Renthia Kaimbi
The Emergency Shelter and Matutura Community Hall will be renamed in honour of the late liberation struggle icon, Putuse Appolus.
The decision was approved during this week’s Ordinary Council Meeting, following a recommendation first made by the Swakopmund naming advisory committee in September 2020.
According to council documents, the recommendation was mistakenly omitted from a group of items submitted to the council in November 2020. The omission occurred during a period of meeting disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. This week’s decision corrects that oversight.
The facility will now be called the Putuse Appolus Emergency Shelter. In the motion, Appolus is described as a nurse and freedom fighter who “dedicated her life to the struggle for independence” and “worked tirelessly for the upliftment of women and the greater good of the community.”
This marks the end of a five-year administrative process for the naming proposal, bringing long-awaited recognition to her legacy.
Committee chairperson and former mayor Nehemiah Salomon said the renaming ensures Appolus’s contributions will be remembered for generations in a facility designed to support and protect the community.
