location (information provided by Dag Henrichsen, who managed to trace
Mrs Gestwicki during 2013 in the USA).
12 Information provided to Dag Henrichsen by Franz Irlich (Swakopmund), whose father had such a native
store.
13 ChristoLombardconfirmedthisdailyinteractioninapersonalcommunicationwiththeauthor.Hegrewup
in this part of Windhoek West during the 1950s and remembers playing regularly with children of his age group
from the adjacent Location.
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 5
who summarizes his experiences as a young teacher in the Location as from 1959, these were
mainly contract workers from the Northern part of the country known as Ovamboland.14
Contract workers were since 1947 accommodated at the Pokkiesdraai compound separately
erected at the Northern margins of the city.15 They often were also living as domestic staff in
separate rooms at the white employers house or were on contract in other towns or on farms.
Hence most of those coming from the Northern parts of the country had little to no access to
the Main Location. The impact of the violent clash of 10 December 1959 as the midwife for
the formation of the militant anti-colonial resistance has therefore been the main focus of their
histories on record. Both Ya-Otto (1982) and Nujoma (2001) highlight the fatal events in their
autobiographies. Nujomas book is a classical example how the history is appropriated into a
self-serving reference point to promote what shortly afterwards became SWAPO. The selec-
tive narrative sidelines other political organizations and activists such as the Herero Chiefs
Council and the South West African National Union (SWANU), who both were more involved
in organizing the popular protest in the Old Location than the Ovamboland Peoples Organiza-
tion (OPO), which as a movement mainly among contract workers preceded during the 1950s
the formation of SWAPO.16 The combat literature did not, of course, make such writing good
history. It was not history in any real meaning of that word, in that it did not attempt to pre-
sent a rounded picture or explore the complexities and ambiguities of the struggle. (Saunders
2007b: 18)
Rather, the forced removal, the protest and the killing of demonstrators turned the location
into a source of potent symbolism for the emerging nationalist movement, as well as a focus
for nostalgia (Wallace 2002: 55). As Hoffmann (2005: 87) suggests, the strongly party-polit-
ically informed institutionalization of memory decided to cultivate & a seductive inversion:
creating heroes and a heroic resistance where some Namibians still remember a brutal killing
of unarmed victims. Human Rights Day, celebrated internationally on 10 December, is in Na-
mibia as Womens Day a public holiday. It commemorates the massacre and pays tribute to the
women who were leading the boycott and protest. One of them is honored with a grave at the
Heroes Acre opened in 2000. Anna (Kakurukaze) Mungunda was shot and killed while try-
ingtosetfiretothecarofthelocationssuperintendent.SamNujoma,co-founderofSWAPO
anditsfirstpresidentfrom1960to2007,portraysherinhismemoirsinthelanguageofthe
heroic genre:
14 Another exception is the autobiography of Namibias so far most prominent singer Jackson Kaujeua (1953
2010).Fromadifferentperspective(beingbornafewyearslaterthanthefirstgenerationofstruggleactivistsinthe
Southern part of the country with a cultural background in the Herero/Damara community, and never in any higher
ranks of the anticolonial movement but rather at the margins) he recalls his childhood and teenage memories of the
Old Location in a much more intimate way (Kaujeua 1994).
15 Byerley (2015) documents with regard to Walvis Bay the emergence of the compound system for contract
workers between the years 1915 to 1960.
16 For critical reviews of the constructed patriotic history in Nujomas memoirs see Saunders (2003) and Du
Pisani (2007).
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 6
I was very moved to see her body. I knew her of course. She seemed to be shining even in her death. We
knewwhenwesawthosebodiesofinnocentpeoplethatwehadtofindawayoffightingagainstthose
Boers. It was what really inspired me and others to leave the country, to prepare ourselves for a protracted
armed liberation struggle. (Nujoma 2001: 767)
His description of the corpse as shining, almost as if surrounded by a halo, is symptomatic for
the glorifying rhetoric. In marked contrast, an independent local newspaper offered recently a
scathing counter narrative when stating:
Kakurukaze Mungunda is often idolised as the Old Locations hero who aroused fervor around apartheids
forced removal of people to Katutura. Little is said about her being a wayward, out of control (some even
say a drunk), stone-thrower, who was not part of the protest movement, but someone who became an ac-
cidental hero while leaders, including Sam Nujoma, were dodging and hiding from the apartheid police.17
Despitetheselectiveglorificationoftheresistanceeruptingintheviolentclash,however,no
serious efforts have so far been made by the Namibian state to restore memory. What is trou-
bling,
is the patent lack of interest displayed by the current government of Namibias political elite towards
Windhoeks urban history. This is all the more startling when one considers that the current government of
Namibia prides itself on a history of struggle, the heroes of which it urges one and all to revere and honour.
