ǃNamiǂNûs (; until 2013 Lüderitz), is an

electoral constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

in the

ǁKaras Region The ǁKaras Region (pronounced , with a lateral click) is the southernmost and least densely populated of the 14 regions of Namibia; its capital is Keetmanshoop. The name assigned to the region reflects the prominence of the Karas mountain ra ...

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 ...

. It contains the major city of

Lüderitz Lüderitz is a town in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It lies on one of the least hospitable coasts in Africa. It is a port developed around Robert Harbour and Shark Island. The town is known for its colonial architecture, includ ...

, after which the constituency was originally named. In 2011, it had a population of 13,859, down from 14,542 in 2001. the constituency had 9,670 registered voters.

Politics

In the 2010 regional elections, SWAPO's Jan Albertus Scholtz won the constituency with 3,526 votes. His only challenger was Phyllicia Maree’ Hercules of the Rally for Democracy and Progress, who received 559 votes. In the 2015 regional elections Swapo won the constituency without any contesting opposition candidate. The 2020 regional election saw six candidates competing for the coucillor position and was only narrowly won by SWAPO. Its candidate Hambelela Ndjaleka obtained 1,654 votes, ahead of Tshinana Petrus Tshiqwetha of the

Independent Patriots for Change The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) is a political party in Namibia. It was founded by Panduleni Itula in August 2020. As an independent presidential candidate in the November 2019 election, Itula won the best result of a losing candidat ...

(IPC), an opposition party formed in August 2020, who obtained 1,438 votes. Fritz Dausab of 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 histor ...

(LPM, a new party registered in 2018) came third with 567 votes, independent candidates Reginald Paul Hercules and Michaeleno Kadhikwa got 322 and 121 votes respectively, and Gideon Kondjeni Kalenga of 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) obtained 228.

Renaming controversy

Lüderitz Constituency was renamed in August 2013, originally to ''ǃNamiǂNüs''. Namibia president

Hifikepunye Pohamba Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba (born 18 August 1936) is a Namibian politician who served as the second president of Namibia from 21 March 2005 to 21 March 2015. He won the 2004 presidential election overwhelmingly as the candidate of SWAPO, and wa ...

stated that:

"I have accepted the th DelimitationCommission's recommendation that Lüderitz Constituency be renamed ǃNamiǂNûs Constituency which was the original name of the area. This includes the current town of Lüderitz".

Other spellings of the name also popped up, and arguments arose whether or not the president's statement implied a name change of the town Lüderitz, and if so, what the town's demonym would then be. The current interpretation of the statement is that only the constituency has been renamed. The meaning of the name ''!Namiǂnûs'' is not universally accepted. It is a term of the

Khoekhoe language The Khoekhoe language (), also known by the ethnic terms Nama (''Namagowab'') , Damara (''ǂNūkhoegowab''), or Nama/Damara and formerly as Hottentot, is the most widespread of the non-Bantu languages of Southern Africa that make heavy use o ...

of the ǃAman, a subtribe of the Nama people, the inhabitants of the area before German colonialisation. Erwin Leuschner stated that even Khoekhoe natives are divided on its spelling but that it "certainly" means ''embrace''. Christopher Torchia reports that the meaning is more specific, ''place embraced by the water''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naminus Constituency Constituencies of ǁKaras Region Lüderitz States and territories established in 1992 1992 establishments in Namibia