Olukonda is a settlement in the Oshikoto Region in the north of Namibia . It is the district capital of the Olukonda electoral constituency . During colonial time of German South West Africa the missionary station and settlement was known as the Capital of the North .
34-501: Olukonda has been the place of the first missionary station to the Ovambo people , founded in 1870 by Finnish missionaries . In the 1880s Martti Rautanen , nicknamed Nakambale , became missionary at Olukonda and initiated the building of a church in 1889, and a missionary house in 1893. Both the church and the mission station buildings are still existent and have been declared National Monuments of Namibia in 1992. Together they are now known as
68-543: A Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa, primarily modern Namibia . They are the single largest ethnic group in Namibia , accounting for about half of the population. Despite concerted efforts from Christian missionaries to wipe out what were believed to be 'pagan practices', they have retained many aspects of their cultural practices. They are also found in the southern Angolan province of Cunene , where they are more commonly referred to as "Ambo". The Ovambo consist of
102-402: A parliamentary system in which the executive is dependent on and accountable to the legislature. In each province the provincial legislature is directly elected by proportional representation , and the legislature in turn elects one of its members as Premier to head the executive. The Premier appoints an Executive Council (a cabinet), consisting of members of the legislature, to administer
136-459: A number of kindred Bantu ethnic tribes who inhabit what was formerly called Ovamboland . In Angola, they are a minority, accounting for about two percent of the total Angolan population. There are about 2 million people of the Ovambo ethnic group, and they are predominantly Lutheran (97%) and traditional faith (3%). The Ovambo people reside in the flat sandy grassy plains of north Namibia and
170-399: A system of mixed-member proportional representation , while the councils of district municipalities are partly elected by proportional representation and partly appointed by the councils of the constituent local municipalities. In each legislative body, the party or coalition of parties holding a majority of seats forms the government. The largest party not in the government is recognised as
204-762: A very large and developed village. There is a clinic now close to the Nakambale Museum and also the Lyaangula Centre named after a pastor Efraim Angula with an office for gender equality. Olukonda is the birthplace of the Namibia's president Nangolo Mbumba . This Namibia location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ovambo people The Ovambo people ( pronounced [ovambo] ), also called Aawambo , Ambo , Aawambo (Ndonga, Nghandjera, Kwambi, Kwaluudhi, Kolonghadhi, Mbalantu, mbadja), or Ovawambo (Kwanyama), are
238-501: Is also brewed and consumed in urban areas. This liquor is then called omangelengele ; it is more potent and sometimes poisonous. New Era , a Namibian English-language daily newspaper, reported that clothes, shoes, and tyres have been found to have been brewed as ingredients of omangelengele . The following table contains the names, areas, dialect names and the locations of the Ovambo according to T. E. Tirronen's Ndonga-English Dictionary. The table also contains information concerning
272-617: Is held by the Parliament of South Africa . Executive authority is vested in the President of South Africa who is head of state and head of government, and his Cabinet. The President is elected by the Parliament to serve a fixed term. South Africa's government differs from those of other Commonwealth nations. The national, provincial and local levels of government all have legislative and executive authority in their own spheres, and are defined in
306-405: Is not for meat ( ombelela ), but primarily as a source of milk ( omashini ). Their food is supplemented by hunting, fishing, and gathering. During the colonial era, the Ovambo were active in elephant ( eenjaba ) hunting for their tusks to supply the ivory demand, and they nearly hunted the elephants in their region to extinction. Each Ovambo tribe had a hereditary chief who is responsible for
340-419: Is the daughter's lineage that created Ovambo people, according to the traditional beliefs of the matrilineal Ovambo people. The rituals involve elaborate fire making and keeping ceremonies, rain making dance, and rites have involved throwing herbs in the fire and inhaling the rising smoke. The head priest traditionally was the king of a tribe, and his role was in part to attend to the supernatural spirits and be
374-495: The Cunene Province in south Angola , sometimes referred to as Ovamboland. These plains are generally flat, stoneless and at high altitude. Water courses, known as oshanas , irrigate the area. In the northern regions of Ovamboland is tropical vegetation sustained by abundant but seasonal rainfall that floods the region into temporary lakes and islands. In dry season, these pools of water empty out. The Ovambo have adapted to
