Desie Heita
28 April 2008
LÜderitz — Residents of Lüderitz turned up in their numbers for the first Crayfish Festival in the town at the seafront public open space.
A free platter of seafood - mussels, crayfish and others all cooked together - was given to every visitor. All restaurants had special menus for the festival.
The Deputy Prime Minister, Dr Libertina Amathila, officially opened the Crayfish Festival on behalf of President Hifikepunye Pohamba.
Also in attendance was the Queen of Oukwanyama, Martha Mwadinomho Kristian Nelumbu, the Ambassador to the European Commission (EC), Dr Elisabeth Pape, and Spanish Ambassador, Maria Victoria Scola Pliego.
The festival was an initiative of the local business community in partnership with the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources.
The aim of the festival was to attract investors and tourists to the town of Lüderitz.
Joseph Kalenga, a 60-year-old resident, who was born in Lüderitz, described the festival as "something that Lüderitz badly needed".
"It brought the community together," said Kalenga.
The festival will become an annual event from this year onwards.
Also for the first time the residents got to eat the otherwise expensive lobster and oyster dishes at half the price.
Originally, the intention was to fashion the festival along the lines of the Ongwediva Annual Trade Fair and the Windhoek Industrial and Agricultural Show. There were, however, less corporate exhibitors. The spokesperson of the coordinating committee, Fluksman Samuehls, said the absence of the corporate exhibitors at the festival is attributed to the short notice given to the exhibitors.
NamPost, Telecom Namibia, NovaNam and Namdeb were the only corporate exhibitors at the fair.
However, Samuehls promised that corporate exhibitors will fill next year's followup event.
A fishing vessel performed a live demonstration of how fishermen catch lobsters. The caught lobsters were cooked right there in public by Nobert Moses, who is one of Lüderitz's renowned chefs.
"We wanted people to appreciate the long sea- going culture of Lüderitz. After all Lüderitz is known as a fishing port," said Samuehls.
The festival also coincided with the opening of the sewerage effluent treatment plant, the first for the town. The plant was constructed with a grant of N$38 million from the European Commission.
"The plant has been designed with sufficient capacity to serve Lüderitz for many years to come and has been designed to treat 2000 cubic metres of raw sewage per average day," said the EC Ambassador.
At the same time, the town also saw the opening of the NovaNam Creche and Community Centre by Amathila.
Namibian musicians, Tate Buti and Jenise together with local musicians performed at the festival. There were also performers from South Africa, the Flamico dancers and clowns.
Already looking at the second event, Samuehls said next year's festival is going to be held on a long weekend to allow for more out-of-town visitors.
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