Political and geographic Overview of NamibiaAn essay written by Simon Plake during the student exchange program between Schillergymnasium Münster, Primusschule Münster, Theodor-König-Gesamtschule Duisburg and the A. Shipena Secondary School, the School for the Hearing Impaired and the Hage Geingob School in Windhoek, Namibia 2019.

Geographic situation

The Republic of Namibia is a county in southern Africa. It is located on the western Atlantic coast of Africa, bordered by Angola and Zambia in the north, Botswana in the east and South Africa in the south. While not being landlocked, it is still the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, with a warm desert climate, especially in its two deserts.1

By Thomas Schoch - own work at http://www.retas.de/thomas/travel/namibia2003/index.html, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=879490

On its 825,615 km² of land, half of the 2,606,971 residents depend on livestock farming as their main income source.2

The country has only been independent for 29 years, after being under South African government from 1915. South Africa obtained the land in World War I, and kept it under its Apartheid regime until Namibia brokered a peace agreement after a war of independence

1 Kalahari and the country-naming Namib (~ vast place)2 Mainly cattle in the north and karakul sheep and goats in the south

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between the troops of South Africa and the namibian People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN).3

Namibia was also previously colonised by the German Empire. As Deutsch-Südwestafrika (German Southwest Africa), Namibia suffered from a failed rebellion lead by the Herero and the Nama people against the colonial rulers.

Von David Liuzzo, Attribution, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4481199

The failure of this rebellion resulted in the first genocide in the 20th century, with the German rulers starting a brutal campaign of collective punishment and racial extermination. The genocide had two organized phases. In the first phase, different rebel groups were defeated in the Battle Of Waterbeg and forced to fall back into the desert Omaheke, where most of them died from dehydration because the German forces kept them away from water supply.

In the second phase, the surviving Herero, Nama and San were imprisoned in concentration camps, where they would be forced to work for the German military and settlers, as well as in road and railroad construction. The conditions in these camps were unbelievably harsh. Prisoners received only uncooked rice as food, with no possibilities to cook. Later, dying cattle were also distributed. Shootings, hangings and beatings by the Germans were common and the sick were left without any medical attention. Medical experiments such as injecting prisoners suffering from scurvy with arsenic and opioids were often reported. Skulls and other body parts were taken to Germany for experiments, with an estimated 300 skulls being sent to Germany.4

These experiments were conducted under the lead of Prof. Eugen Fischer, who not only inspired the Nazis5, but also became chancellor of the university of Berlin, where he taught many Nazi physicians, among others Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, who in turn had Josef “Angel of Death” Mengele. They are considered a testing ground for later experiments during the Shoah.6

3 The Independence Movement was aided by many soviet countries, with Cuba and the Soviet Union in particular supplying weapons, troops and military training for PLAN4 The process of taking these skulls back to their homeland for burial has begun, with the first 20 of ca. 300 being repatriated by the Museum of the Charité Hospital Berlin5 Hitler actually read Fischer's work during imprisonment and Fisher's research was used for the Nuremberg Laws (antisemitic and racial laws discriminating “non-aryans”6 Shoah (Hebrew) = Holocaust

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The total number of victims remains uncertain, with reports ranging from 24.000 to 100.000 victims.In contrast, of the 19.000 German troops involved, only 3.000 saw combat. 676 soldiers died in combat, 76 went missing and 689 died of diseases. The fallen German soldiers were commemorated with the Reiterdenkmal, that remains in Windhoek to this day. It lists the entirety of the German losses as follows: “Remembering and honouring the brave German warriors that died for emperor and empire to save and protect this land during the Herero and Hottentot7 uprisings between 1903 and 1907, and during the Kalahari Expedition in 1908. Also remembering and honouring German citizens that died from the hands of the indigenous. Fallen, missing, died from accident, succumbed to their injuries or sickness: Of the Protection Force: 100 officers, 254 non-commissioned officers, 1180 soldiers, of the marine: 7 officers, 13 non-commissioned officers, 27 seamen. Killed during the uprising: 119 men, 4 women, 1 child.“ After the closure of concentration camps, discrimination and crimes against humanity continued. All surviving Herero were distributed as laborers amongst the German settlers. Herero were banned from owning land and cattle. From age seven and up, all Herero were forced to carry a metal disc with their labor registration number.

