Otavi is a town of 4,000 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of 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 the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. Situated 360 km north of

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 202 ...

, it is the district capital of the Otavi electoral constituency.

Geography

The towns of Otavi, Tsumeb (to the north) and Grootfontein (to the northeast) define an area known as the "Otavi Triangle", also known as the Otavi Mountainland. This geographical region is sometimes referred to as the "Golden Triangle", or as the "maize Triangle", owing to the cultivation of maize in the area. The three towns that define the triangle are roughly 60 km from each other. Most of the area is

dolomitic Dolomite () is an anhydrous carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate, ideally The term is also used for a sedimentary carbonate rock composed mostly of the mineral dolomite. An alternative name sometimes used for the dolomitic ...

(

Precambrian The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of th ...

) and the district was in the past renowned for its mineral wealth. Most of the deposits have now been exhausted. ''Elefantenberg'' (elephant mountain), a mountain 1,624 meters above sea level, is located about 7 km south of Otavi.

Economy and infrastructure

Much of the town's economy relies on the two grocery stores, a mill, two banks, two gas stations, and many surrounding game/cattle farms, as well as a handful of other small business. The owners of most of these businesses are

Afrikaners Afrikaners () are a South African ethnic group descended from predominantly Dutch settlers first arriving at the Cape of Good Hope in the 17th and 18th centuries.Entry: Cape Colony. ''Encyclopædia Britannica Volume 4 Part 2: Brain to Cas ...

(white Africans or Boer, ultimately Dutch, heritage) or Germans. Due to financial mismanagement, Otavi lost its town status in 2004 and was downgraded to "village". After revenue picked up again, town status was reinstated in November 2010. With the foundation of the Ohorongo Cement factory and a gold mine to be opened , business and employment is supposed to pick up significantly. A

steel Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistan ...

manufacturing plant it's also being developed. The project will cost $201 million and it's expected to produce 100,000 tons of steel.

Transport

Otavi is a railway junction where the line from

to Oshikango branches off the line to Grootfontein. The town is served by the Otavi railway station. The B1, the main road going North and South through Namibia runs right through Otavi, about a 3½ hour drive from the capital, Windhoek.

History

On July 1, 1915, the German Army was defeated at Otavi by South African troops; on June 9 they surrendered nearby and signed the Khorab Peace Treaty. There is a memorial to this event a few miles outside of Otavi. During the South African Border War SWASpes, the

1 SWA Specialist Unit 1 SWASpes was part of the South West African Territorial Force. History The South West African Territorial Force Command identified an urgent need for horse mounted and motorbike mounted units and dogs for the operational areas. The conclusi ...

was based here, moving from

Oshivelo Oshivelo is a settlement in northern Namibia. Transport and infrastructure Oshivelo has a clinic that in 2014 was refurbished and named after Catherine Bullen, a woman that died here in 2002 due to inadequate facilities. In early 2005, the n ...

in 1979. The unit consisted of horse mounted troops, dog trackers, human trackers and motorcycle units to hunt insurgents.

Politics

Otavi is governed by a town council that has seven seats. The 2015 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 six seats and 957 votes. The remaining seat went to 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) which gained 79 votes. SWAPO also won the 2020 local authority election. It obtained 1,092 votes and gained five seats. One seat each went to 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 candid ...

(IPC, an opposition party formed in August 2020) and 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 histor ...

(LPM, an opposition party formed in 2016) with 260 and 167 votes, respectively.

Education

Previously the German ''Regierungsschule Otavi'' (Government School Otavi) was in the city.Deutscher Bundestag 4. Wahlperiode Drucksache IV/3672

Archive
.

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Comm ...

(West Germany). 23 June 1965. Retrieved on 12 March 2016. p. 32/51.

References

{{Authority control Towns in Namibia Populated places in the Otjozondjupa Region