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, Koës and Tses.
ǁKaras' western border is the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Its location in Namibia's south means that it shares a long border in the south and east with the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. Domestically, it borders only the Hardap Region, to the north.
The ǁKaras Region (pronounced , with a
, Koës and Tses.
ǁKaras' western border is the shores of the Atlantic Ocean">Koës and Tses">Koës">la ...lateral click
The lateral clicks are a family of click consonants found only in African languages. The clicking sound used by equestrians to urge on their horses is a lateral click, although it is not a speech sound in that context. Lateral clicks are foun ...
) is the southernmost and least densely populated of the 14 regions of Namibia
Namibia uses regions as its first-level subnational administrative divisions. Since 2013, it has 14 regions which in turn are subdivided into 121 constituencies.
Upon Namibian independence, the pre-existing subdivisions from the South African ...
; its capital is Keetmanshoop. The name assigned to the region reflects the prominence of the Karas mountain range in its southern part. The ǁKaras region contains the municipality of Keetmanshoop, the towns Karasburg, Lüderitz and Oranjemund
Oranjemund (German for ''"Mouth of Orange"'') is a diamond mining town of 4,000 inhabitants situated in the ǁKaras Region of the extreme southwest of Namibia, on the northern bank of the Orange River mouth at the border to South Africa.
Histor ...
, and the self-governed villages Aroab
Aroab is a village with a population of approximately 5,000 in the ǁKaras Region of southern Namibia. It is situated about south-east of Keetmanshoop on the edge of the Kalahari desert; the average annual rainfall is about 150–200 mm ...
, Berseba, Bethanie
Bethany ( grc-gre, Βηθανία,Murphy-O'Connor, 2008, p152/ref> Syriac language, Syriac: ܒܝܬ ܥܢܝܐ ''Bēṯ ʿAnyā'') or what is locally known as Al-Eizariya or al-Azariya ( ar, العيزرية, "Arabic nouns and adjectives#Nisba, la ...
, Koës">la ...Politics
As of 2020, ǁKaras had 56,352 registered voters. The name of this region was Karas Region (without thealveolar lateral click
The lateral clicks are a family of click consonants found only in African languages. The clicking sound used by equestrians to urge on their horses is a lateral click, although it is not a speech sound in that context. Lateral clicks are found t ...
of the Khoekhoegowab
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 ...
language) since Namibian independence in 1990. In an effort to consolidate spelling, it was renamed to ''ǁKaras Region'' in August 2013.
Constituencies
The region is subdivided into seven electoral constituencies: * Berseba * Karasburg East * Keetmanshoop Rural *Keetmanshoop Urban
Keetmanshoop Urban is a constituency in the ǁKaras Region of Namibia. It comprises the city of Keetmanshoop, except the Krönlein suburb. It had a population of 19,447 in 2011, up from 15,777 in 2001. the constituency had 12,569 registered vot ...
* ǃNamiǂNûs (''formerly Lüderitz Constituency'')
* Oranjemund
Oranjemund (German for ''"Mouth of Orange"'') is a diamond mining town of 4,000 inhabitants situated in the ǁKaras Region of the extreme southwest of Namibia, on the northern bank of the Orange River mouth at the border to South Africa.
Histor ...
* Karasburg West
Karasburg West is an electoral constituency in the ǁKaras Region of Namibia. the constituency had 6,609 registered voters.
Karasburg West was created in August 2013 from the western part of Karasburg Constituency, following a recommendation of ...
Election results
As in all other regions,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 ...
was by far the strongest political party since Namibian independence. In the 2004 presidential election, the region supported SWAPO's 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 ...
with 65% of the votes. No other candidate received more than 10%.
In the 2015 regional elections, SWAPO obtained 83% of the total votes (2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
: 64%) and won all seven constituencies. In the 2020 regional election the Landless People's Movement (LPM, an opposition party formed in 2016) narrowly became the strongest party. It obtained 39% of votes overall and won four of the seven constituencies, SWAPO got 36% and won the remaining three.
Governors
* Bernadus Swartbooi (until 2015) *Lucia Basson
Lucia Basson (born 20 March 1953 in Karasburg, ǁKaras Region) is a Namibian politician who has been the governor of the ǁKaras Region of Namibia from April 2015 to April 2020. A member of SWAPO, Basson was a member of the National Assembly of Nam ...
(2015–2020)
* Aletta Fredericks Aletta is a Dutch feminine given name, related to Alida, Adelheid and Adelaide. Alette is a variant form that is also used in Norway. People with the name include:
;Aletta
*Aletta de Frey (1768–1808), Dutch copyist, drawer and painter
* Aletta H ...
