Family members and acquaintances of the late Archbishop Bonifatius Haushiku feel he needs to be honored for his steadfastness against the apartheid South African regime.
Archbishop Haushiku was the first black bishop ordained in Namibia in 1979 and died in 2002.
Haushiku was not only a spiritual leader but also a political activist and petitioner against the then-apartheid South African government.
Among the speakers at a roundtable discussion, Sebastian Kantema, Haushiku's family member, said they would want to see even a street named after the late bishop.
"Why a forgotten treasure? What does it mean that a forgotten treasure is a person who has done a lot that is forgotten? There is currently no school named after him in Namibia, not even in his birthplace of Kavango; nor is there a street in Windhoek named after him; nor is there a pastoral center for Roman Catholics named after him."
Those who came across him in his pastoral work say he was a humble man despite the respect and influence he commanded.
"It is his leadership and commitment to human rights that stood the test of time, and it made him an important figure in our history," shared Eulogia Muronga, a member of the Roman Catholic Church Rundu Vicariate.
Another church member, Faustinus Shikukutu, said, "I was also confirmed by Bishop Haushiku in 1982, but we were at Linus Shashipapo Secondary School at the time, so we were confirmed in a school hall rather than a church. He came to the school to confirm us; you could see that humility in him."
In 1986, the Archbishop, along with Lutheran Bishop Emeritus Kleopas Dumeni and Anglican Bishop James Kauluma, challenged the dusk-to-dawn curfew imposed by the apartheid regime.
In the same year, he was part of the delegation that traveled to Washington, DC, to appeal for pressure on the colonizers to end the occupation of Namibia.
Haushiku was installed in 1995 as the Archbishop of the then-newly created archdiocese of Windhoek.
The late Archbishop continued to fight injustice even in independent Namibia.
He led a 2000-person protest in 2000 against unemployment, poverty, disease, and gender-based violence, among others.
The Roman Catholic Church's Rundu Vicariate organizes a roundtable talk in his memory annually.