Adam Hartman
13 October 2009
IN order to "immortalise" the effects of the apartheid era, the Walvis Bay municipality has started setting up a 'Contract Labour and Apartheid Museum' (CLAM).
According to the Walvis Bay Museum curator, Antoinette Mostert, the CLAM is aimed at preserving the history of the contract labour system.
She told The Namibian that Walvis Bay played an important role in the maintenance of the contract labour system, especially by providing work to many workers who came from the North to earn a living in the fishing industry.
"The fishing industry was particularly a big player in contract labour practices then," said Mostert. "That's why Walvis Bay would be an ideal location for such a museum."
She said the idea had been around for some time, and that a technical committee was established to get the ball rolling. Now they are in the process of getting in contact with former contract labourers who resided at the former Walvis Bay workers compound in Kuisebmond from the 1950s to 1989.
"Anyone who was in the system, or know of someone must contact us. We would like to conduct a short interview with them about their experiences during those difficult years," said Mostert. "It would also be greatly appreciated if old items such as pass documents, service contracts, meal tickets, overalls, gumboots and photographs of that time could be lent to the museum for a special exhibition of the apartheid era."
Most workers compounds in Namibia have already been demolished and Walvis Bay has one of the last remaining structures, of which only about 30 per cent of the original structure remains.
It is proposed that the remaining building be restored as a museum. The sections to be restored are the main entrance, the old administration block and a section of the sleeping quarters and ablution block.
According to Mostert, work on the CLAM could begin as soon as next year already. The current museum situated below the public library flanking the municipal building in Walvis Bay, will also be moved to the new site.
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