The city of

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

, capital of

South West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

, then

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

, was officially founded on 18 October 1890 by Curt Karl Bruno von François, an

Imperial German ', literally translated "Germans of the ", is an archaic term for those ethnic Germans who resided within the German state that was founded in 1871. In contemporary usage, it referred to German citizens, the word signifying people from the Germ ...

Colonial Official in the ''

Schutztruppe (, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned ...

'', to serve as capital of

German South West Africa German South West Africa (german: Deutsch-Südwestafrika) was a colony of the German Empire from 1884 until 1915, though Germany did not officially recognise its loss of this territory until the 1919 Treaty of Versailles. With a total area of ...

. Since then, the city had 49 different mayors, the first of them starting to serve in 1909.

List of Mayors

German Colonial Administration (1894–1915)

* 1909–1910: Dr. Fritsche, first mayor of Windhoek * 1910–1911: Gustav Voigts * 1911–1915: Peter Müller, born 1873, member of the ''Schutztruppe'', later businessman

South African Mandate (1915–1966)

* 1915–1916: Peter Müller, 1st time, born 1873, member of the ''Schutztruppe'', later businessman * 191?–1918: Dr. Kohler * 1920–1922: Peter Müller, 2nd time, born 1873, member of the ''Schutztruppe'', later businessman * 1927–1928: Joseph Wood, born 17 February 1876 in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Great Britain and Ireland, a

Wesleyan Church The Wesleyan Church, also known as the Wesleyan Methodist Church and Wesleyan Holiness Church depending on the region, is a Methodist Christian denomination in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa, Namibia, Sierra Leone, L ...

minister. * 1929–1938: John Meinert, born 9 December 1886 in

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, Germany. Businessman and founder of John Meinert Printing Ltd. * 19??–19??:

Edgar Sander Edgar is a commonly used English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Eadgar'' (composed of '' ead'' "rich, prosperous" and '' gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the later medieval period; it was, however, r ...

, born 4 March 1895 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

, Germany, entered Namibia in 1923. Sander farmed with Karakul skins and was a member of the Legislative Assembly of South-West Africa. * 19??–19??: Abraham Bernard May, 1st time, medical doctor and district surgeon * 1941–1946:

Marie Elizabeth May Bell Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in T ...

, first female mayor of Windhoek * 1950s:

Simon Frank Simon may refer to: People * Simon (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name Simon * Simon (surname), including a list of people with the surname Simon * Eugène Simon, French naturalist and the genu ...

, born 11 October 1913 in

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Places ...

, South Africa. Advocate Frank was mayor of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

before taking the post in Windhoek. * 1954–1955:

Willem Hendrik Immelmann Willem () is a Dutch and West FrisianRienk de Haan, ''Fryske Foarnammen'', Leeuwarden, 2002 (Friese Pers Boekerij), , p. 158. masculine given name. The name is Germanic, and can be seen as the Dutch equivalent of the name William in English, Gui ...

, born 11 February 1904 in

Sutherland Sutherland ( gd, Cataibh) is a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area in the Highlands of Scotland. Its county town is Dornoch. Sutherland borders Caithness and Moray Firth to the east, Ross-shire and Cromartyshire (later ...

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British Empire, British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when i ...

, was a manager at Windhoek Universal Motors. * 1956–1957:

Hermanus Johannes Steyn Hermanus (originally called ''Hermanuspietersfontein'', but shortened in 1902 as the name was too long for the postal service

, born in 1890 in Ermelo,

Transvaal Colony The Transvaal Colony () was the name used to refer to the Transvaal region during the period of direct British rule and military occupation between the end of the Second Boer War in 1902 when the South African Republic was dissolved, and the ...

. Steyn was an

ophthalmologist Ophthalmology ( ) is a surgery, surgical subspecialty within medicine that deals with the diagnosis and treatment of eye disorders. An ophthalmologist is a physician who undergoes subspecialty training in medical and surgical eye care. Followin ...

and the leader of the

National Party of South-West Africa The National Party of South West Africa ( af, Nasionale Party van Suidwes-Afrika, german: Nationale Partei Südwestafrikas) was a political party in Namibia, South West Africa. History The party was originally established in Mariental, Namibia, ...

. * 1957–1961:

Jaap Snyman Jaap may refer to: * Jaap Sahib, Sikh prayer * Jaap (given name) Jaap is a Dutch given name that is short for Jacob or Jacobus (Jacob or James in English). People with this name include: Academics * Jaap R. Bruijn (born 1938), Dutch maritime hi ...

(Jacobus van Deventer Snyman), businessman, born 7 February 1919 in

Zeerust Zeerust is a commercial town situated in Ngaka Modiri Molema district North West Province, South Africa. It lies in the Marico valley, approximately 240 kilometres northwest of Johannesburg. It lies on the N4, the main road link between South ...

