A South African advocate and senior counsel, Muzi Sikhakhane, called on Namibian legal professionals in Windhoek to embrace African identity by moving away from colonial legal frameworks.

Addressing lawyers, students, and practitioners at a public lecture in Windhoek, Sikhakhane emphasized grounding legal thinking in indigenous knowledge and local realities.

“Africans have been taught that Europeans arrived here and found people who had no systems. And it is for that reason that we are uncritical of liberal theory about law. And we accept it. And we write no books for our people. We write no laws that are rooted in the experiences of our people, because we regard knowledge as Western. And Africans as wheelbarrows into which Eurocentric knowledge must be called.”

The lecture, hosted by Namibian lawyer Sisa Namandje, formed part of broader discussions on law, identity, and transformation in the legal sector. Namandje announced a donation of $100,000 towards members of the Sisa Namandje Society, a charity supporting underprivileged Namibian youth.

Namandje noted the high demand for assistance:

“There has been a lot and a lot of time you can testify to that and a lot of requests every day from students, from organizations in villages and towns across Namibia for us to assist until we exhausted our funds early this year.”

Former Justice Ministers Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana and Yvonne Dauseb also attended. A lively Q&A session covered legal education, land rights, the constitution, decolonization of laws, and professional development.