The National Heritage Council of Namibia (NHCN) has called on residents of the Kavango East Region to nominate sites of heritage significance. 

Even though the region is rich in various cultures and traditions, there are no officially registered heritage sites in the region. 

It goes without saying. Residents of Kavango East take their traditional and cultural practices seriously. 

Despite this, they are yet to nominate heritage sites of significance to them. 

The National Heritage Council of Namibia has previously engaged the Kavango East Regional Council on heritage-related matters, but this is the first time they are reaching out to the general public. 

The idea is to educate locals on how to protect, preserve, and promote their Namibian heritage.

Admin Officer at the Heritage Council, Donald Munoko, said whenever they have engaged the public on the matter, residents mostly promised to return with nominations, though few have kept their word. 

Namibia has three distinctly recognised structures for heritage sites, being natural, cultural, and liberation sites. 

Munoko shared information on the few sites of heritage significance shared by local residents of Kavango East.

"One person spoke about a certain building, as in, the first parliament for black people in Namibia was in the region here. There are quite a number of places; another person spoke about places where certain chiefs used to live, and so on. I understand that in some cultures when a chief passes on the place where they used to live, the new chief does not have to live there. They have to move somewhere else. So those are the places that can be declared heritage sites because they carry the history of that specific tribe or chieftaincy." 

The Heritage Council of Namibia reiterates its call for Namibians to recognise and preserve their heritage and history.

"They would want to know where we came from, what our nation went through, and what our ancestors went through, and history forms the basis of where a person comes from, and because of that, they would be in a better position to know, perhaps, why they are a certain way and how to navigate their way forward."

Namibians who are interested in nominating sites of heritage significance can write to info@nhc-nam.org to request a nomination form, or they can simply download the form from: www.nhc-nam.org.