Katutura (

Otjiherero Herero (Otjiherero) is a Bantu language spoken by the Herero and Mbanderu peoples in Namibia and Botswana, as well as by small communities of people in southwestern Angola. There were speakers in these countries between 2015 and 2018. Distr ...

for ''We do not settle'') is a

township A township is a form of human settlement or administrative subdivision. Its exact definition varies among countries. Although the term is occasionally associated with an urban area, this tends to be an exception to the rule. In Australia, Canad ...

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

Khomas Region Khomas is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its name refers to the Khomas Highland, a high plateau landscape that dominates this administrative subdivision. Khomas is centered on the capital city Windhoek and provides for this reason superio ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. Katutura was created in 1961 following the forced removal of Windhoek's black population from the

Old Location The Old Location (or as it was known then the Main Location) was an area Apartheid, segregated for Black residents of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. It was situated in the area between today's suburbs of Hochland Park and Pioneers Park. Histo ...

, which afterwards was developed into the suburb of Hochland Park. Sam Nujoma Stadium, built in 2005, is located within Katutura. Katutura Community Radio, a community-based radio station, also operates from the township. Katutura State Hospital, one of two State Hospitals in the Windhoek area, is located in the township.

History

During the 1950s, the Windhoek municipality and the

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

n colonial administration decided to forcefully move the residents of the

to the north of the city, prompting the evicted people to give the new location the name ''Katutura,'' which means "The place where people do not want to live" in Herero.Azaria Mbughuni, ''Tanzania and the liberation struggle in Southern Africa, 1958-1975'', 2008
page 97
/ref> For a number of reasons most residents did not want to move: They had owned the erven in Old Location whereas in Katutura all land belonged to the municipality. The newly allocated erven were also a lot smaller than those in Old Location, effectively forbidding the creation of gardens. Also economically black residents were worse off after the move because they now had to pay rent to the municipality, and they needed a bus to reach their work places in town—Old Location had been in walking distance. Following protests and an effective boycott of municipal services by Main Location residents, the police opened fire on the protesters on 10 December 1959, killing 11 and wounding 44 others. This event is known as the ''Old Location uprising'', it is the reason for the declaration of December 10,

Human Rights Day Human Rights Day (HRD) is list of minor secular observances#December, celebrated annually around the world on 10 December every year. The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December ...

, as a Namibian national holiday. The transfer to the new suburb took several years. In 1962, approximately 7,000 people had been moved, joining the 2,000 people of Ovambo descent that already lived there. All in all, half of the indigenous population of Windhoek lived in Katutura at that time. The breakdown of residents of different tribes in 1962 was: * Ovambo people: almost 3,000 *

Damara people The Damara, plural Damaran (Khoekhoegowab: ǂNūkhoen, ''Black people'', , referring to their extended stay in hilly and mountainous sites, also called at various times the Daman or the Damaqua) are an ethnic group who make up 8.5% of Namibia ...

: 2,366 * Coloured people: 1,257 *

Nama people Nama (in older sources also called Namaqua) are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They traditionally speak the Khoekhoe language, Nama language of the Khoe languages, Khoe-Kwadi language family, although many Nama ...

: 614 *

Herero people The Herero () are a Bantu people, Bantu ethnic group inhabiting parts of Southern Africa. 178,987 Namibians identified as Ovaherero in the 2023 census. They speak Otjiherero, a Bantu language. Though the Herero primarily reside in Namibia, there ...

: 468 *

Ovambanderu The Mbanderu (singular: ''Omumbanderu'', plural: ''Ovambanderu'') are a population inhabiting eastern parts of Namibia and western parts of Botswana. They speak Herero language, Otjiherero, a Bantu language. History and Culture Etymology While e ...

people: 71 * Others / undetermined: 1,094 During 2019 a campaign by Hendrich Amutenya and fellow activists to rename Katutura was launched. Amutenya argued that the name of the Katutura township has a bad connotation and reflects poorly towards a now free and independent Namibia. The name "Ubuntura", a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of ''

ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...

'' and ''Katutura'', was suggested.

Constituencies

The political constituencies located within Katutura are: * Katutura East * Katutura Central

Notable residents

* Alfredo Tjiurimo Hengari attended school in Katutura. * George Kambala - was born in Katutura * Dimbulukeni Nauyoma - was raised in Katutura.

References

{{Authority control Suburbs of Windhoek Shanty towns in Namibia

History

Constituencies

Notable residents

See also

References