(Gewald 2011: 258)
Many of those in higher government and civil service ranks now living in the new middle class
suburb of Hochland Park are hardly aware that their homes were built on the grounds of the
Old Location. Nothing but a small steel bridge, erected for the residents to cross the Gammams
river also during the rainy season on foot to get to work, a few adjacent buildings which were
earlier on native stores, some abandoned grave stones and a small, hardly known or visible
memorial site reminds of its former existence. The current remembrance of the Old Location in
the public domain is at best selective and narrow:
EventhoughthepeoplekilledintheeventoftheWindhoekshootingareheroesnow,thisofficialmemory
does not include life in the Old Location, the memory of an era of communal experience in a place where
apartheid did not completely determine peoples way of living together and where the unaccepted bounda-
ries of racial segregation were crossed. Distinguishing what deserves to be remembered and how, and ap-
propriatingthesiteandeventofhistory,theinstitutionalisedactofcommemorationobscuresconflicting
versions of history as well as other forms and functions of memory. (Hoffmann 2005: 87)
Space and People
The Old Location was the product of social engineering, which had spatial components comple-
menting racial policies of institutionalized discrimination ever since the colonization of the ter-
ritory known today as Namibia. The organization of daily life took forms of physically separate
entitiesconfinedtospecificpartsofthepopulation.ThelocationsestablishedfortheAfrican
17 Editorial, The Namibian, 17 July 2015 Established in the mid-1980s, the newspaper has been a strong
supporter of the liberation struggle, often at great personal risks for its journalists. Its originally predominantly
white staff has since some time been almost completely replaced by black journalists.
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 7
people were in as much as the white residential areas a separate own world. The difference was,
that the black domestic servants, nannies, gardeners and other manual laborers were to some
degree often rather intimately exposed to the world of the masters, while these in their over-
whelming majority had no idea about the living conditions of their servants.
Administering segregation
Segregated living spaces were originally institutionalized under German colonialism and by no
means an invention of South African apartheid.18 The Old Location was established at the be-
ginning of the 20th century, while a (smaller) location in Klein Windhoek also emerged before
the end of the German colonial period. A small monthly fee had to be paid to the municipal ad-
ministration for occupying a plot misleadingly referred to as hut tax. The buildings erected
were however the private property of the residents. This enforced a strong feeling of ownership
among the people, who had constructed their homes.
The administration considered the physical relocation already in the 1920s. But the effects
of the global economic crisis in the early 1930s shelved the plans; instead further infrastructure
was established at the existing places of residence.19 What is remembered as the Old Location
was officially declared the Windhoek Main Location under the Natives (Urban Areas) Act
(34/1924). It had an area of around 140 hectares. Its boundaries were demarcated and
proclaimed by Government Notice no. 132 of 1937. Situated in relatively close vicinity to
the Windhoek main cemetery at the Gammams and Arebbush (seasonal) rivers in what is today
Hochland Park and at the borders to the old white residential area of Windhoek West, its dis-
tance from the city centre was some two to three kilometres.
As of 1932, the Main Location became the object of more systematic urban planning: it was
divided into square blocks with roads intersecting at right angles. Houses (huts) were relocated
according to the new plot structure. A Municipal Beer Hall and a Bantu Welfare Hall20 were
erected in 1936 and 1937. Other infrastructure (markets, basic sanitary installations and other
amenities for collective use, street lighting, private stores etc.) followed. In his comprehensive
study, Wagner (undated: 104) summarized the established structure as follows:
The various sections are marked off from one another by lanes or alleys. With the exception of the two
Ambo and the two Union sections, each of which is situated in different corners of the Location, the sec-
tions occupied by the same ethnic group adjoin one another. Theoretically, people may live only in the sec-
tion (or sections) set aside for members of their own ethnic group. In practice, the residential segregation
according to ethnic groups is not too strictly enforced. Thus, a number of Ambo have recently sold their
houses,chieflytoColoureds.Inallcaseswherethesehousesweretoodilapidatedtoberemovedtothe
buyers section, the latter were tacitly allowed to move to the Ambo section. Similarly, a number of Nama,
mostly young men, live in the Bergdama sections. The vast majority of Natives, however, live, and prefer
to live, among their own people. As among the rural population, kinship counts for more than friendship.
18 See on the history until 1960 especially Pendleton (1974: 248) and Simon 1983a: 11444).
19 For developments during the inter-war period see especially Wallace (2002) and Simon (1983b: 913).
20 Named after the wife of the Location Superintendent Captain Bowker the Sybil Bowker Hall. Sybil Bowker
played an active role as a welfare worker in the location (Wallace 1998: 8890).
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 8
Residence permit in the location was granted to (non-contract) workers employed in Windhoek
or recognised as self-employed (traders, shop owners) and their dependent family members
(women,children).Bonafidevisitorswereallowedtostayonemonth(inexceptionalcases
up to two months). Wagner (ibid.: 95) observed that comparatively few Natives reside in the
Location for any length of time without being properly registered, judged by the low number
of persons convicted for this offence despite regular raids between 1945 and 1950 (with 19
convictions as the lowest in 1949 and 55 convictions as the highest in 1950).
GenerallytheofficialsoftheWindhoekmunicipalityandthoseinchargeovernativeaf-
fairsseemedtofollowofficialdirectivesinimplementingSouthAfricaspolicyofsegregation
and apartheid. But the case of the Rhenish Mission school for Nama children offers an exam-
ple that not every civil servant in the white administration was an obedient implementer of
apartheid. The school operated in the vicinity of the mission church, which was frequented on
Sundays by the location residents for sermons. It was situated opposite of the Höhere Privat-
schule (HPS the German higher private school) in the white part of town (Church Street).
