Africa-Press – Namibia. The Bank of Namibia (BoN) recently found itself in hot water after referring to the new N$1 coin as the ‘Outere dollar’ in a social media post.
The post, published on Friday, read: “So they’re calling it the Outere Dollar? We see you, Namibia!”
In the post, which has since been edited, the bank defended the new dollar’s design as a celebration of informal trade.
The BoN faced backlash for acknowledging the phrase, which in Khoekhoegowab loosely translates to “give me”.
The original post was condemned as culturally insensitive.
The bank now claims it was merely responding to an interpretation of the coin that had been gaining traction online to reframe this perception.
“Our aim was to shift the conversation towards what the coin truly represents: dignified exchange, vibrant commerce, and shared economic progress. There was no intention to use it as a slur or cultural slight,” the bank said.
“The Bank of Namibia recognises and celebrates the country’s cultural and linguistic diversity and would never intentionally promote exclusion or division. The interpretation that this was a tribalist insult misconstrues both intention and the message.”
The BoN stressed that the new N$1, which shows two hands exchanging coins, was meant to honour Namibia’s retail sector and that any attempt to distort this image into one of “weakness and division” should be rejected.
Governance consultant Matthew //Gowaseb says the central bank’s post represents the careless use of a term that has a long history of tribalist connotations and calls for an apology, especially to Khoekhoe-speaking Namibians.
He also calls for mandatory diversity and cultural sensitivity training for BoN employees.
“The Bank of Namibia, as a public institution, bears the responsibility to foster inclusivity, national pride, and cohesion. Yet this decision, apparently made without cultural sensitivity, has promoted division rather than unity,” //Gowaseb says.
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