Making Namibia a better to place to live in!

It was 06H00 on 21 March 1990, the first day of Namibian Independence. The sun was shining brightly over Windhoek and the anthem “Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika” was playing. I was standing in the parking lot of the Academy of Tertiary Education (now where the Polytechnic of Namibia is), and slowly raising the Namibian flag for the first time over the capital. What a memory, what an honour.

Till today, whenever I see the National Flag being raised or lowered, I stand still and take a few moments ...

My grandfather was a cattle thief
My family on my fathers’ side is part of the Plaatjies clan. The family, like that of my mothers’, originally came from the Cape. They have stayed in Windhoek for three generations and we have a number of relatives throughout Southern Africa, most of them staying in a coastal town. My grandmother was staying in Walvis Bay at the time of his birth and this has led to many interesting stories I tell of our family. My favourite must be the story of my “grandfather” ...

I am a Coloured. I am a coloured because my parents raised me as such, and because of the environment around me. Most importantly, I can answer my young daughters, (who were not born during Apartheid), when they ask me, “Daddy what am I?”

I can laugh loudest and longest when I see a caricature of a coloured woman gossiping with her neighbour over the fence – it happens in my family even though know it is over the Cellphone, and sometimes in the doctor’s waiting room.

The ...