Because of this irregularity the Magistrate enquired on 22 August 1953 with the Town Clerk
about the nature of the school. He was particularly interested in knowing if native children had
to walk through the white town and if this caused disturbances. It required a reminder from the
MagistratesOfficebeforetheTownClerksentanenquirytotheTownEngineer,whoon21
September elaborated that the Rhenish Mission had rented the building from the Administra-
tion since many years. But he maintained: The Native school, which is only separated by the
width of the street from the Hoehere Privatschule, is very disturbing to the latter. Throwing of
stones and cursing between the natives and the white scholars are and will always be inevita-
ble. Despite this information, the Town Clerk P.J. Conradie reported on 22 September 1953 to
theMagistratesOfficethatscholarsdidwalkthroughthewhiteareatogettotheschool,but
that so far no complaints had been received.21
Infrastructure and demography
The census of 1950 registered 2,246 huts and houses in the main location with an average of
about 3.5 occupants. From the early 1940s there were renewed discussions as to whether the
location should be removed to another site and residents were discouraged to make improve-
ments to their shelter (ibid.: 199). Regulations issued by the Municipal Council in 1927, setting
minimum standards for the erected shelters, were relaxed as a consequence of the effects of
war in lacking affordable construction materials. As a result, only a few constructions complied
withthe1927regulations,andramshackletinhovelsmushroomed(classifiedascategoryA),
21 NAN/MWI, 19191961. Native Affairs/Native Advisory Board, File no. 65/1, volume no. I (storage unit
2/1/281,fileno.6/5/3).ItcanbeassumedthatMisterConradietherebypreventedtheclosureoftheschool,which
was operational until the Old Location was closed down.
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 9
measuring often no more than 6 x 4 x 6 feet of which several hundred may be seen in the
Location, some of them without any roof at all (ibid.: 202). In contrast, the average type of
construction (category B)
is a plain, rectangular structure with a ridged roof. Its framework is erected of second-hand timber, and the
wallsandroofconsistoftinplates&nailedontothewoodenframe.Thefloorisusuallyofhard-beaten
earth,withalargestoneslabformingthethreshold.Doorsaremadeofwoodenfloor-boardsnailedtogether.
Often there are two rooms, separated by a dividing wall which, likewise, consists of tins. Occasionally one
sees a ceiling of reed grass or cloth. (ibid.)
Better than average houses (category C), were mainly occupied by Herero. The best type
of dwelling (category D) existed almost exclusively in the Coloured section, with one brick
house resembling features of European housing standards of a thrifty European artisan or mi-
norofficial&Likethehousesthemselves,furnitureandhouseholdutensilsrangefrompracti-
cally nothing to a lower middle-class European standard (ibid.: 203). Generally, there were
hardly any noticeable differences in the levels of accommodation between the sections. Be-
tween 85 and 90 per cent of dwellings had no inside kitchen and plots were hardly fenced in or
improved, but there are a good many houses which show that their owners take a certain pride
in them (ibid.: 204). In 1950, the main location had a total of 15 sections sub-divided between
sevengroups:fiveforDamara,threeforHerero,twoforOvambo,twoforresidentsfromSouth
Africa and one each for Mbanderu, Nama and Basters/Coloureds (ibid.: 103).
According to the data provided in an (undated) form based on the Naturelle (Stadsgebiede)
Konsolidasiewet, No 25 van 1945, issued by the Union of South Africas Department for Na-
tive Affairs, the natives living in the Windhoek location around 195657 amounted to 9,764,
of whom 2,667 were under 18. Coloureds were numbered at 1,073, of whom 569 were under
18. Natives in the town area outside of the locations (but including the Ovambo compound)
officiallytotaled2,750,ofwhom50wereunder18.Thetotalwhitepopulationwasestimatedat
± 15,000.22 The Rhenish missionary Diehl presented the following census data for the African
population in 1954 and 195623:
Group September 1954 December 1956
Herero 2,749 2,875
Ovambo 856 1,702
Bergdama 3,383 4,034
Nama 367 425
In 1959 the population of Windhoek was estimated at some 20,000 whites, 18,000 Africans
and 1,500 so-called Coloureds or Basters. Registered male workers included 1,424 Herero,
22 NAN/MWI, File no. 48/2 (4 volumes), storage unit 2/1/379, vol. 1.
23 Jahresbericht 1956 über die Arbeit in der Herero-Ovambogemeinde in Windhoek, Stationsmissionar H. K.
Diehl im März 1957, 5. RMG 2.533 d C/h 50 d Band 4, 19461967, Bl. 0092.
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 10
1,634 Damara, 247 Nama, 1,445 Africans from the Union, 32 from Bechuanaland and 8 from
Nyasaland. Ovambo contract workers were numbered at 4,130, of which about 2,800 were ac-
commodated in Pokkiesdraai. Some 1,300 contract workers were living in domestic quarters
with their employers in town, and 719 older non-contract Ovambo in the location (Mossolow
1959: 436).24 A total of 108 natives resident in Windhoek held trade and business licenses for
legally registered own economic activities. More than a hundred cars in operational conditions
wereregisteredinAfricanownership(Mossolow1959:439).Otherfigures,basedoncensus
data, suggest the following composition of Windhoeks population (Pendleton 1974: 31):25
Year Whites Coloureds Africans* Totals
1946 6,985 1,353 6,591 14,929
1951 10,310 1,208 9,080 20,598
1960 19,378 2,738 13,935 36,051
* Including contract workers
All data available suggest that Windhoek throughout the 1950s until the mid-1960s had a white
population amounting to roughly half of the total population on record.
