Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare says the Olufuko Cultural Festival remains a blueprint for preserving culture and tradition and should be supported to ensure it continues for generations to come.
Speaking at the official opening of the cultural event, Dr. Ngurare reiterated the government's commitment to supporting the preservation of indigenous knowledge.
The premier stressed that the Olufuko initiation event is not a pagan practice, and through various institutions, the government will continue to support traditional leaders as custodians of cultural norms.
Dr. Ngurare reminisced on some of the key highlights spent at the Olufuko festival with the late Founding President Sam Nujoma, who served as the festival's patron.
He praised the significant contribution of the late Nujoma, who played a crucial role in ensuring the festival's annual growth, as evidenced by the increase in participants from 17 at the festival's inception in 2012 to a staggering 134 initiates from seven traditional authorities today.
He urged the organisers to ensure it continues to garner interest among the locals and beyond.
"We remain steadfast in supporting the revival, preservation and innovation of indigenous knowledge systems, including what I was mentioning, and this indigenous knowledge we must be proud of, and indigenous knowledge. We must not shy away from this indigenous knowledge, and we must not accept the nomenclature given and say it is paganism. Paganism is those who decided to sit somewhere and came to colonise Africa, and Africa did not colonise anybody. Therefore, we are not pagans, but they are pagans."
The Swapo Party Secretary General, Sophia Shaningwa, praised the late Founding President Nujoma for his steadfast patronage of the annual Olufuko Cultural Festival, which has endured over time.
Shaningwa also added that culture assists in upbringing, and if it's ignored, crime and other social ills will take precedence.
She added that Namibia will continue to revive its ancient cultural norms and practices across all 14 regions.
"The Olufuko Festival offers a powerful solution to these challenges. It serves as a vibrant platform where experts in culture and traditional norms can engage our communities in a meaningful dialogue, helping everyone to understand the festival's profound cultural and nation-building dimensions. Moreover, it offers economic opportunities for corporate and individual businesses to showcase their products, goods and services."
Omusati Governor Erginus Endjala also used the platform to call out those against the cultural practice.
"For our girls participating in Olufuko, people will translate Olufuko differently. To be considered a paganist, we call it 'ohango hiitsali', 'ohango yopashipagani' and all other languages that are not correct."
The festival will end on Tuesday.