‘He gave our city a touch’
Windhoekers mourn city’s ‘silent guardian’ For the past two decades, Biggs van Wyk has been a familiar face to many in Windhoek’s central business district (CBD). He was known as the old man who sat on a camping chair on the pavement, silently observing the city’s bustling traffic in solitude for hours as strangers walked […] The post ‘He gave our city a touch’ appeared first on The Namibian .
Windhoekers mourn city’s ‘silent guardian’
For the past two decades, Biggs van Wyk has been a familiar face to many in Windhoek’s central business district (CBD).
He was known as the old man who sat on a camping chair on the pavement, silently observing the city’s bustling traffic in solitude for hours as strangers walked and drove by.
His walking stick was always by his side.
“He had a relationship with the city most of us never understood,” member of parliament Imms Nashinge says in a tribute on social media following the news of Van Wyk’s death at the age of 83.
Van Wyk’s family announced this in a notice on Sunday. They have since asked for privacy.
Van Wyk died “peacefully in his sleep”, the notice reads. No further details have been provided.
Shoppers, taxi drivers, commuters, politicians and just about anybody who has lived in Windhoek long enough have noticed the white-bearded man seated along Independence Avenue and City Junction day after day for over 20 years.
Some residents say they believe Van Wyk had suffered a tragedy that affected him emotionally, while others assume he was silently praying for the city.