According to a 1950 survey, 14,501 of 16,857 (or 86 per cent) of the non-European popu-
lation residing in the Windhoek district (without any distinction between the urban and rural
area) were registered church members. These were subdivided into the following denomina-
tions (Wagner undated: 239):
Anglican Church Mission 40
Rhenish Herero Mission 3,613
Rhenish Nama Mission 9,327
Roman Catholic Mission 1,471
Wesleyan Methodist Mission 45
Total 14,501
Allfivecongregationshadachurchinthemainlocation.TheonlynativechurchinWindhoek
was the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC), claiming to have 145 members (ibid.:
24 Statisticaldataweremostlikelytoacertainextentflawed,asthefluctuatingnumberswithinshortperiodsof
time suggest. In the absence of a proper registration system for residents these were guestimates or census-based
figures(foranoverviewonWindhoekfor1921to1975seeSimon1983a:121).Itcanhoweverbeassumedthatthe
overallproportionsroughlyreflectedthedemographicsituation,thoughtherewascertainlyanunknownnumber
of non-whites unregistered. These included in particular former contract workers who had abandoned their work
place, living without permit in the urban area. See for this numerically unaccounted group the personal story of
Ndadi (1974: 3443). Given the police state like control, the numbers of undiscovered deserted contract workers
could however not have been very high.
25 NotethemarkedlylowerfiguregivenforAfricansin1960.
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 11
245).26 Wagner noted a strong sense of loyalty within the congregations towards their own
churches, but with friendly relations to members of other churches (ibid.: 241).
The Native Advisory Board
Under the South African administration a municipal Superintendent of Locations was appoint-
ed. In 1925 the Municipality issued detailed Location Regulations and in 1927 it set up a
NativeAdvisoryBoard,composedoftheSuperintendentoftheLocationasexofficiochair-
manand12membersrepresenting thevariousethnicgroupsfora three-year terminoffice.
Residents elected six councillors, while the municipality appointed the other six. Every resident
abovetheageof21andinfulfilmentofthetaxobligationswasentitledtovote(ibid.: 1068).27
Board members complained that while they were regarded as interlocutors to the people in their
section, these normally did not consider them as authorities with a recognised status, unless it
was based on their status within the traditional order, only applicable to councillor Aaron Mun-
gunda as a member of the Herero clans (ibid.: 115).
Reproducingtheethnicaffinitiesofthelocationsresidents,theAdvisoryBoardhadacom-
bined majority of Damara and Herero councillors, while the municipality often appointed rep-
resentatives from the minority groups among the six non-elected members. The Boards com-
positionin1951revealedthatallexceptoneofthememberswereclassifiedasliterate,inline
with the declared intentions of the board, to establish a closer contact between the European
authorities responsible for the administration and welfare of the non-European community and
the more intelligent and public-spirited members of that community, the avowed aim being to
teach the non-Europeans the spirit and technique of local government in a democracy. (ibid.:
110)
While open to the public, the meetings and deliberations of the Board seemed to attract
little interest. Members were frequently re-elected due to a limited number of candidates. Aar-
on Mungunda28 and Clemens Kapuuo29, served on the Board either as elected or as appointed
members since 1927. Board members were tasked to report back any decisions to the residents
of the sections they represented, but they complained that hardly anybody would attend such
meetings (ibid.: 114). This might have not been a sign of disinterest by the residents in their
affairs. Rather more so an indication of mistrust concerning the role of the Advisory Board,
26 On the history of the AMEC see Schlosser (1958: 71124). For a more detailed account of the church life
during the 1950s and the role of the Rhenish missionaries see Melber (2015).
27 Minutes of the monthly meetings were until August 1952 taken only in Afrikaans, as from then upon a
decision by the Town Council of Windhoek also in English. Councilors from the Klein Windhoek location were
also in attendance.
28 By profession a chief clerk, born around 1894.
29 Born around 1893 and a general dealer, whose son with the same name later succeeded Hosea Kutako as
paramount leader of the Herero and became a co-founder of NUDO, actively co-organising the resistance to the
relocation.
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 12
since its members were suspected to be willing collaborators with the administration. When an
officialpreviouslyinchargeoflocationaffairsrelocatedtotheUnionofSouthAfrica,hemade
a farewell speech at an Advisory Board meeting on 19 December 1951. With reference to the
initiatives to petition at the United Nations he noted with approval that many of the councillors
were not collaborating with such elements.30
The administrative responsibilities for locations and their residents formally changed with
the institutionalization of apartheid policy in South Africa from the mid-1950s, when the min-
istries in Pretoria took over native policy in the administered territory of South West Africa
(SWA) too. That the dominant mind set was not free from unwanted irony bordering to humili-
ating sarcasm documents the following episode: At the meeting of the Native Advisory Board
on 20 July 1955 the Assistant Native Commissioner Warner read a (undated) message from the
South African Minister of Native Affairs. In this the minister explains that from 1 April 1955 the
administration of native affairs in the territory had been transferred to his ministry. He stressed
that the one who always was your father, i.e. the administrator in Windhoek will remain acting
inhisname.ButSWAwouldinthefuturebenefitfromthetestedplanapprovedforthenatives
in the Union, who he claimed were pleased. He concluded with the statement: May the road
between you and the government remain always white.31
In the absence of other documents or observations, the recorded minutes of the Native Ad-
visory Board meetings offer some selective insights into the issues of concern among the resi-
dents of the main location. While the board had hardly any real powers, which remained vested
inthewhiteofficialsandthecitysmunicipality,itdiscussedsomeofthemattersconsideredof
concern in the organisation of daily life.
