Maltahöhe is a village in southern central

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

close to the Swartrand escarpment, about 110 km west of Mariental in the Hardap Region. It owns about 17,000 hectares of land and had 3,464 inhabitants in 2023. Maltahöhe is the administrative centre of Daweb Constituency.

Geography

Maltahöhe has two suburbs, the ''Andreville'' location and the ''Blikkiesdorp'' (literally ) informal settlement which has neither sewerage nor electricity supply.

History

Maltahöhe was established in 1899 by Henning von Burgsdorff, previously an officer in the German ''

Schutztruppe (, Protection Force) was the official name of the colonial troops in the African territories of the German colonial empire from the late 19th century to 1918. Similar to other colonial armies, the consisted of volunteer European commissioned a ...

'', the military force of the Imperial German occupation. Burgsdorff named the place after his wife Malta. After the end of the German colonial era in

South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...

the settlement became a small hub for tourism, serving as gateway to popular destinations like the

Sossusvlei Sossusvlei (sometimes written Sossus Vlei) is a salt and clay pan surrounded by high red dunes, located in the southern part of the Namib Desert, in the Namib-Naukluft National Park of Namibia. The name "Sossusvlei" is often used in an exten ...

Solitaire Solitaire may refer to: Film and television *'' Le Solitaire'', a 1987 French film * ''Solitaire'' (1991 film), a Canadian drama film * ''Solitaire'' (2008 film), a drama film *''Solitaire'', 2016 Lebanese comedy film with Bassam Kousa *"Solit ...

, Sesriem, and Duwisib Castle. The ''Maltahöhe Hotel'' was founded in 1907 and is the oldest country hotel in Namibia.

Business and development

Maltahöhe has been in steady decline for a number of decades. There is no retail store in town; the last one stopped business before 1980. Until after the year 2000 Maltahöhe used to have town status. Due to mismanagement and infighting between councillors it was downgraded to "village". Since then many businesspeople have left and unemployment has risen. There is no secondary school, only a primary school and the Daweb Junior Secondary School. The town used to be a centre for karakul sheep farming, but this branch of agriculture has likewise been shrinking. Unemployment is high with only about 500 residents in possession of some sort of job. Alcohol abuse is common, particularly in the suburbs.

Politics

Maltahöhe is governed by a village council that has five seats. The 2010 local authority election was won by the

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...

party which gained three seats. One seat each was won by the All People's Party (APP) and the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). SWAPO also won the 2015 election and gained four seats (511 votes). The remaining seat went to the APP which obtained 109 votes. The 2020 local authority election was won by the newly formed

Landless People's Movement The Landless People's Movement is an independent social movement in South Africa. It consisted of rural people and people living in shack settlements in cities. The Landless People's Movement boycotted parliamentary elections and had a history ...

(LPM) which scored well all over Hardap. LPM gained 685 votes and three seats in the village council. SWAPO took the remaining two seats with 330 votes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maltahohe Populated places in the Hardap Region Populated places established in 1899 1899 establishments in German South West Africa Villages in Namibia