Uunona ran on the ticket of the ruling SWAPO Party of Namibia and attracted 1,196 votes, compared to 213 cast for his opponent, to secure a seat at the governing council of the Oshana region. The Ompundja constituency, which he represents, has less than 5,000 residents and has long been considered a SWAPO stronghold.
Uunona told the German tabloid Bild that unlike his notorious namesake, he harbors no ambition for world domination, or even for conquest of Oshana.
“My father named me after this man. He probably didn’t understand what Adolf Hitler stood for,” the politician explained, adding that he usually goes by Adolf Uunona and that it is too late now for him to change his name.
Namibia, a former colony of Germany, located in the western part of Southern Africa won full independence in 1990, after decades of armed struggle against apartheid South Africa.
SWAPO originates as a pro-independence movement and has been a leading political force since the country became fully sovereign, though its popularity has somewhat dwindled over the past several years.
Between 1884 and 1919, Namibia existed as a German colony and suffered mass killings by the colonial administration, which sought to suppress local insurgents. The natives were imprisoned in concentration camps and died by their tens of thousands from exposure, hunger and illnesses in what modern Germany considers an act of genocide.
Germany however lost the country to Britain at the end of WW1, which administered it until it handed the country to South Africa. German cultural influence, however, remains to this day in Namibia, as evidenced by Uunona’s name.