The functions of the Board are thus still essentially limited to the airing, under European guidance, of cur-
rent issues relating to the welfare of the residents of the Location by a selected body of non-Europeans. The
AdvisoryBoardhasnosayinthefinancialadministrationoftheLocationandisnotinformedinanydetail
on income and expenditure. Having no funds at its disposal, the Board does not draw up a budget or vote
money. (ibid.: 110)
During 194748 the Board discussed in total 59 issues on its agenda, relating to matters of
health and sanitation (15), the boards working procedures (10), labour conditions (8), housing
and the new township (6), education (4), transport (4), stock (3), law and mitigation (3) and
6classifiedasmiscellaneous.Wagner(ibid.) concluded that, despite its limited powers, the
Advisory Board performs an indispensable function in that it offers a regular opportunity for
an exchange of views and ideas between the European authorities and a representative body of
non-Europeans.
30 NAN/MWI, 19191961, Native Affairs/Native Advisory Board, File no. 65/1, Volume no. I (storage unit
2/1/281,fileno.6/5/3).
31 Mag die pad tussen julle en die regering altyd wit bly. NAN/MWI, 19191961 Native Affairs/Native
Advisory Board, File no. 65/3, Volume I. Wit could be interpreted as white and as clean satire at times
simply cannot match reality!
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 13
Order and Security
Deliberations by the Advisory Board also documented tensions and security concerns. On 14
May 1952 C. Kapuuo demanded stricter control as well as the arrest and deportation of those
living in or around the location without legal residence status to get rid of the rondlopers (those
straying) in the veld (bush). A.S. Shipena supported him and suggested that more boswagters
(bush guards) should be employed. H. Kondombolo complained that at the social gatherings
of adults in the dance hall mainly children from the Bergdamara were a disturbance.32 A.S.
Shipena complained on 15 April 1953 that Ovambo contract workers were living in the loca-
tion and entered relations with married women, as a result of which many onegte (fake or not
genuine) children were born. Herero from the reserves were accused of the same behavior. A.S.
Mungundaalsocomplainedabouttheinfluxofnaturelle (natives) from the Union, who often
came as workers for contractors. They were accused of not respecting elders and behaving like
Tsotsis,therebyinfluencingthelocalpeoplenegatively.Hecriticizedhisownpeoplewhodid
military service for South Africa on the side of the allied forces for the same behavior upon re-
turn.33 C. Kapuuo complained at the meeting on 10 February 1954 that the streetlights were not
properly working and also were switched off late at night, thereby allowing kwaaijongens (wild
youngsters) to continue their shady businesses. He urged that the lights be kept fully functional
and switched on until sunrise.34 At the meeting on 17 March 1954 Boardman J. Kamberipa com-
plained that two constables from the Municipal Police on duty controlling the Location were
not enough, especially not at night times.35
In 194748 arbitration committees were established to seek out of court settlements. Seven
of these existed in 1951, each consisting of an Advisory Board member and at least four respon-
sible members of the community in the respective section (or sections) elected by the residents
and approved of by the Superintendent. Cases were dealt with either under traditional custom-
ary law or under common law, without any witness or court fees. Most of the cases that were
heard in 1950 related to matrimonial disputes and offences under the liquor law, followed by
violation of pass laws (387), arrears in the payment of the hut tax (185), residence in the loca-
tionwithoutpermit(55),aswellassomecasesoffighting(92)andcausingadisturbance
(10). Theft was rarely a case (11) and there is an almost complete absence of serious crime,
withninecasesofassaultand59otherunspecifiedoffences(ibid.: 24651).
32 NAN/MWI, 19191961, Native Affairs/Native Advisory Board, File no. 65/1, Volume I (storage unit 2/1/281,
fileno.6/5/3).
33 Ibid.
34 NAN/MWI, 19191961, Native Affairs/Native Advisory Board, File no. 65/3, Volume I.
35 Ibid.,Minutes of themonthlymeeting of theNon-EuropeanAdvisoryBoard.Held in theOffice of the
Superintendent of Locations on Wednesday 17/3/54, 3.
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 14
The local police unit, comprised of community members and known as the Bowker police
because their station was next to the Bowker Hall, was seemingly not taken very seriously and
was easy to fool because they were unable to read or write.36 But despite some petty offences
recorded (mainly illegally brewing beer and violations of the pass laws), all in all, empirical ev-
idence suggests a socially highly stable and safe environment (Jafta et al. 1991: 178). Those
whogrewupduringthisperiodconfirmedtherelativeabsenceofseriousphysicalviolenceor
molestations. An informant sharing memories of women and girls using a communal bathhouse
maintained: We were never afraid to bathe there as it was safe. I cannot recall anybody ever
being molested there.37
Social Life
According to Wagner (undated: 11112) deep-rooted tribal antagonisms appear & to be very
rare. But his interviews with residents also indicated that antagonisms between the differ-
ent ethnic groups, though not violent, are still distinctly there. According to a survey among
the Coloureds, more than 90 per cent opted for re-location to a separate residential area (ibid.:
1312). He however maintains that, these prejudices, jealousies, and antagonisms are more in
the nature of undercurrents than an open hostility between the various sections. & On the oc-
casion of dances, sports events, &c., members of the different sections either mingle or amuse
themselves on their own, without any group antagonisms making themselves felt. (ibid.: 136)
Attending a dance hall event, he characterised the atmosphere as live and let live which
seems to be the key note in the everyday relations between the various groups (ibid.: 137). He
concludes, the conditions of town life tend to level down tribal differences (ibid.: 141). He
alsoobservesthatclassdifferencesseemedtobestrongerthanethnicaffiliationsbyatendency
for better class people to move together (ibid.: 147).
