Hi everyone, I just wanted to thank you for signing and sharing the petition and give you a little update on what's been happening with the petition.
Updates
- I've emailed our petition to the Mayor of Windhoek and requested a meeting with her, will keep you posted once she agrees to meet.
- I've contacted the Afrikaner Traditional authority and will be meeting with Chief Eduard Afrikaner ( who is the great-great-grandson of Jonker Afrikaner) to talk about the petition and learn more about the Afrikaner history.
- I'm busy writing letters and trying to arrange discussions with local museums (to try and house his statue once removed) and art institutions (who might be willing to help the City cover the costs of a new statue)
The next steps of the petition
- Get the city to approve the removal of the statue
- Remove the statue and find the statue a new home, either at the Alte Feste, the Windhoek City Museum, or possibly with the descendants of Curt von Francois.
- Create an open call for Namibia artists to design and sculpt Jonker Afrikaner's new statue which will be accompanied by a plaque that explains the history of both Jonker Afrikaner and von Francois (detailing why his statue was removed, when it was put up etc.) so that future generations can have an accurate understanding of Windhoek's history.
Background info
A lot of you have been asking to learn more about Curt von Francois, Jonker Afrikaner, and Windhoek's history, so I thought I'd share some books, articles, that discuss the period.
Books
- The Witbooi by Ludwig Helbig and Werner Hillebrecht pages 26-34
- Windhoek: Capital of Namibia by Barbara Bravenboer pages 14-17
- National Monuments in Namibia by Andreas Vogt pages 56-58 and 116-119
Online
- Conflict and Power in Nineteenth-Century Namibia by Brigitte Lau pages 29 to 39 https://www.jstor.org/stable/181335?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
*Please take some of the sources with a grain of salt as some have patronizing racist undertones and language. Those sources were used to compare dates and get a general understanding of what happened, but it doesn’t necessarily mean I fully agree with their interpretations of history.
I've also attached a little graphic below that you can feel free to share with those who want to understand the context a little bit more.
Thank you once again for your support and please continue sharing the petition with your friends and family.
Sincerely,
Hildegard