Witvlei ( af, White marsh) is a village in

Okarukambe Constituency Okorukambe Constituency, until 2013 Steinhausen Constituency, is an electoral constituency in the Omaheke Region of Namibia. It had 9,066 inhabitants in 2004 and 5,818 registered voters . Its district capital is the settlement of Steinhausen. It ...

in the Omaheke Region of central-eastern Namibia. It is situated on the B6 from Windhoek on the way to

Gobabis , nickname = , settlement_type = City , motto = Ex Oriente Lux , image_skyline = Gobabis Namibia aerial.jpg , imagesize = 300px , imag ...

. It is known for producing high quality meat.

History

The original name of the village in Khoekhoegowab (Damara/Nama) is ǃUri ǃKhubus (''white fountain''). The settlement was the place of the ''Battle of Witvlei'' in the

First Herero-Nama War First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

in March 1864. Maharero, with the help of the hunter Frederick Green (known among the

Ovaherero 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 ...

as Kerina), led a contingent of 1,400 Ovaherero from Otjimbingwe against the Orlam Afrikaners under

Jan Jonker Afrikaner Jan Jonker Afrikaner (c. 1820 in Bethanie, South West Africa – 10 August 1889 near Tsoabis, South West Africa) was the second oldest son of Jonker Afrikaner and Beetje Boois. He became the sixth and last Captain of the Orlam Afrikaners in ...

. Afrikaner's forces were defeated and fled, although a number of other battles followed elsewhere.

Economy and infrastructure

''Witvlei Meat'' was inaugurated in August 2006 and was for several years the only significant employer and taxpayer in the village. The abattoir has a slaughter capacity of 27,000 cattle annually. Financial problems and arguments with Namibia's biggest meat producer MeatCo over the export quota to Norway led to a closure of the abattoir in 2014. It was set to reopen in 2016 but remains closed . The ''Witvlei Street Kids Center'' was inaugurated in the village in 2001. The regional council donated an empty, un-serviced plot to the project in November 2004, and in December 2005 the center was built with money donated by the Suiderhof Dutch Reformed Church congregation and various individuals and companies. Two pre-fabricated houses were transported from Windhoek all the way to Witvlei.

Politics

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

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 ...

which gained three seats. One seat each was won by the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) and the United Democratic Front (UDF). SWAPO also gained three seats (344 votes) in the 2015 local authority election. UDF and the

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) won one seat each with 125 and 72 votes, respectively. SWAPO won again the 2020 local authority election but lost majority control over the village council. It obtained 260 votes and gained two seats. The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly DTA, was runner-up with 194 votes and also two seats. 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), a new party registered in 2018, which won 116 votes.

Weather and climate

Witvlei receives an average of of rainfall per year. In the 2010s drought, the lowest figure was in the 2018/2019 rainy season.

People

Most of the inhabitants of Witvlei are of Damara descent, but there are also

Ovambo Ovambo may refer to: *Ovambo language *Ovambo people * Ovamboland *Ovambo sparrowhawk The Ovambo or Ovampo sparrowhawk, also known as Hilgert's sparrowhawk, (''Accipiter ovampensis'') is a species of sub-Saharan African bird of prey in the famil ...

Herero Herero may refer to: * Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today * Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group) * Herero and Namaqua Genocide * Herero chat, a species of b ...

, people from Kavango, a few Himbas, and many more inhabitants of mixed ethnicity.

References

{{Authority control Villages in Namibia Populated places in the Omaheke Region