Sebastian Kamwanga (29 April 1929 – 22 January 1999) was a ''Hompa'' (king) of the

Gciriku Gciriku is a traditional Kavango people, Kavango kingdom in what is today Namibia. Its people speak the Gciriku language. The Gciriku (Rugciriku: ''vaGciriku'') are one of the many ethnic groups in Namibia with a population of 50,529 as of 2023. T ...

, one of five kingdoms of the

Kavango people The Kavango people, also known as the vaKavango or haKavango, are a Bantu people, Bantu ethnic group that resides on the Namibian side of the Namibian–Angolan border along the Okavango River, Kavango River. They are mainly riverine living people, ...

in northern

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 ...

, from 1985 to 1999. His royal seat was situated at Mamono. He sat in the Legislative Council and the Executive Council of

Kavangoland Kavangoland was a Bantustan and then later a non-geographic ethnic-based second-tier authority, the Representative Authority of the Kavangos, in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-govern ...

from 1973 until Namibian independence in 1990 when

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 were abolished along with the

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 ...

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 ...

occupation of

South-West Africa South West Africa was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. South West Africa bordered Angola ( a Portu ...

. Kamwanga was born on April 29, 1929, in the village of Shankara in the

Kavango Region Kavango (before 1998: Okavango) was one of the thirteen regions of Namibia until it was split into the Kavango East and Kavango West Regions in 2013. Its capital was Rundu. In the north, Kavango bordered the Cuando Cubango Province of Angola, an ...

. He completed teacher education at Döbra in 1951 and began training as Roman Catholic Catechist at Bunya Catholic Mission in 1959. Soon after being crowned ''Hompa'' of the Gciriku in 1985, Kamwanga drew criticism from his peer traditional leaders in the Kavango kingdom for referring to himself as ''Nkuruhompa'' (paramount

chief Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the boat ...

), implying that he was the prime leader of the Kavango and paramount over the other four ''vaHompa''. This turned out to be a misunderstanding because he was chairman of the Executive Council of Kavangoland at that time and as such indeed in a position of power, albeit in modern rather than traditional politics. Sebastian Kamwanga was a member of the

Democratic Turnhalle Alliance 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 ...

(DTA) but nevertheless friendly towards

SWAPO 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 ...

people and aims. In the mid-1980s his farm ''Shamangomba'' was used as

People's Liberation Army of Namibia The People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was the military wing of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO). It fought against the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South West Africa Territorial Force (SWATF) during the S ...

(PLAN) operational base for their

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

actions in the Namibian struggle for independence against the South African army. He was a passionate

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

, performing at church services, and assisted with the Bible translation from

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

into

Rumanyo Gciriku, or Dciriku (Also Diriku, Dirico, Manyo or Rumanyo), is a Bantu language spoken by 305,000 people along the Kavango River in Namibia, Botswana and Angola. 24,000 people speak Gciriku in Angola, according to Ethnologue. It was first known ...

, his native tongue. Seven children resulted from his marriage to Regina Nankali Mberema. Kamwanga died on January 22, 1999.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kamwanga, Sebastian Kavango people People from Kavango Region Namibian Roman Catholics Popular Democratic Movement politicians 1929 births 1999 deaths