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#1732863196601408-868: The National Assembly and the National Council of Provinces ), the executive (the President , who is both Head of State and Head of Government ), and the judiciary (the Constitutional Court , the Supreme Court of Appeal , and the High Court ). All bodies of the South African Government are subject to the rule of the Constitution, which is the supreme law in South Africa. The Parliament of
442-676: The Olukonda National Monument . The missionary station houses the Nakambale Museum , and the church, although not anymore in regular use, is infrequently utilised for wedding ceremonies. Rautanen and his family are buried nearby. There is a rest camp close to the National Monument, financed by the Government of Finland . With more than five schools now and a new Regional councillor, Darius "Mbolondondo" Shikongo, Olukonda became
476-735: The 14th century from the Zambia region to the northeast. They settled near the Angola-Namibia border then expanded further south in Namibia in the 17th century. They have a close cultural, linguistic and historical relationship to the Herero people found in more southern parts of Namibia, and Kavango people to their east settled around the Okavango River . In contrast to most ethnic groups in Africa, their isolated, low-density pastoral nomadic lifestyle left
510-471: The Ovamba have preferred a syncretic form of Christianity. Most weddings feature a combination of Christian beliefs and Ovambo traditions. Their traditional dancing is done to drumming (Oshiwambo folk music). The traditional home is a complex of huts surrounded by a fence of large vertical poles linked by two horizontal poles on each side. The complex is a maze with two gates but it is easy to get lost within
544-478: The Ovambo people is the primary faith of less than 3%, as most state Christianity to be their primary faith. The Ovambo's traditional religion envisions a supreme being named Kalunga , with their rites and rituals centered around sacred fire like many ethnic groups in southwestern Africa. The Kalunga cosmology states that the Supreme Being created the first man and first woman, who had a daughter and two sons. It
578-657: The Ovambo people largely unaffected by Swahili-Arab and European traders before the 19th century. When Germany established a colony in Namibia in 1884, they left the Ovambo people undisturbed. The Germans focused on the southern and coastal regions. After World War I, Namibia was annexed by the South African government into the Union of South Africa as the Territory of South West Africa . This brought major changes, with South African plantation, cattle breeding and mining operations entering
612-606: The Ovamboland. The Portuguese colonial administration in Angola, who had previously focused on their coastal, northern and eastern operations, entered southern Angola to form a border with the expanding South African presence. The Ovambo people launched several armed rebellions against South African rule in the 1920s and 1930s, which were all suppressed by the Union Defence Force . The South African administration in Namibia continued
646-528: The Republic of South Africa is South Africa 's legislature . It is located in Cape Town , the country's legislative capital . Under the present Constitution of South Africa , the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces . The current twenty-eighth Parliament was first convened on 14 June 2024. From 1910 to 1994, members of Parliament were elected chiefly by
680-506: The South African Constitution as "distinctive, interdependent and interrelated". Operating at both national and provincial levels ("domes") are advisory bodies drawn from South Africa's traditional leaders. It is a stated intention in the Constitution that the country be run on a system of cooperative governance. The national government is composed of three inter-connected branches; the legislature (parliament, consisting of
714-620: The South African white minority . The first elections with universal suffrage were held in 1994 . The President , Deputy President and the Ministers of the South African Government make up the executive branch of the national government. Ministers are Members of Parliament who are appointed by the President to head the various departments of the national government . The president is elected by parliament from its members. The third branch of
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#1732863196601748-463: The chief representative of the Ovambo tribe to the deities. Christianity arrived among the Ovambo people in the late 19th century. The first Finnish missionaries arrived in Ovamboland in the 1870s, and Ovambo predominantly converted and thereof have identified themselves as Lutheran Christians. The influence of the Finnish missions not only related to the religion, but cultural practices. For example,
782-518: The classification of noun class of the Proto-Bantu language for these words. Government of South Africa The Government of South Africa , or South African Government , is the national government of the Republic of South Africa , a parliamentary republic with a three-tier system of government and an independent judiciary , operating in a parliamentary system . Legislative authority
