Okakarara is a town in
Otjozondjupa Region
Otjozondjupa is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Otjiwarongo. The region further contains the municipalities of Okahandja and Grootfontein and the towns Okakarara and Otavi. , Otjozondjupa had 97,945 registered voters.
Geog ...
,
Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...
, located southeast of
Waterberg National Park
Waterberg Plateau Park is a national park in central Namibia
Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to ...
. It has an estimated population of 7,000 and is currently growing by 1,500 inhabitants annually.
Okakarara consists of the residential areas of ''Pamue'', the former whites-only area, and ''Okakarara Proper'', the former black residential area. It is the district capital of the
Okakarara electoral constituency that includes surrounding settlements.
History
The first house was built by Salathiel Kambamba Kambazembi and Reinard Tjerije who arrived in the area in 1923. The settlement grew over time and was proclaimed a town in 1992.
Okakarara became the centre of the Herero Tribal Authority in the early 1970s.
Economy and infrastructure
The town further features a secondary school, a government hospital, a vocational training centre, and an abattoir.
Since 2007, Okakarara hosts the annual Okakarara trade fair, a four-day event to bring the
breeders
A breeder is a person who selectively breeds carefully selected mates, normally of the same breed to sexually reproduce offspring with specific, consistently replicable qualities and characteristics. This might be as a farmer, agriculturalist, ...
of the
communal land
Communal land is a (mostly rural) territory in possession of a community, rather than an individual or company
. This sort of arrangement existed in almost all Europe until the 18th century, by which the king or the church officially owned the l ...
area around the town together to showcase the animals, as well as share ideas on how they can help improve farming methods. This initiative also led to the erection of a trade centre and an
SME
SME may refer to:
Economics
* Small and medium-sized enterprises
* Socialist market economy, an economic system of China
Organizations Music
* SME Limited, UK audio turntable manufacturer
* Sony Music Entertainment, US
* Spontaneous Music Ensembl ...
park.
Politics
Local authority elections
Okakarara is governed by a town council that has seven seats. Formerly part of the
Apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
-era
bantustan
A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now N ...
Hereroland
Hereroland was the first bantustan in South West Africa (present day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Herero people. It was set up in 1968.
Hereroland, like other homelands in South Wes ...
, the area is still mainly populated by the
Herero people
The Herero ( hz, Ovaherero) are a Bantu ethnic group inhabiting parts of Southern Africa. There were an estimated 250,000 Herero people in Namibia in 2013. They speak Otjiherero, a Bantu language. Though the Herero primarily reside in Namibia, t ...
. Because of this, Okakarara is one of the few towns in Namibia where the otherwise dominant
SWAPO
The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...
party faces considerable opposition.
In the
2004 elections
4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures.
In mathematics
Four is the smallest c ...
, SWAPO came only second, and the Herero-dominated
National Unity Democratic Organisation
The National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) is a political party in Namibia. It has been represented in the National Assembly of Namibia and in the National Council of Namibia since it split from the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (now PDM) ...
(NUDO) won. Due to a very unusual coalition between SWAPO and
Democratic Turnhalle Alliance
The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic ...
(DTA), the then elected town mayor Ehrnst Katjiku had SWAPO affiliation. The
2015 local authority election was again won by NUDO which gained three seats and 842 votes. SWAPO came second with 538 votes and gained two seats, and the DTA also gained two seats with 483 votes. NUDO also won the
2020 local authority election. It obtained 642 votes and gained two seats. Also at two seats each were the
Popular Democratic Movement
The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic ...
(PDM, the new name of the DTA) with 535 votes and SWAPO with 375 votes. The remaining seat went to the
Landless People's Movement
The Landless People's Movement was 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, an opposition party formed in 2016) with 365 votes.
Mayors
* 2010 – 2012 MZ Tjiho (DTA)
* 2013 – 2015 John Viakondo
* 2016 – 2018 Olga Tjiurutue (PDM)
* 2018 – present Veundjua Kamutuezu
Twin towns
Okakarara has twinning agreements with the following Namibian towns:
*
Grootfontein
, nickname =
, settlement_type = City
, motto = Fons Vitæ
, image_skyline = Grootfontein grass.jpg
, imagesize = 300px
, image_caption =
, image_flag =
, flag_si ...
*
Ongwediva
Ongwediva is a town in the Oshana Region in the north of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Ongwediva electoral constituency. it had 27,000 inhabitants and covered 4,102 hectares of land. Ongwediva has seven churches, two private sch ...
*
Otjiwarongo
Otjiwarongo ( hz, beautiful place) is a city of 28,000 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Otjiwarongo electoral constituency and also the capital of Otjozondjupa.
Otjiwarongo is situated in cen ...
*
Outapi
Outapi wa Nakafingo na Temba, also Outapi or Uutapi and Ombalantu, is a town in northern Namibia near the border with Angola situated northwest of Oshakati. It is the capital of Omusati region and the district capital of the Outapi electoral co ...
*
Outjo
Outjo (Otjiherero: ''small hills'') is a city of 6,000 inhabitants in the Kunene Region of Namibia. It is the district capital of Outjo Constituency. It is best known as a main gateway to Etosha National Park.
Overview
The town was founded by ...
*
Rehoboth
*
Tsumeb
, nickname =
, settlement_type = City
, motto = ''Glück Auf'' (German language, German for ''Good luck'')
, image_skyline = Welcome to tsumeb.jpg
, imagesize =
, image_caption ...
*
Windhoek
Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...
Notable residents
*
Zedekia Ngavirue
Zedekia Josef Ngavirue (Zed Ngavirue) (4 March 1933 – 24 June 2021) was a Namibian academic and long-serving Namibian ambassador to the European Union as well as to Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
Education and career
Ngavirue was edu ...
, diplomat
*
Ngarikutuke Tjiriange
Ngarikutuke Ernest Tjiriange (12 July 1943 – 23 June 2021) was a Namibian politician, a member of the National Assembly and former secretary-general of the ruling SWAPO Party. He also served in the Namibian cabinet from 1990 to 2010, first as ...
, former Namibian Minister of Justice
In popular culture
Okakarara is named as the venue for the "ECACL conference" that Ann Taylor has the honour of attending in the 1989 film ''
The Gods Must Be Crazy II
''The Gods Must Be Crazy II'' is a 1989 comedy film written and directed by Jamie Uys, and a sequel to the 1980 film ''The Gods Must Be Crazy'', which Uys also wrote and directed. An international co-production between South Africa, Botswana an ...
''.
Script from film ''The Gods Must Be Crazy II''
/ref>
References
{{Authority control
Populated places in the Otjozondjupa Region
Towns in Namibia