(2020–present)
Economy and infrastructure
The region is a predominantly a small stock-farming area, consisting mostly of animals such as sheep or goats. Game farming and irrigation farming along the Naute Dam and the Orange River have gained significantly in importance. Notable characteristics of the region include the harbour town of Lüderitz and itsfishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from stocked bodies of water such as ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. Fishing techniques ...
and boat-building industry, the diamond areas along the coast—both on and off shore—with Oranjemund
Oranjemund (German for ''"Mouth of Orange"'') is a diamond mining town of 4,000 inhabitants situated in the ǁKaras Region of the extreme southwest of Namibia, on the northern bank of the Orange River mouth at the border to South Africa.
Histor ...
as the main centre, mining enterprises in the southern part of 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 e ...
(Klein Karas area, Rosh Pinah), the Kudu Gas field in the Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...
near Lüderitz, and small-scale industries in Lüderitz and Keetmanshoop.
The Hot Water Springs at Ai-Ais, the Hot Water Springs in Warmbad, the Kokerboom Forest near Keetmanshoop, the Fish River Canyon (the second-largest in the world), the Brukaros Mountain (a former volcano) near Berseba, the coastal town Lüderitz, and several guest and game farms have become important tourist attractions. The tourism industry has the potential for further expansion.
The economic growth potential of the area is considerable, but needs an intensive general development policy. It is a profitable tax-generating area, which predominantly comes from diamond
Diamond is a solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Another solid form of carbon known as graphite is the chemically stable form of carbon at room temperature and pressure, ...
mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the Earth, usually from an ore body, lode, vein, seam, reef, or placer deposit. The exploitation of these deposits for raw material is based on the economic ...
for the central government.
The main railway line and two main trunk roads give access to South Africa. Keetmanshoop is considered as the capital of the south and has direct air, railway, and road links with 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 20 ...
. Its airport is of international standards and suitable for international air traffic. There is an airfield at Kolmanskop near Lüderitz. Well-developed landing facilities also exist at Oranjemund.
ǁKaras has 49 schools with a total of 20,110 pupils.
Demographics
According to the Namibia 2001 Population and Housing Census, ǁKaras had a population of 69,329 (32,346 females and 36,976 males or 114 males for every 100 females) growing at an annual rate of 1.3%. Thefertility rate
The total fertility rate (TFR) of a population is the average number of children that would be born to a woman over her lifetime if:
# she were to experience the exact current age-specific fertility rates (ASFRs) through her lifetime
# she were t ...
was 3.1 children per woman. About 54% lived in urban areas, while 46% lived in rural areas, and with an area of 161,215 km2, the population density was 0.4 persons per km2. By age, 11% of the population was under 5 years old, 20% between 5 and 14 years, 63% between 15 and 59 years, and 6% 60 years and older. The population was divided into 15,481 households, with an average size of 4.1 persons; 35% of households had a female head of house, while 65% had a male. For those 15 years and older, 69% had never married, 20% married with certificate, 2% married traditionally, 5% married consensually, 1% were divorced or separated, and 2% were widowed.
The most commonly spoken languages at home were Afrikaans
Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch vernacular of Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German settlers and their enslaved people. Afrikaans g ...
(40% of households), Nama/ Damara (26%) and Oshiwambo (23%). For those 15 years and older, the literacy rate was 87%. Nearly 45% of the population are from coloured and white Namibian groups. In terms of education, 52% of girls and 48% of boys between the ages of 6 and 15 were attending school, and of those 15 years and older, 77% had left school, 7% were currently at school, and 7% had never attended.
In 2001, the employment rate for the labor force (67% of those 15+) was 71% employed and 29% unemployed. For those 15 years old or older and not in the labor force (24%), 28% were students, 40% homemakers, and 32% retired or unable to work. According to the 2012 Namibia Labour Force Survey, unemployment in the ǁKaras Region stood at 23.9%. The two studies are methodologically not comparable.
Among households, 94% had safe water
Drinking water is water that is used in drink or food preparation; potable water is water that is safe to be used as drinking water. The amount of drinking water required to maintain good health varies, and depends on physical activity level, ...
, 26% no toilet facility, 50% electricity for lighting, 81% access to radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...
, and 35% had wood or charcoal for cooking. In terms of households' main sources of income, 7% derived it from farming, 69% from wages and salaries, 6% cash remittances, 5% from business or nonfarming, and 10% from pension.
For every 1,000 live births, 37 female and 56 male infant deaths occurred. The life expectancy at birth was 61 years for females and 54 for males. Among children younger than 15, 4% had lost a mother, 6% a father, and 1% were orphaned by both parents. About 3% of the entire population had a disability, of which 22% were deaf, 29% blind, 10% had a speech disability, 13% hand disability, 27% leg disability, and 7% mental disability.
External links
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Karas Region Regions of Namibia