Caprivi is no more

Shinovene Immanuel

political boundaries of regions and constituencies

The ECN was supposed to start with voters’ education in April or May this year. However, due to the lack of information on the results of the work done by the Delimitation Commission, the ECN was idle.

ECN Chairperson Notemba Tjipueja confirmed to The Namibian yesterday that they had started preparations for the election since they now know the boundaries and new names of regions and constituencies.

She said this after Pohamba put an end to three prominent colonial names of places by approving the renaming of the Caprivi Region to Zambezi Region while Lüderitz was changed to indigenous name !Nami≠Nüs Town.

Pohamba announced at a press conference at State House yesterday that Kavango Region has been split into two regions, namely Kavango East and Kavango West. That brings the total number of regions in Namibia to 14. Kavango Region has an estimated population of about 220 000.

“We could not educate voters or start anything without knowing the names of regions and constituencies,” Tjipueja said.

Pohamba has summoned Members of Parliament to attend a special session next week to amend the Electoral Act and extend the expiry date of the voters’ roll which ends on 31 August.

Presidential and National Assembly elections are expected next year while the proposes new deadline is February 2014 said Tjipueja.

She also admitted that, had the voters roll expired, they could have been exposed to lawsuits for not following procedures. “We can be challenged legally,” she said.

Tjipueja, however, insisted that they have not delayed and will now start with their preparations.

Pohamba said the latest delimitation decisions are part of efforts aimed at making the work of the ECN easier.

“The ECN will be in a position to produce a credible, transparent and verifiable national voters’ roll. Our citizens will be able to scrutinise the number of registered voters in every constituency or region,” he said.

The Delimitation Commission dominated news when they began their work early this year with some people, especially in Oshana, proposing tribal regions while border disputes erupted in the Kavango and Caprivi regions.

Caprivi, Schuckmannsburg and Luderitz were all names of senior German politicians during Namibia’s colonial era.

Caprivi was named after a German general and statesman, Count Leo von Caprivi, who was the German Chancellor between 1890 and 1894. Bruno von Schuckmann, the former governor of the then German Southwest Africa had a town named after him in the former Caprivi Region called Schuckmannsburg which will now be called Luhonono, an indigenous tree to that region.

Luhonono was the original name before it was renamed Schuckmannsburg.

Lüderitz, the southern harbour town which was named after Franz Lüderitz was changed to !Nami≠Nüs. Lüderitz was a tobacco merchant from Germany and is said to have founded the town.

Namibia was a German colony from 1884 to 1919.

The Karas Region has also been renamed //Karas Region.

Pohamba also announced that 14 new constituencies will be added to the current 107. These are Opuwo Rural in Kunene, Ondangwa Urban in Oshana, Oshikunde in Ohanwgena, Nehale ya Mpingana in Oshikoto, Aranos and Daweb in Hardap and Karasburg West in //Karas Region.

The other constituencies are Ndonga Linena in Kavango East while Kavango West will have Nkurenkuru, Tondoro, Mankupi and Ncamagoro.

The Zambezi Region will have Judea Lyaboloma and Kabbe South as new constituencies.

Also renamed is the Steinhausen Constituency in Omaheke Region to Okarukombe Constituency while Luderitz Constituency was renamed to !Nami≠Nüs Constituency.

Pohamba, who has not publicly commented on the initial recommendations made in the regions prior to the release of the report last month, said he took “great care” in considering the recommendations of the Commission.

“I took into account the fact that one of the cardinal principals of our Government is efficient service delivery to our nation,” he said.

According to him, citizens who live in rural areas are entitled to government services just like other citizens who live in urban areas.

“I therefore believe that the delimitation of our country into regions and constituencies as well as adjustments of the existing constituency boundaries will go a long way in bringing services closer to our people,” he added.

Pohamba also said that he was aware his decisions would be met with criticism.

“To those who complain that democracy is expensive, I say to them they should try chaos, anarchy, instability and disharmony. Very soon they will realise that democracy no matter how expensive is by far the better option.”

The Minister of Regional, Local Government, Housing and Rural Development Charles Namoloh described the decisions as “wishes of the people”.

The government is expected to fork out a fortune to pay for the costs that come with the decision to rename and form a new regions as well as constituencies.

However Namoloh believes “cost is not an issue” since the government will afford it.