A stranger in Windhoek.

"There are probably only a handful of places in South Africa named after a white person who wasn't a land-grabbing murderer. Does anyone seriously expect black South Africans that they should reconcile themselves to the honour bestowed on these hoodlums?"--Peter Bruce, editor of the Johannesburg-based Business Day, writing on the need to replace street and place names in South Africa (and by extension in Africa as a whole).

Please come with me to Namibia. Who was he who I said: "Always something new out of Africa?" If you don't believe it, you come with me to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. Your jaw will definitely hit your chest at the beauty of that city of 250,000 people spread out in the valley of the Eros and Auas Mountains. Windhoek does take your breath away!

From the outside, Namibia, normally out of the worldwide media glare, conjures in the mind memories of the backwater countries of Africa's long past. In real life, however, Namibia, especially its capital Windhoek, is an eye catcher. I haven't seen any city as clean as Windhoek in my life! How they manage to keep the city so spotlessly clean, I don't know. It is a credit to the Namibians' level of discipline. Windhoek is a credit to Africa! The people who run the Windhoek City Council deserve Africa's highest honour.

In fact, I am immensely proud of the people of Namibia. As an African, whose continent and people have been routinely put down as "hopeless", I felt an inner pride walking down the majestic streets and roads of Windhoek. What a lovely city!

During her days as the Iron Lady of Great Britain, Mrs Thatcher donned her apron on several occasions, and with a black bin bag in her left hand (why they make that bag "black", I don't know; why not green?), and a litter picker in her right hand, the Iron Lady stormed the streets of London, picking litter and trying to inculcate the spirit of cleanliness into Londoners. Did she succeed? I wouldn't be so effusive in my praise for Windhoek.

In praising the Windhoek city authorities for a marvellous job done, I must reserve my biggest adulation for the people of Windhoek and Namibia themselves. You can do a Mrs Thatcher in the streets of Windhoek, you can have all the black bin bags and refuse pickers in the world, but if the people themselves are not committed to keeping their city clean, there is nothing even an Iron Lady can do. How I wish other African city authorities and people could emulate the shining example of Windhoek!

As a first time visitor, you cannot fail to notice the orderliness that permeates national life--the quality of the roads in Windhoek and elsewhere (all properly marked and signposted), the clean pavements, the lack of open gutters/sewers, their environmental awareness (Windhoek is the only city in the world that reclaims waste water for re-use by humans).

And politically, they are progressive as well. Did you know the African Union had an anthem? They sing it in Namibia! At official functions, the AU anthem is sung alongside the Namibian anthem. And they know the words! Thank you, President Nujoma. You've made Africa proud. I urge everybody to read his interview (which starts on p38 of this issue). He may be retiring from the presidency at the end of next year (as he told me in the interview), but he deserves a special place in our hearts--all of us.

What I liked best about Namibia is that in 13 years of independence, they have not brrowed one penny from the IMF and World Bank. Praise the Lord! And they have a great city and a beautiful country! And all this without a penny from the IMF and World Bank! So Africans can really live without the IMF and World Bank? Are you listening Ghana? My Motherland?

President Nujoma is a man who is not afraid to speak his mind: "The IMF and World Bank," he told me, "are the imperialists' well-organised machinery to get African cheap labour and raw materials for their economic development. Thank God, Namibia has not taken anything from these institutions, even though we are members. We pay our annual dues but take nothing from them."

What? Was I hearing right? No, I wasn't hearing right. So I asked him: "Why not? Why don't you take anything from them?" You know in Ghana, where I come from, we cannot even breathe without the IMF giving us the loan to pay for the air. Even our common brodedwo (roasted plaintain), we can no longer have it without the IMF paying for the charcoal. Mother Ghana (see Cameron Duodu's column, Under the Neem Tree, p54). Nkrumah must be turning in his grave!

And President Nujoma answered: "We don't need it. We don't think we should take anything from the IMF and World Bank. We are ready to tighten our belts and work hard. We can only take something from them when we have a major, major, major project to do in our country which will benefit our people. But small, small handouts, we don't want it, we won't take it."

Sure, it takes an African with guts to say that. But I still couldn't believe the loaded words dropping out of President Nujoma's mouth. "We don't need the IMF ..." To a Ghanaian, that is pure blasphemy. Can we say that in Accra? You bet.

