Okahandja
Mayor /: Paul Damaseb ( SWAPO )
Chief Executive Officer: Regina Alugodhi
Last election: 2010
Next election: 2015
Address of the city administration:
Geographic coordinates: 21 ° 58 ' 49 "S, 16 ° 54' 39" E
Height: 1440 m
Okahandja is a municipality of the constituency of the same name and is located south of Otjozondjupa region and in the center of Namibia on the railway line and the intersection of the National Road B1 and B2 between Swakopmund and Windhoek; The municipality has 22,500 inhabitants.
In Okahandja, the two rivers Okakango and Okamita meet.
History
Okahandja was in the late 18th century the preferred settlement site from the Bechuanaland, now Botswana, migrant Herero tribes under their chief Mutjise. In the following years although there was always transfers to Windhoek, the neighboring large -Barmen or Otjimbingwe, but the Herero always returned to Okahandja or the back also adjacent Otjikune. Here, the then head chief and guardian of ancestral fire, Tjamuaha, born in his home yard and here were the two most important chiefs of the Herero: Maharero (1820 ) and Samuel Maharero ( 1856-1923 ).
Okahandja was repeatedly the scene of bloody events: as on 23 August 1850, when Jonker Afrikaner with his tribe fell upon the resident of Okahandja Herero tribe of Kahitjene and among the Herero wreaked the " bloodbath of Okahandja ." 1861 died here in the meantime, a friend of Tjamuaha Jonker Afrikaner and a few weeks later Tjamuaha itself in subsequent years Okahandja lost its importance in favor Otjimbingwes, but moved in 1870 with " the end of the 10-year peace" again in the focus of interest, because this date marked the absolute low point of the power of the Africans. On August 23, 1880 - So exactly 30 years after the damage done by Jonker Afrikaner to the Herero massacre - Okahandja was again the scene of a bloody deed. Only this time it was Maharero had assassinated the Africans present in Otjimbingwe during sleep and thus ushered in the complete demise.
1876, the Rhenish Mission Church was built as the oldest colonial building in Namibia.
The resident of Okahandja Herero were then the most important power in South Africa, so that in 1884 the German protector of a contractual agreement with the Herero sought - though initially with only moderate success. 1888, the German officials were chased away even from Okahandja and had to seek refuge in Otjimbingwe. After amplification, the German colonial force, the relationship to the Germans, however, improved in 1890 so again a protection treaty with Curt von François was completed in Okahandja. The after initially quite harmonious relations between the German protection power and the Herero worsened by a variety of clumsiness, assaults German farmers and arbitrary actions of German companies rapidly and resulted, as the security force was bound with its largest part to the south by a revolt of the Bondelswarte, on 12 January 1904 in a fast- pervasive, emanating from Okahandja uprising of the Herero; This war did not end until seven months later with the almost total destruction of the Herero in the Battle of Waterberg and the subsequent expulsion in the Omaheke.
Okahandja then sank into historical insignificance and popped out of this until 1923 again, when the late exile in Botswana chief Samuel Maharero transferred to Okahandja, where he was buried ceremonially on 26 August 1923.
Current situation
Okahandja is still the most important traditional center of the Herero, where their great leader Tjamuaha, Maharero, Samuel Maharero, Hosea Kutako and Clemens kapuo are buried. In her memory and in memory of the Battle of Waterberg place here every year in August, the traditional Hererotag place - probably the largest tribal -related event in Namibia, albeit with increasingly tourist character.
Okahandja is also the economic center of the region and has a hospital, doctor's offices, a pharmacy, several large stores of retail chains, car repair shops and several restaurants. Of particular importance is the large tourist market Schnitzer of Okahandja.
Local Politics
In the 2010 local elections the following official final result was determined.
Thermal bulk Barmen
A few kilometers west of Okahandja the thermal bath is large Barmen ( Otjikango ). Great Barmen is a popular tourist destination. The warm, sulphurous medicinal water is led into an indoor and an outdoor pool.
Twin Cities
- China People's Republic of Maqiao, People's Republic of China ( since 2003)
Educational institutions
In Okahandja there are several basic and secondary schools, including the following:
- Berg- Op Academy
- Okahandja Secondary School
Personalities
- Richard Gariseb ( b. 1980 ), football player