The Zemba (singular: OmuZemba, plural: OvaZemba) are an

indigenous people Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, residing in

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

and in

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 ...

Culture

Clothing and hair style

The Zemba women have a unique pure black hairstyle. It is emphasized with the decorations made of thin beads of white, red, blue and yellow colours.

Human rights

February 2012, traditional Zemba issued a human rights complaints declaration to the

Government of Namibia The government of Namibia consists of the executive, the legislative and the judiciary branches. The Cabinet is the executive organ of government, implementing the laws of the country. It consists of the president, the prime minister and his dep ...

, the

African Union The African Union (AU) is a continental union consisting of 55 member states located on the continent of Africa. The AU was announced in the Sirte Declaration in Sirte, Libya, on 9 September 1999, calling for the establishment of the Africa ...

and to the

OHCHR The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...

of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

that lists violations of civil, cultural, economic, environmental, social and political rights perpetrated by the

. In September 2012 the

Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples visited Namibia. He stated that in Namibia there is a lack of recognition of the minority indigenous tribes' communal lands. November 23, 2012, Zemba communities from Omuhonga and Epupa, together with the

Himba people The Himba (singular: OmuHimba, plural: OvaHimba) are an indigenous people with an estimated population of about 50,000 people living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene Region (formerly Kaokoland) and on the other side of the Kunene River in sout ...

, protested in Okanguati against Namibia's plans to construct a dam in the Kunene River in the

Baynes Mountains The Baynes Mountains are a mountain range in Namibia. Description The Baynes Mountains form an escarpment plateau in Kunene Region in northwest Namibia, near the border with Angola (formed here by the Kunene River). The mountains range in altitud ...

and against increasing mining operations on their traditional land and human rights violations against them. March 25, 2013, Zemba joined over thousand Himba people to march in protest again, this time in

Opuwo Opuwo is the capital of the Kunene Region in north-western Namibia. The town is situated about 720 km north-northwest from the capital Windhoek, and has a population of 20,000. It is the commercial hub of the Kunene Region. Economy and inf ...

, against the ongoing human rights violations that they endure in Namibia. They expressed their frustration over their chief not being recognized as a "Traditional Authority" by government, plans to build the Orokawe dam in the Baynes Mountains at the Kunene River, culturally inappropriate education, the illegal fencing of parts of their traditional land, the lack of land rights to the territory that they have lived upon for centuries, and against the implementation of the Communal Land Reform Act of 2002.

References

{{authority control Indigenous peoples of Southern Africa Human rights abuses in Angola Ethnic groups in Angola Ethnic groups in Namibia Human rights abuses in Namibia hr:Zemba jezik sw:Kizemba

Culture

Clothing and hair style

Human rights

See also

References