Windhoek Township Tour

The Windhoek Municipality developed Katutura in the late 1950s as an apartheid township. However, before Katutura was developed, most black Namibians lived in a location west of Windhoek in the area now known as Hochland Park. When the town council decided to move the black Namibians from the old location to the new area of Katutura, there was great opposition to the move. These objections were both practical and ideological. Naturally there was a general opposition to the apartheid policies and that the move was forced. There were also unfair conditions put on the residents such as they could never own the houses that they were forced to rent plus the distance to Windhoek Central Business District (CBD) from Katutura was greater than it had been from Windhoek West.

The original Katutura was much smaller than the Katutura that exists today. Windhoek's total population is currently around 200 000 people, about 60% of these people live in Katutura. There are many suburbs of Katutura with poignant names such as Soweto, Havana, Babylon and Wanaheda.

The tour itself last around 3 hours and is very informative. Amongst other places it visits is the Penduka Women’s Centre. Penduka is a non-governmental development organisation working with women in Namibia. In the Oshiwambo and Otjiherero languages the word Penduka means “Wake Up!” Through this program they encourage and support women throughout the country to take charge of their lives.