Oshikoto Region

Oshikoto is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, named after Lake Otjikoto. Its capital is Omuthiya. The city of Tsumeb, Otjikoto's capital until 2008, and the towns of Omuthiya and Oniipa are also situated in this region. As of 2020, Oshikoto had 112,170 registered voters.[5]

Oshikoto Region
Region
Location of the Oshikoto Region in Namibia
Location of the Oshikoto Region in Namibia
CountryNamibia
CapitalTsumeb (-2008), Omuthiya (2008-present)
Government
 • GovernorPenda Ya Ndakolo[1]
Area
[2]
 • Total38,685 km2 (14,936 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)[3]
 • Total181,973
 • Density4.7/km2 (12/sq mi)
Time zoneSouth African Standard Time: UTC+2
HDI (2017)0.636[4]
medium · 7th

Geography

Oshikoto Region is named after Lake Otjikoto[6] near its former capital Tsumeb.

Oshikoto is one of only three regions without either a shoreline or a foreign border. It borders the following regions:

Demographics

The region's population has grown significantly over recent years, partly as a result of resettling / redistribution within the Oshiwambo-speaking area. Apart from Tsumeb and Oniipa, people have settled in a corridor along the trunk road, sometimes forming quite dense concentrations.

Economy and infrastructure

The northern part of the region practices crop agriculture, whereas the main economic activities in the southern part are cattle rearing and mining. The two areas have important cultural and historical links in that the Ndonga people have extracted copper at Tsumeb since the earliest times in order to make rings and tools.

Pearl millet (Mahangu) is the principal crop in the north, while cattle are reared in the Mangetti and the Tsumeb district. Although the Tsumeb mine has only a limited life span, it provides a boost for the communal areas of the region together with the associated support industries and services.

Communication networks and infrastructure are well developed in the area: a paved trunk road runs across the region, linking it to both the south and the north of the country. The national microwave network terminates at Tsumeb, but telecommunications are now carried across the region and as far as Oshakati by means of a newly laid optical fiber cable.

According to the 2012 Namibia Labour Force Survey, unemployment in the Oshikoto Region is 26.4%.[7] Oshikoto has 200 schools with a total of 60,439 pupils.[8]

Politics

Oshikoto comprises eleven constituencies:

Regional elections

Electorally, Oshana region is consistently dominated by the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO). The 2015 local and regional elections saw SWAPO obtain 98.8% of the votes cast (2010: 95.6%)[5] and win nine of the eleven constituencies uncontested .[9] The remaining two constituencies were also won by SWAPO with majorities well over 80%.[10]

Although SWAPO's support dropped to 73.2% of the total votes in the 2020 regional election it again won in all constituencies. Most of the non-SWAPO votes went to the upstart Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), an opposition party formed in August 2020.[5]

Governors

References
  1. "Goodbye". Namibian Sun. 10 April 2020. p. 1.
  2. "Namibia's Population by Region". Election Watch. Institute for Public Policy Research (1): 3. 2013.
  3. "Oshikoto 2011 Census Regional Profile" (PDF). Statistics Namibia. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  4. "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
  5. "Regional Council 2020 Election Results". Interactive map. Electoral Commission of Namibia. 18 January 2021. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
  6. Heita, Desie (13 November 2015). "Oshikoto scores big in development budget". New Era.
  7. Duddy, Jo Maré (11 April 2013). "Unemployment rate still alarmingly high". The Namibian. Archived from the original on 14 April 2013.
  8. Miyanicwe, Clemans; Kahiurika, Ndanki (27 November 2013). "School counsellors overstretched". The Namibian. p. 1.
  9. Kangootui, Nomhle (23 October 2015). "Swapo gets ǃNamiǂNûs uncontested". The Namibian. Archived from the original on October 24, 2015.
  10. "Regional Council Election Results 2015". Electoral Commission of Namibia. 3 December 2015. p. 19. Archived from the original on 8 December 2015.
  11. Nawatiseb, Engel. "Oshikoto governor creates awareness". New Era. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
  12. "President announces governors". The Namibian. 10 April 2015. Archived from the original on 14 April 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2015.
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