Almost a thousand Namibians have signed a petition calling for the removal of the Curt von Francois statue next to the Municipality building in Windhoek chng.it/VYCz8NdZ The petition was started by @aafrobeat with the hashtag #farewellcurt
Tomorrow, Tuesday June 16, at 13h00 Windhoekers will gather for a Silent Protest against racism, gendered violence & police brutality at 4 sites (for social distancing) incl. the Von Francois statue
Von Francois is most notoriously known for carrying out the 1893 Hoornkrans Massacre in which mainly women and children were killed. There are many other reasons why having a statute of Von Francois in the centre of Windhoek is both inappropriate and offensive.
So who was Curt von Francois? Some key facts drawn from important historical works such as the Kaiser's Holocaust and Herero Heroes
Curt von Francois was born in Luxembourg in 1852. From 1891 to 1894 he acted as Landeshauptmann (head of government of a province) in the German colony of South-West Africa.
In 1883, he worked as a geographer during an expedition to the Congo led by Hermann Wissman. Wissman was known for carrying out atrocities against the local population. Historians have concluded that Von Francois was a mercenary hired by Leopold II, King of Belgium in the Congo.
Von François arrived in Namibia in 1889. In 1890 he moved the German Schutztruppe (German colonial forces) headquarters from Tsaobis to Windhoek, where he built the fort now known as the Alte Feste.
Von Francois did not found Windhoek as is often claimed as Jonker Afrikaner and his people had first settled in the Klein Windhoek valley in around 1840.
In 1891, Von François replaced Goering as imperial commissioner of German South West Africa. In 1892, he established Swakopmund as the main harbour for German South West Africa.
Von François was also responsible for the first attempts to prevent racial mixing. He threatened to withhold the right to free land in the colony from soldiers who co-habited with African women.
The German colonial authorities were concerned that Hendrik Witbooi, leader of the Namas, and Herero chief Samuel Maharero were forming an alliance to challenge Germany’s control of South West Africa.
In an attempt to wipe out the Witbooi clan, Von Francois led 200 German soldiers in an attack on Witbooi’s headquarters at Hoornkrans, 120 km south west of Windhoek, on 12 April 1893. Around 80 people were killed, mostly women and children
This prompted Witbooi’s guerrilla campaign against the Germans, which held Von Francois’s forces at bay for seven months. After several unsuccessful offensives against Witbooi, the Reichstag in Germany began to demand the removal of Von Francois.
In 1894, he was dismissed for his inability to deal with Witbooi and replaced by Theodor Leutwein. Von Francois left German South West Africa in 1895. He died in Berlin in 1931.
Details for tomorrow's silent protests 
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