816-509: The daughter's children, not the son's. Polygyny is accepted, with the first wife recognized as the senior. Ovambo brew a traditional liquor called ombike . It is distilled from fermented fruit mash and particularly popular in rural areas. The fruit to produce ombike are collected from makalani palms ( Hyphaene petersiana ), jackal berries ( Diospyros mespiliformis ), buffalo thorns ( Ziziphus mucronata ), bird plumes and cluster figs ( Ficus racemosa ). Ombike , with additives like sugar,
850-554: The homestead. Each hut generally has a different purpose, such as a Ondjugo (the woman of the homestead's hut) or Epata (kitchen area). The Ovambo people lead a settled life, relying mostly on a combination of agriculture and animal husbandry. The staple crops have been millet and sorghum ( iilyavala ), and beans ( omakunde ) are another popular crop. In drier regions or seasons, pastoral activity with herds of cattle ( eengobe / eenghwandabi ), goats ( iikombo / onakamela ) and sheep ( eedi ) becomes more important. The animal husbandry
884-460: The national government is an independent judiciary. The judicial branch interprets the laws, using as a basis the laws as enacted and explanatory statements made in the Legislature during the enactment. The legal system is based on Roman-Dutch law and English common law and accepts compulsory ICJ jurisdiction, with reservations. The constitution's bill of rights provides for due process including
918-525: The north. However, because of labor shortage in the Police Zone and South Africa, in part because of massacre of native Africans such as through the Herero and Namaqua genocide , the South African government allowed migrant wage labor. Numerous Ovambo people became migrant laborers in South African towns such as Cape Town and in the Police Zone, where they experienced segregation and lived under highly restrained human rights. The South African Apartheid rule
952-484: The right to a fair , public trial within a reasonable time. The nine provinces of South Africa are governed by provincial governments which form the second layer of government, between the national government and the municipalities . The provincial governments are established, and their structure defined, by Chapter Six of the Constitution of South Africa . The provincial governments are structured according to
986-454: The so-called "Police Zone" in south, a region created by the Germans with a veterinary Red Line covering about two-thirds of the province later to become Namibia. Ovambo people were not allowed to move into the Police Zone, neither other tribes nor Europeans could move north without permits. This isolated the Ovambo people, preserving traditional authorities and reducing numbers of White farmers in
1020-514: The tribe. Many tribes adapted representation by having a council of headmen who run tribal affairs. Members of the royal family of the Owamboland are known as aakwanekamba , ovakwaluvala , ovakwamalanga , ovakwaanime , aakwanyoka and many more; only those who belong to this family by birth, through the maternal line, have a claim to chieftainship. The tribes figure their descent by a matrilineal kinship system, with hereditary chiefs arising from
1054-425: The typical dress style of the contemporary Ovambo women that includes a head scarf and loose full length maxi, is derived from those of the 19th-century Finnish missionaries. The Ovambo now predominantly follow Christian theology, prayer rituals and festivities, but some of the traditional religious practices have continued, such as the use of ritual sacred fire. They also invoke their supreme creator Kalunga . Thus,
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1088-664: The various departments of the provincial administration. Local government in South Africa consists of municipalities of various types. The largest metropolitan areas are governed by metropolitan municipalities , while the rest of the country is divided into district municipalities , each of which consists of several local municipalities . After the municipal election of 18 May 2011 there were eight metropolitan municipalities, 44 district municipalities and 226 local municipalities. Municipalities are governed by municipal councils which are elected every five years. The councils of metropolitan and local municipalities are elected by
1122-567: The widely varying seasonal weather patterns with their housing, agriculture, and livestock practices. The Ovambo people are a Bantu-speaking group. In Namibia, these are the AaNdonga, Ovakwanyama, Aakwambi, Aangandjera, Aambalantu, Ovaunda, Aakolonkadhi, Aakwaluudhi and Aambandja. In Angola, they are the Ovakwanyama, Aakafima, Evale and Aandonga. The Ovakwanyama are the largest sub-tribe. The Ovambo started migrating to their current location around
1156-480: Was brought into the Ovamboland in 1948. The South African government declared the Ovamboland an independent province in 1973, and appointed chiefs aligned with the South African government's policies. The Ovambo people rejected these developments, and in 1975 the appointed chief minister of Ovamboland was assassinated. In conjunction with the armed SWAPO movement, Namibia and its Ovambo people gained independence from South Africa in 1990. The traditional religion of
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