The United Nations classified these atrocities as a genocide with the Whitaker Report of 1985. When German president Roman Herzog visited Namibia in 1998, he met with Herero leaders who demanded reparations. He expressed regret, but did not apologise, saying that international laws about reparations did not exist when the genocide happened.

The German federal government did not call these events a genocide until 2015.

In 2016 the herero people went to court against the federal government of Germany to get compensation for the injustice committed by the German colonial government. The German government refused to negotiate with the herero people, saying that a government can only negotiate with another government. Due to that, the German government started negotiations on reconciliations with the German representative Ruprecht Polenz and the Namibian representative Zedekia Ngavirue.

Basic political Parameters

Namibia is a dominant-party semi-presidential republic.

There is one central government, governing the countries 14 Regions from its capital, Windhoek.

Like in most western countries, there are executive, legislative and judiciary branches.

7 Hottentot = deprecative racial term for different Khoikhoi people including the Nama and Orlam

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The legislative power is vested by the government and both the upper and lower house of parliament (National Council and National Assembly). The upper house is elected by 14 regional councils, which are elected every six years. The lower house is elected by popular vote for a five year term, with the president appointing a maximum of six additional, non-voting, members.

The executive powers are exercised by the government and the president (currently Hage Geingob, since 2015), who is both head of state and head of government and is elected by popular vote every 5 years, with a two-time term limit.8

The judiciary is an independent network of courts, categorized into three tiers, lower, higher and supreme court. In addition to these, there also is a network of traditional courts, dealing with minor matters and applying customary law.

In addition to the elected government, there is a network of traditional leadership with 51 officially recognised traditional authorities spread all around the country. These leaders attribute local land, can also take over minor judiciary tasks and formulate customary law for their relative people groups (often tribes).

While Namibia is a democracy, there is only one major party (dominant-party system), the South-West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO). Opposition parties are allowed, but were not able to gain any true power in the past(80-90% SWAPO) and do not appear to be able in the foreseeable future.9

Problems and controversies

In 2016, Namibia was barely named a flawed democracy by the Economist Intelligence Unit in the Democracy Index of 2016, an index that rates countries on their state of democracy, based on different factors like pluralism, civil liberties and political culture.10

According to executive members of the 2018/19 junior council of the city of Windhoek, voter participation is a big problem, especially in the capital city of Windhoek, as there is only one poll station for the approximately 350.000 residents. The poll station is at a central place, where residents wanting to vote often have to wait in the burning sun for the entire day, which is why residents often do not vote.

Also, the dominating party (SWAPO) originated in the Ovamboland People’s Organization, which only represented the Ovambo people of northern Namibia. The party, and with it Namibia’s government and institutions continue to be dominated by the Ovambo, even

8 The President | Permanent Mission of the Republic of Namibia to the United Nations

9 Official Announcement of Final Election Results of the 2014 Presidential and National Assembly Elections10 Democracy Index 2016 - The Economist Intelligence Unit

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though they only make about 50% of the population.11 This results in a political paralysis for the many other, smaller tribes and people groups in Namibia.

The existence of both traditional and elected governments has sparked some controversy, with opponents saying that traditional chiefs and councils cost the taxpayers too much money, especially when the government gave all traditional leaders brand new Toyota Hilux cars and giving them a monthly allowance of N$ 2100 and a N$ 1000 allowance for traditional authority drivers, plus a quarterly petroleum allowance of N$ 3000. In total, the government spends N$ 20,6 million on traditional authorities (equivalent to 1.282.360,30 €).12

11Namibia: People and Society - The World Factbook, CIA l12 "Chiefs cost govt millions". Article in “New Era” by Tjitemisa, Kuzeeko

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