Wagner noticed a high degree of reciprocal subsidiarity and support systems displaying ex-
ceptional generosity when assisting those in need. A notion of belonging and solidarity seemed
todominatedailylife.In1950onlyfivepaupersreceivedfoodrationsfromthestatebecause
they had no near relatives to look after them. A system of gooi mekaar (throw together) was
practised in communal social networks, where helping each other and thereby entering recip-
rocal social contracts seemed an established practice as mutual, though staggered, lending of
money (ibid.: 214).
Social activities had a prominent arena in the Municipal Beer Hall. It offered seating accom-
modation for several hundred men on a semi-open terrace resembling features of a beer garden
and a taproom for some hundred women seated along long tables and benches. The conduct of
those frequenting the facilities had on the whole, been so orderly that the police supervision
36 Information by Mrs Anna Bailey, as quoted in Jafta et al. (1991: 18).
37 Interview with Mrs Anna Campbell, quoted in Jafta et al. (1991: 17).
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 15
has become a mere routine duty (ibid.: 267). Public dancing took place on almost a daily basis
in the Sybil Bowker Hall, organised privately by people renting the venue, hiring a local band
and charging admission to cover expenses: In January, 1951, the Hall had already been booked
until the end of the year (ibid.: 275). Private dance halls, which had operated earlier on, were
closeddownsincetheywerescenesofbrawlsandfights.Brassbandsanddancebandswere
a common feature, and music was a dominant form of entertainment, as much as community
singing. Cinema performances were fortnightly entertaining an audience in the Sybil Bowker
Hall, featuring mainly cowboy movies.
A Senior Sports League was founded in 1936 under the auspices of the locations Superin-
tendent, and a Junior Sports Union for juveniles was set up in 1944 sponsored by the welfare
officer. Footballwas themost popular sport in the location,with 13 clubs organised in the
Senior League in 1950, representing the ethnic sections (only the Nama had joined one of the
Damaraclubs).Matcheswereplayedonafootballfieldwithacoveredgrandstandadjacent
tothelocation,andcompetitionstookplaceforfivedifferentcups(ibid.: 2723). Around 20
football clubs existed in 1960 (Henrichsen 1997: 28).38 The teams remained ethnically exclusive
and seemed to have instilled discriminatory emotions during the matches among their sup-
porters, as a letter concerning the shameful picture of tribalism in sports bemoaned in the
South West News:
Although no restrictions on the grounds of tribe is made by any team when enrolling its members, in prac-
tice it seldom happens that a team is multi-tribal. & As a logical sequence, matches between these teams
are conceived by the public in the spirit of inter-tribal competition, victory being hailed as triumph over
the inferior, a sign of tribal complex. Threats which often result in violence are made. These sometimes
reach an extent where it becomes impossible to continue a match. Vulgar and disgusting words capable of
provoking tribal hatred are frequently uttered. (&)
Inoureverydaylifeweproclaimtofighttribalismandracialismineveryformtheyappear,yetinthispar-
ticular case we remain unconcerned. Is this a shameless surrender? Let those who care for the interests and
welfare of their people heed this: An ideal cannot be attained by a mere declaration of lofty principles but
by the practical application of such principles in all spheres of life. (Mamugwe 1960: 4)
Tensions also affected tennis. A Bantu Welfare Tennis Club was founded in 1937 but col-
lapsed after the embezzlement of funds. In 1951 the Excelsior Tennis Club had 16 members
from the Cape Coloured community and two Union Natives as members; six of the total
members were female. The club tournaments were riddled by animosities: Blacks boycotted the
club after Rehobother Basters refused to play against black or mixed teams without the tourna-
ment being called off (Wagner undated: 273). Another popular sport was horse racing, staged
at the Hakahana Turf Club founded in 1947. Until 1950 a total of 25 race meetings with six
events each were held where only native-owned horses and black jockeys were admitted
(ibid.).
38 All subsequent quotes from articles in the South West News are based on their reproduction in this volume
edited by Henrichsen (1997).
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 16
Various churches and other associations provided additional forms of local social organisation.