, South Africa. Snyman was the owner of the car that was set on fire during the

Old Location The Old Location (or as it was known then the Main Location) was an area Apartheid, segregated for Black residents of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. It was situated in the area between today's suburbs of Hochland Park and Pioneers Park. Histor ...

Uprising in December 1959, prompting the police to open fire at the protesters and killing 11 people. * 1961–1963: Stefanus Johannes Spies, born 26 June 1922 in

Oudtshoorn Oudtshoorn (, ), the "ostrich capital of the world", is a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa, located between the Swartberg mountains to the north and the Outeniqua Mountains to the south. Two ostrich-feather booms, during 1865–1 ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. He was a businessman and entered Namibia in 1945. * 1963–1965: Jack Levinson * 1965-196?:

Sam Davis Sam Davis (October 6, 1842 – November 27, 1863) was a Confederate soldier executed by Union forces in Pulaski, Tennessee, during the American Civil War. He is popularly known as the ''Boy Hero of the Confederacy'', although he was 21 when he ...

South African Occupation (1966–1990)

* 1966–1966:

Hendrik Petrus Labuschagne Hendrik may refer to: * Hendrik (given name) * Hans Hendrik, Greenlandic Arctic traveller and interpreter * Hendrik Island, an island in Greenland * Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht, a municipality in the Netherlands * A character from '' Dragon Quest XI'' ...

(better known as Johann), a business man in the Motor Industry in Windhoek. Born 3 November 1920. * 19??–19??: Dries Yssel * 19??–19??: Joey Olivier * 19??–19??:

Petra Hamman Petra Hamman (born 1946) is an American bridge player. She was born in Germany but is now from Dallas, Texas. Bridge accomplishments Awards * Mott-Smith Trophy (1) 1999 Wins * North American Bridge Championships (10) ** Wernher Open Pairs (1) ...

, 1st time * 19??–19??: Vivienne Graig-McLaren, 1st time * 1970–1971:

Joachim Bernhard Hermann von Prittwitz und Gaffron Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocryphal ...

, mechanical engineer, first Mayor from German nobility * 1974–1976: Günther Kaschik, born 16 January 1930 in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, was a businessman and manager of the South-West African Buildings Society * 1988–1990: Abraham Bernard May, 2nd time (1912–1993)

Independent Namibia (1990–present)

* 1990–1991: Abraham Bernard May, 2nd time (1912–1993) * 1991–1992:

, 2nd time * 1993–1994: Matheus Shikongo (1950–2021), 1st time, first black Mayor, died from the

COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia The COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr. Kalumbi Shangula, announced ...

* 1994–1995: Vivienne Graig-McLaren, 2nd time * 1995–1998: Björn Graf Finck von Finckenstein (1958–2021) * 1999-2000:

Immanuel Ngatjizeko Immanuel Ngatjizeko (30 May 1952 – 5 March 2022) was a Namibian politician and member of the ruling SWAPO Party. He held five ministerial portfolios from 2003 until his retirement in 2018. Early life and education Immanuel Ngatjizeko was born ...

* 2000–2010: Matheus Shikongo (1950–2021), 2nd time, died from the

, longest-serving mayor of Windhoek * 2010–2012:

Elaine Trepper Elaine Trepper is a Namibian politician. In December 2010, she was sworn in as the mayor of Windhoek. Trepper is the 9th mayor and the first Black female mayor of Namibia's largest city and capital. A member of SWAPO The South West Africa Peo ...

* 2012–2014: Agnes Kafula * 2014–2019:

Muesee Kazapua Muesee Kazapua (born 1980) is a SWAPO politician based in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. He was the mayor of Windhoek from 2014 to 2019. Kazapua attended Windhoek's Augustineum Secondary School and holds tertiary degrees in Youth Development, ...

* 2019–2020:

Fransina Kahungu Fransina Kahungu (born 1970) is a Namibian female politician serving as a City of Windhoek Councilor, where she previously served as Deputy Mayor of Windhoek in 2016 and 2017 and Mayor of Windhoek from 2019 to 2020. Early life and career Kah ...

* 2020–2021:

Job Amupanda Job Shipululo Amupanda (born 28 August 1987 in Omaalala, Oshana Region) is a Namibian activist and politician who served as Mayor of the City of Windhoek, in office from 2 December 2020 to 1 December 2021. He is an academic at the University of N ...

* 2021–present: Sade Gawanas, first Mayor from a party not SWAPO

References

Notes

Literature

* Brenda Bravenboer: ''Windhoek – Capital of Namibia''. Gamsberg-Macmillan, Windhoek 2004.

External links

Windhoek City Council
{{Years in Namibia Mayors of Windhoek

Mayors of Windhoek In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...