So I asked President Nujoma, again: "You mean, you haven't taken anything from the IMF and World Bank in 13 years as an independent country?" Boy, what continent does Namibia think it lives on? They don't take money from the IMF and World Bank! Haven't done that in 13 years! And the country looks this beautiful? In Ghana, if we don't take anything from the IMF and World Bank in 60 seconds ... just 60 seconds ... well, I don't want President Kufuor to take away my passport, so I won't say it.

But President Nujoma was calm: "In 13 years as an independent country, we have not taken a penny from them!" He told me, slowly, every word dripping with honour and pride. Boy, was I proud to be an African to hear that?

But wait. Namibia, like every other country, has its downside, too. With a national population of 1.8 million people, living in a country three and half times bigger than the UK and Northern Ireland, with 50 or so different kinds of minerals--chief among whom are uranium, diamonds and gold--every Namibian should be living above the poverty line 13 years after independence. And the huge shanty towns on the far reaches of Windhoek should not be there, though I must add that even the slums in Windhoek are clean and the shacks well planned and spaced out, with proper gravel roads and toilet facilities provided by the Windhoek City Council (the programme is still ongoing and does not yet cover all the shanty towns). As compared to some "slums" I know elsewhere in Africa ... (better left unsaid).

Another major downside of Namibia is their inability to change--13 years after independence--the colonial names of streets and places to reflect the glory of their hard won freedom. What are they afraid of? Or waiting for?

You walk in this beautiful city of Windhoek, and all you see are German street names. You rub your eyes--no, you are not in Berlin or Frankfurt. You are in Windhoek. And yet, ThisStrasse. ThatStrasse. Everythingstrasse! If I won't be accused of "sexing up" my facts, I would say a good 95% or so of the street names in Windhoek are all German. And the Germans lost South West Africa (now Namibia) in 1918! Come on, Namibia. You can do better than that!

It is a great source of sadness that even in this day and age, Africans are still frightened to remove the names of our oppressors oft our streets and landmarks. Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and Zambia, Lake Victoria in the heart of Africa, what are we afraid of?

So long as there are no HoseaKutakoStrasse in Berlin or NujomaStrasse in Frankfurt, or Nkrumah Avenue in London, (and we don't have any street named after Nkrumah in all of Windhoek even though President Nujoma and his people have such fond memories of the man), what are we telling ourselves as Africans for keeping those colonial names hanging on our landmarks end streets?

On 9 October, the British daily, The Guardian, reported that a plan to rename Johannesburg airport (Africa's busiest) after Oliver Tambo "has stirred fresh controversy" in South Africa. "Critics say changing the name would confuse travellers, waste money and undermine reconciliation". Honestly! When the Americans changed the name of one of their airports to Reagan Airport, did it "confuse travellers" or was it a "waste of money" or undermined reconciliation?

The time has come for us, as Africans, to call a spade by its proper name. The time is here to tell the minority European-Africans living among us in Africa that they cannot have it both ways. We don't have streets, places and landmarks in Europe named after African heroes (if there are at all, you can count them on your fingers). And if we cannot name our own streets and lakes and waterfalls and airports and towns and cities in Africa after African heroes, what else can we do? If that will "undermine reconciliation", so be it. What kind of "reconciliation" are they talking about anyway?

As Peter Bruce, the editor of Business Day, says: There are probably only a handful of places in South Africa named after a white person who wasn't a land-grabbing murderer. Does anyone seriously expect of black [Africans] that they should reconcile themselves to the honour bestowed on these hoodlums?"

I say take those colonial names off our streets and landmarks--in Namibia, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Angola, Mozambique, in fact all over Africa. Let the names of our heroes go up, in honour, to replace the colonial names. Let the "travellers" get lost--literally. The Africans, for their own self-pride, will always find where Oliver Tambo Airport is.

And please, President Nujoma and the city of Windhoek authorities, I pray thee, remove that German name from the street in front of the Pan-Afrikan Centre of Namibia (PACON) and rename it Nkrumah Avenue. This, though, has nothing to do with Ghanaian chauvinism. It is a matter of due course. Perhaps PACON would want to take the matter up.