These included the Red Band organisation (Truppenspieler), the Bunga Private Club and the
African Improvement Society as burial and mutual aid societies among the Herero. The Col-
oured Teachers Association and its subsidiary Coloured Parent Teacher Association, the Native
Teacher Association, and the Non-European Railway Staff Association were the active voca-
tional and trade union associations. Inter-ethnic tensions were reported in the Rhenish Mission
School in 1957 and 1958. The Coloured principal at the Herero-Ovambo school, who had been
in service for 15 years, returned to Cape Town in 1957 after the black residents had blamed
him for not objecting to a decision taken by the Coloured Teachers Association to deny admit-
tance of their children to their schools.39For1958,conflictsamongthe339enrolledpupilswere
reported. Parents of Ovambo children complained that the newly appointed Herero principal
made their children feel insecure. They felt disadvantaged and missed the former Coloured
principal, whom they had considered as a trusted and neutral arbitrator.40
As of January 1959, the Municipality of Windhoek employed Zedekia Ngavirue (later com-
monlyknownasDoctorZed)asthefirstblacksocialworker.On4July1960(notlongbefore
his dismissal due to his political engagement) he addressed the 12th Annual African Teachers
Conference with an appeal for a Clean up Campaign:
Our living conditions are deplorable. You have only to look through the window to see what I mean there
you will see dirty and untidy homesteads, heaps of rubbish and carcasses of dogs and cats next to our
water tanks; neglected cemeteries, ever dirty communal lavatories and so forth. These conditions are not
conducive to progress. The gospel of cultural development that we as teachers, ministers and social work-
ers preach will not be of any effect to the people who receive it unless a better environment is created for
them. (&) I propose that we as teachers, ministers and social workers come together and form a united
front against dirt. Let us organise a campaign against this deadly evil. Lets not blame external factors
only but take a critical attitude towards ourselves. I know that other societies have under oppression proved
to be enterprising and progressive. (&) Why cant we, honourable as we are, do the things that other people
have done? Is it really due to oppression that we cannot build a lavatory for ourselves? Why dont we get
up and constructively criticize ourselves for these weaknesses lest others think we do not see them? Why
should we sit down only to wait for some one to come and build a bad lavatory for us and then criticize
him. & Let this be our contribution as teachers, ministers and social workers, towards the creation of a new
Africa. (Ngavirue 1960: 4)
The End of an Era
This vision of a new Africa had at the time of Ngavirues speech already been exposed to the
full force of the apartheid system. Beyond the structural violence executed through what by
then was euphemistically called separate development, the refusal of the locations residents
to move to Katutura had escalated. Passive resistance against the relocation had taken organ-
39 Jahresbericht 1957 über die Arbeit in der Herero-Ovambogemeinde Windhoek, Stationsmissionar H. K.
Diehl, Ende Februar 1958, 5, RMG 2.533 d C/h 50 d Band 4, 19461967, Bl. 0082.
40 Stationsmissionar H. K. Diehl, Windhoek, 5. Mai 1959, Jahresbericht 1958 ueber die Arbeit in der Herero-
Ovambogemeinde Windhoek, p. 5. RMG 2.533 d C/h 50 d Band 4, 19461967, Bl. 0063.
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 17
ised forms since September 1959. It culminated in a widespread boycott of services initiated by
women in early December 1959. On 10 December 1959 a meeting with representatives of the
Municipality ended in mayhem. The police was brought in and shot dead eleven Africans, more
than 40 were treated in hospital for mainly bullet wounds. Since that day, the life in the location
was never the same again.
Several factors motivated the continued refusal to resettle among many even after the vio-
lent clash. Higher rental costs for the houses built in Katutura, bus fares and new regulations
were all reasons to resist the relocation, which was more fundamentally from a political
perspective considered an apartheid initiative by an illegal authority without legitimacy. The
prohibition of owning the houses occupied was maybe the biggest stumbling block. As a for-
mer resident recalled: Houses in the Old Location were our own, and therefore better than in
Katutura. It depended on you, whether you made your house nice. I would prefer Katutura to be
like the Old Location. (Friedman 2000: 6) Confronted with the refusal to relocate, authorities
threatened to deport those unwilling to move to the rural reserves. To Move Or Not To Move
was the title of an article in the South West News of 20 August 1960, which concluded that, the
situation is such that the African has neither the right to improve his or her environment nor the
right to have a permanent dwelling in the urban area.
Fear and resilience, despair and civil courage were all contributing factors supporting the
mobilization for organized resistance in various forms of political associations. In this sense,
the Old Location, in combination with the contract worker system and the pass laws, was an
important element in the formation of the anticolonial resistance movements in the struggle for
Independence. To that extent, patriotic history indeed is diagnosing the resistance against
forced removal and the massacre of 10 December 1959 as a relevant marker. As Emmett (1999:
285) suggested:
The authorities attempts to move residents of the old location to a new township and the resistance they
metrepresentasignificantpointinthepoliticalhistoryofNamibia.Notonlydidresistancetotheremoval
provide thefirstmajor issue takenupby the newly formednationalist organizations shortly after their
launching in 1959, but it also represented a transition in the style of political mobilization in that it tran-
scended parochial issues and united a broad cross-section of groups and classes in a confrontation with the
colonial state.
At the same time, the urban arena provided the environment for the formation of an educated
vanguard, which entered new forms of exchange and mobilization distinct from previous in-
digenous traditions and practices and the dominance of the traditional (ethnic) leaders, thereby
inducing social diversity over and above ethnically restricted loyalties and forms of organiza-
tion. South West News,thefirstAfricannewspaperfoundedin1960andpublishedinnineissues
documents these fascinating dynamics unfolding, which emancipated not only from the white
settler dominance but also the earlier dependencies on tribe and tradition.
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 18
Reminiscences of a Past
Sifting through the documents, a nuanced picture of the locations life in the 1950s can hardly
be restored. What emerges even from the fragmented evidence is that there was a sense of
ownership and belonging. The weekends saw a variety of bands playing, folks dancing, enjoy-
ing the odd sports competition, fashion shows and beauty contests. The location vibrated with
social activities and leisure time in midst of poverty and destitution. It was an ordinary common
ground for people of different histories and identities, united in being oppressed. They had more
in common than what separated them. In the eyes and minds of many of those living there it was
better than the alternative forced upon them.
