ǃNamiǂNûs (; until 2013 Lüderitz) is an electoral constituency in the

ǁKaras Region The ǁKharas Region (pronounced , with a lateral click, former name Karas Region, without the click) is the southernmost, largest, and least densely populated of the 14 regions of Namibia; its capital is Keetmanshoop. The name assigned to the r ...

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. It covers an area of and contains the major town 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. Lüderitz had a population of 16,125 people in 2023. Th ...

, 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

ǃNamiǂNûs Constituency is traditionally a stronghold of the

South West Africa People's Organization The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...

(SWAPO) party. In the 2004 regional elections, its candidate David Shoombe was elected with 4,135 of the 4,468 votes cast. In the 2010 regional elections, Jan Albertus Scholtz (SWAPO) 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 councillor 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 (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 is 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) came third with 567 votes,

independent candidate An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

s 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 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 Front ...

(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 1935) is a Namibian politician who served as the second president of Namibia from 21 March 2005 to 21 March 2015. He won the 2004 Namibian presidential election, 2004 presidential election overwhelming ...

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 A demonym (; ) or 'gentilic' () is a word that identifies a group of people ( inhabitants, residents, natives) in relation to a particular place. Demonyms are usually derived from the name of the place ( hamlet, village, town, city, region, ...

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 Khoekhoe or Khoikhoi ( ; , ), 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 ...

of the ǃAman, a subtribe of the

Nama people Nama (in older sources also called Namaqua) are an African ethnic group of South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. They traditionally speak the Khoekhoe language, Nama language of the Khoe languages, Khoe-Kwadi language family, although many Nama ...

, 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