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Alcohol and Youths: Suggestions for Law Reform
Alcohol abuse is widely acknowledged to be a huge problem in Namibia, and there is a wide range of opinion on how best to address the problem. The topic is a broad one. This paper focuses on suggestions for strengthening provisions concerning alcohol…
Customary Laws on Inheritance in Namibia: Issues and Questions for Consideration in Developing New Legislation
1. GENERAL APPROACH: We recommend that Namibia’s approach to inheritance should be to retain a dual system which incorporates the positive aspects of customary law whilst at the same time ensuring respect for all constitutional rights. As a practical…
Elite land grabbing in Namibian communal areas and its impact on subsistence farmers’ livelihoods
Large scale land acquisitions by foreign investors in Africa for agricultural purposes continue to capture attention worldwide. In recent years Namibia has received some proposals from multi-national agricultural corporations to develop large scale…
“God stopped making land!” Land Rights, Conflict and Law in Namibia’s Caprivi Region
Firstly, while the land reform issue in Namibia is driven by the domination of primarily white-owned commercial farms in the centre of the country, almost half of the land in Namibia is communally owned, not privately owned. Virtually all authorities…
Help Wanted: Sex Workers in Katutura, Namibia
Two issues have been at the forefront of public discourse regarding commercial sex work in Namibia: HIV/AIDS and legal reform. Although there has been significant legal reform in other areas, the Combating of Immoral Practices Act (No. 21 of 1980)…
Livelihoods after Land Reform: Namibia Country Report (pt. 2)
In 1990, Namibia emerged from colonial rule with a skewed distribution of agricultural land and high levels of poverty. The new government led by SWAPO Party initiated a process to address the land question within the first few months of…
Livelihoods after Land Reform: Namibia Country Report (pt. 1)
In 1990, Namibia emerged from colonial rule with a skewed distribution of agricultural land and high levels of poverty. The new government led by SWAPO Party initiated a process to address the land question within the first few months of…
Unraveling Taboos: Gender and Sexuality in Namibia
1. Overview: Gender and Sexuality in Namibia Suzanne LaFont ........................................................................................1 History: Colonialism, Christianity and Tradition
2. Making Tradition: A Historical Perspective on…
2. Making Tradition: A Historical Perspective on…
“Scraping the Pot:” San in Namibia Two Decades After Independence
This study on the San of Namibia has again brought to light the need for a more broad-based approach involving all stakeholders, through participatory democracy, a legal framework for the recognition and enforcement of the rights of indigenous and…
An Assessment of the Status of the San in Namibia
Namibia is home to between 30 000 and 33 000 San, who comprise less than 2% of the national population. As a language group they are conspicuously disadvantaged vis-à-vis all other language groups in Namibia on almost every available socio-economic…
A Place We Want to Call Our Own: A Study on Land Tenure Policy and Securing Housing Rights in Namibia
At independence, apartheid policy was abolished and the new Constitution introduced the right of all Namibians to reside and settle in any part of the country. This provoked a dramatic increase of informal settlement in Windhoek, mostly around…
Namibia's Black Gold? Charcoal Production, Practices and Implications
The charcoal industry is a fairly new industry in Namibia, being an innovative by-product of clearing invader bush. The industry grew significantly in the 2001–2010 period, and has now become an important economic sector. Its development as a…
The Meanings of Inheritance: Perspectives on Namibian Inheritance Practices
1: Robert Gordon, “Introduction: On the Perniciousness of Inheritance Problems” ................................................. 1
2: Thomas Widlok, “Take it or leave it: The post- and pre-mortal inheritance of San people in the Oshikoto Region”…
2: Thomas Widlok, “Take it or leave it: The post- and pre-mortal inheritance of San people in the Oshikoto Region”…
"No Resettlement Available:" An Assessment of the Expropriation Principle and its Impact on Land Reform in Namibia
The “land question” is among the most difficult issues facing independent Namibia. About half of the agricultural land in Namibia is in the hands of about 3 500 whites, while nearly a million blacks live on subsistence farms in the communal lands.…
"Our Land They Took:" San Land Rights Under Threat in Namibia
Different San groups share problems of poverty, powerlessness, social disorganisation and marginalisation. In any agrarian society, the problems of poverty and marginalisation are never far removed from those of land and land tenure. The Namibian San…
REFUGEES, RESETTLEMENT, AND LAND AND RESOURCE CONFLICTS: THE POLITICS OF IDENTITY AMONG !XUN AND KHWE SAN IN NORTHEASTERN NAMIBIA
This study examines land use, natural resource, and development conflicts, and the effects of government policies in a remote area in northeastern Namibia, known formerly as West Bushmanland, now Tsumkwe West. !Xun and Khwe San who had been soldiers…
CHANGE IN POPULATION AND LAND-USE INTENSITIES IN SEVERAL VILLAGES OF THE FOUR NORTHERN REGIONS OF NAMIBIA
Demographic changes in several rural areas in the four northern regions of Namibia were traced from 1991 to 2001 using national census data. On average, the population growth rate of the surveyed area was 2.77% per year. Although this rate…
FARMER'S SELECTION OF LOCAL AND IMPROVED PEARL MILLET VARIETIES IN OVAMBOLAND, NORTHERN NAMIBIA
A new and improved cultivar of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), Okashana-1, was released in Namibia in 1990 and was rapidly adopted in Ovamboland. However, as most farmers do not buy new seeds each year, any genetic trials of the cultivar on actual…
OBSERVATION OF RIPARIAN VEGETATION IN WESTERN NAMIBIA BY USING NDVI AND NDWI DERIVED FROM SPOT-VEGETATION
Ephemeral rivers in western Namibia are unique entities that support both natural vegetation and human activities. This paper presents an approach for observing riparian vegetation along them synoptically using remotely sensed datasets, derived from…
LANDFORM DEVELOPMENT ALONG THE MIDDLE COURSE OF THE KUISEB RIVER IN THE NAMIB DESERT, NAMIBIA
The hyperarid to arid Namib Desert extends along the west coast of southern Africa. The Kuiseb River is one of the major ephemeral rivers originating in the interior highland, and crosses the Namib Desert. Fluvial terraces are well developed along…