With the removal to Katutura these people were robbed of their homes as their personal
belonging. The houses they lived in even if bordering to shacks were theirs. It was prop-
erty, which was taken from them. The limited material compensation offered by the municipal
authorities did not make up for the much deeper loss, resulting in feelings of homelessness.
Residents were removed to the outskirts of the city and could no longer walk through the streets
of Windhoek to their work places. They were not any longer an integral albeit segregated part
of the city, but were moved like cattle on trucks to the margins.
Going through the archival material it feels easy to identify with the nostalgic tendencies
some of the present-day narratives by former residents display. What became the Old Loca-
tion was a home, which Katutura was unable to create with its sub-divided, pre-fabricated
quarters epitomizing the apartheid mind of separate development. Similar to Sophiatown,
Alexandra or District Six in South Africas urban centers, the Old Location emerged as a re-
minder how people were seeking to organize and survive in the shadow of apartheid. There
seemed to be a sense of togetherness, which was stronger than the policy of divide and rule
executed by the colonial system. The Old Location was the urban conglomerate, which tran-
scended the separate identities of the native reserves and allowed a common ground for the
people of Namibia.
Recalling the atmosphere in the Old Location, many seem to resort to selective memories
ofthedailylifeborderingtoromanticising.Inwhatwasqualifiedasanostalgicjourneyto
the beginning of days several former residents remembered their upbringing there almost half
a century later. According to Daniel Humavindu, the Old Location created a great family in
which residents looked out for one another, where they were dancing in the Bowker Hall and
Glorious in the Ovambo Section with only jazz and live bands and no other music. Hesron
von Francois added: we were divided into sections but the people were close. & I had a good
life there at home. There was always food, love and peace. For Katy Farao childhood was
really childhood. & Those were good times when we would play in the streets (all quotes in
Graig 2012). And Petrina Rina Tira Biwa remembers: The segregation we experienced when
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 19
we moved to Katutura was not there. & we stayed very nicely in the Old Location. Communi-
cation with other people was very good. We used to stay as family.41
These might well be memories coloured by feelings of loss. But they offer some evidence
for the sense of community despite differences (Graig 2012), which was existing. It seems not
by accident that the term family is frequently used to characterise the general feeling of com-
munal belonging and sharing. At least by intuition, even the missionaries of the time seemed
somehow able to capture this. In his annual report for the Nama congregation in Windhoek for
1959, the Rhenish missionary Lübke resorts to a highly unorthodox blend of characterisations
forthefeaturesoftheLocation,whenhequalifiestheplaceasabroodnestforinsecurity,dirt
andrisksfordiseases,afterlistingasthefirstwordcosiness.42 Being a brood nest for cosi-
ness is certainly at best an unusual, but maybe most appropriate effort to describe what
seemed to be a contradiction, but maybe close to social reality as experienced at least in
retrospective.
In 1961, the residents of the Klein Windhoek Location were all moved to Katutura. In 1963
the Pokkiesdraai compound in the vicinity of Katutura was closed and the contract workers
were moved into a new compound inside Katutura. Coloureds and Rehoboth Basters moved
to the new residential area Khomasdal situated between the Old Location and Katutura. With
theofficialclosingoftheformerMainLocationon31August1968aneraintownshiplife
came to an end (Pendleton 1974: 30). The former social worker Zedekia Ngavirue, who was
a co-founder of SWANU, left soon after his dismissal for studies in Sweden. After Independ-
enceappointedasthefirstDirector-GeneraloftheNationalPlanningCommission,hemight
have captured the spirit of these days best when based on his insights he contemplated after
retirement: It was, indeed, when we owned little that we were prepared to make the greatest
sacrifices(Ngavirue1997:11).
41 M. Biwa, Translation of oral interview, Petrina Biwa. National Archives, Private Accessions, SMPA.0022,
Old Location oral history (undated). Quoted with kind permission of Memory Biwa.
42 In his words, the Werft was a Brutnest von Behaglichkeit, Unsicherheit, Schmutz und Krankheitsgefahr.
Lübke, Jahresbericht 1959 für die Nama sprechende Gemeinde Windhoek / undated, 4. RMG 2.533 d C/h 50 d,
Windhoek Band 4, Bl. 0053 (my emphasis).
BAB Working Paper 2016:03 20
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Acknowledgements
ThisisaconsiderablyrevisedandmodifiedpaperoriginallypreparedfortheconferenceThe
role of German-southern African church relations during the 1930s, World War Two and the
apartheid era (Wuppertal, 1113 March 2014), where the results of a Study Process commis-
sioned by churches and mission societies in Namibia, South Africa and Germany were present-
ed. I thank Hanns Lessing and Christoph Marx for inviting me to join the Study Process with
such a topical issue and Arianna Lissoni for adding valuable observations to a later draft. The
Cultural Foundation of Social Integration Centre of Excellence at the University of Konstanz
generously hosted me as a guest at the Konstanz Institute for Advanced Study during April 2014
and February/March 2015, which allowed me to continue work on this paper. I am most grate-
ful to Werner Hillebrecht and his colleagues at the National Archives of Namibia in Windhoek,
Dag Henrichsen and his colleagues at the Basler Afrika Bibliographien and Wolfgang Apelt at
the archive of the United Evangelical Mission in Wuppertal, who all supported and assisted
me when visiting. Finally, I much appreciated the guided excursion provided by Gunther von
SchumannandHelmutBistrioftheNamibiaScientificSocietytothelastvisibleremnantsof
the Windhoek Old Location and its surroundings in May 2015.