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The Caprivi Strip - Under Changing Administration

Written by Bernd Grahl | Apr 27, 2012 8:14:56 AM

The previous episode focused on the history of the Caprivi until the German administration, which ended with the First World War.

As from 1914 the area was placed under South African military rule. In 1921, the British High Commissioner for South Africa administered it as part of Bechuanaland. According to this regulation the East Caprivi fell under the responsibility of the commissioner at Kasane, while the magistrate of Maun was responsible for the West Caprivi. In 1929, the area was handed over to the South West Africa Administration. The administrative centre of East Caprivi was moved to Katima Mulilo in 1935. As from 1939, the area east of the Kwando River resorted under the Minister of Native Affairs, later the Minister of Bantu Administration and Development, while the administration of West Caprivi was placed under the authorities in Windhoek.

 

 

As a result of increasing poverty, discriminatory laws and the Administration's failure to provide education and medical services the people of East Caprivi felt neglected and oppressed. In 1958, nationalism gave rise to the formation of the short-lived Caprivi African National Union (CANU) and its president was Brendan Kangongolo Simbwaye. In 1972, the East Caprivi area received its own Legislative Assembly with limited powers, which substituted the old order of a magistrate or native commissioner. The launch of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) in 1977 introduced the process of returning the people of East Caprivi into the administrative ambit of South West Africa.

 

After years of underlying tribal conflicts between the MaSubiya and MaFwe regarding the demarcation of the borderline, the South African Administrator-General for South West Africa in 1982 announced a border commission headed by the experienced government ethnologist, Dr Kuno Budack. However, both parties rejected the proposals, which were made after in-depth investigations.

 

A further reason for the conflicts was a power struggle between the two major tribal groups, the MaSubiya and MaFwe, as the former demanded a superior position in the area. In May 1993, the so-called 'Katima Declaration of National Reconciliation' was signed under the chairmanship of the Minister of Local Government and Housing, Dr Libertine Amathila. Although the equal status of both groups and their chiefs was reaffirmed, tensions between the two groups soon mounted again. In addition, disappointment and mistrust was growing among the BaYeyi, who no longer supported the MaFwe alliance of which they had been loyal supporters for more than a century. In 1993 they elected their own chief, who was confirmed in his position by the Namibian government according to the Traditional Authorities Act in 1995. Two years later the BaMashi under chief Mayuni also split from the MaFwe.

 

 

During the mid-1990s, a group of secessionists, who called themselves the 'Caprivi Liberation Army', started a unified resistance under the leadership of Albert Mishake Muyongo. The movement was mainly aimed at identifying the people of Caprivi as 'Caprivians' and not as 'Namibians' and conceiving Caprivi as a separate independent nation. An armed attack, which was planned on 2 August 1999, was uncovered and many of the leaders were arrested, while some managed to escape into exile.

 

Since Namibia's independence repeated demands were put forward to replace the German names 'Caprivi' and 'Schuckmannsburg'. Yet, there is no uniformly accepted name for the whole area of East Caprivi. Controversial opinions relate to the often-suggested name 'Itenge' and its exact boundaries. To indicate small specific areas within the East-Caprivi the local population used other names, e.g. 'Kuhane' and 'Livanga'. The name generally favoured is 'Lyambai' - the SiLozi name for the Zambezi River. The indigenous name for Schuckmannsburg is 'Luhonono', which is derived from the many large Terminalia sericea trees, which grow there.