Namaland
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Namaland was a
Bantustan A Bantustan (also known as a Bantu peoples, Bantu homeland, a Black people, black homeland, a Khoisan, black state or simply known as a homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party (South Africa), National Party administration of the ...
and then later a non-geographic ethnic-based second-tier authority, the Representative Authority of the Namas, the in
South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...
(present-day
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 ...
), intended by the apartheid government to be a
self-governing Self-governance, self-government, self-sovereignty or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any ...
homeland for the Nama people. Namaland comprised an area of and was to accommodate the estimated 34,806 southern Namas of the South West African territory. The term Namaland also covers a much broader region of southern Namibia which is the traditional home of the northern Nama people. Their language, Nama, is the only surviving dialect of the Khoekhoe language. The suffix ''-qua'' means “people” and can be added to the names of most Khoekhoe groups. The region of the Northern Cape south of the Orange River is called
Namaqualand Namaqualand ( Khoikhoi: "Nama-kwa" meaning Nama Khoi people's land) is an arid region of Namibia and South Africa, extending along the west coast over and covering a total area of . It is divided by the lower course of the Orange River int ...
.


Background

In the 1960s
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
, which was administering South West Africa under a
League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...
mandate, came under increased international pressure regarding its minority White rule over the majority of Blacks. The solution envisaged by South Africa—the Odendaal Plan—was to separate the white and the non-white population, grant self-government to the isolated black territories, and thus make Whites the majority population in the vast remainder of the country. Moreover it was envisaged that by separating each ethnic group and confining people by law to their restricted areas, discrimination by race would automatically disappear. The demarcated territories were called the ''Bantustans'', and the remainder of the land was called the ''Police Zone''. Forthwith, all non-white people employed in the Police Zone became ''migrant workers'', and pass laws were established to police movement in and out of the Bantustans. The combined territory of all Bantustans was roughly equal in size to the Police Zone. However, all Bantustans were predominantly rural and excluded major towns. All harbours, most of the railway network and the tarred road infrastructure, all larger airports, the profitable diamond areas and the national parks were situated in the Police Zone.


Administrative history


Bantustan

For Southern Namibia the Odendaal Plan designated Namaland from four already existing native reserves, Berseba, Tses, the ''Krantzplatz'' reserve near Gibeon and the ''Soromas'' reserve near Bethanie, plus 165 white-owned farms. Generous offers from the administration to buy these farms from the White settlers lead to many voluntary sales but also raised farm prices in the Police Zone. The townlands of Gibeon were added, and formed the administrative capital of the Bantustan. This territory excluded the former ''Bondels'' Nama reserve, comprising around Warmbad. Its Nama inhabitants were to relocate to the new reserve. Altogether, Namaland had a size of . 34,806 Nama were estimated to live in the south of South West Africa in the 1960s; all of them were supposed to relocate to the new territory.


Representative authority (1980–1989)

Following the Turnhalle Constitutional Conference the system of
Bantustan A Bantustan (also known as a Bantu peoples, Bantu homeland, a Black people, black homeland, a Khoisan, black state or simply known as a homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party (South Africa), National Party administration of the ...
s was replaced in 1980 by Representative Authorities which functioned on the basis of ethnicity only and were no longer based on geographically defined areas. The Representative Authority of the Namas had executive and legislative competencies, being made up of elected Legislative Assemblies which would appoint Executive Committees led by chairmen. As second-tier authorities, forming an intermediate tier between central and local government, the representative authorities had responsibility for land tenure, agriculture, education up to primary level, teachers' training, health services, and social welfare and pensions and their Legislative Assemblies had the ability to pass legislation known as Ordinances.


Transition to independence (1989–1990)

Namaland, like other homelands in South West Africa, was abolished in May 1989 at the start of the transition to independence.


Leadership


See also

*
Apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English:  , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...


References

{{Coord missing, Namibia Bantustans in South West Africa Nama people States and territories established in 1980 States and territories disestablished in 1989 1980 establishments in South West Africa 1989 disestablishments in South West Africa Enclaves and exclaves