Kerina passes on
Mburumba Kerina, who named Namibia, has died in a Windhoek hospital late yesterday.
His grandson, Henry Rukoro, confirmed the death. The politician, academic and author is a co-founder of several political parties and a member of Namibia's Constituent Assembly, the National Assembly and the National Council. He was 89.
The Tsumeb-born activist and academic, while he was studying political science in Indonesia, was invited to the home of President Sukarno, Indonesia's first president, after it gained its independence from the Netherlands. Sukarno suggested Kerina writes an article, proposing a name for his country of birth, having not been satisfied with the name South West Africa, and publish it in a journal. Kerina, while working at the UN to agitate for Namibia's independence, remembered Sukarno's advice and decided on ‘Namib', a neutral name from the Nama language, to equalise the various groups. The ‘Namib', the ‘vast place', refers to the ancient desert that shields the country in the west. Kerina suggested that when the country gained its independence, it should be known as the ‘Republic of Namib' and that the country's nationalism be known as ‘Namibianism'. The name filtered into the ranks of Swapo and the UN, and was adopted by the nations of the world, finally evolving into the name ‘Namibia'.