Omaheke

Omaheke is the sandveld of eastern Namibia, the Kalahari edge where San people lived before Tswana, Herero and settler farmers moved in. In 1904 it became the place where tens of thousands of Herero died of thirst after the Germans drove them into it, and the region still carries that memory. It is also the home of Hosea Kutako, the Herero chief who took Namibia's case for independence to the United Nations.

1. 18th century and earlier

   San people have lived around Aminuis since at least the 1700s. In the 1880s Tswana families settled there with the permission of Andreas Lambert of Leonardville, kaptein (chief) of the Khauas Nama. source

2. 1864

   Witvlei, on today's B6, was the scene of a battle in March 1864 in which Maharero led about 1,400 Herero from Otjimbingwe against the Orlam Afrikaners under Jan Jonker Afrikaner, who were defeated and fled. source

3. August 1904

   After the battle at Ohamakari (Waterberg) on 11 August 1904, most Herero and their cattle escaped east into the Omaheke. Lothar von Trotha, the German commander, sent his troops after them to keep them from pasture and waterholes, and tens of thousands died of thirst, hunger or disease in the sandveld. source

4. 2 October 1904

   At Ozombu Zovindimba, in what is now the Otjinene constituency, von Trotha issued his extermination order, under which all Ovaherero, armed or unarmed, were to be killed. The region still marks the war and genocide of 1904 to 1908 every year. source

5. 1 December 1905

   South-east of Aminuis, German troops fought the Red Nation (a Nama group) at the Battle of ǃGu-ǃoms. Their leader Manasse ǃNoreseb was killed and is honoured in Namibia today as a hero of the fight against colonial rule. source

6. 1920s to 1970s

   After the First World War South Africa ruled the territory and did not return the land Germany had seized and divided into settler farms. It created eight native reserves for the Herero instead, among them Aminuis, declared in the 1920s, and landless Herero soon made up most of its people. source

7. 1968

   Under the apartheid Odendaal Plan, South Africa made much of the eastern sandveld part of Hereroland, an ethnic homeland or bantustan, in 1968. Two districts, Hereroland East and Hereroland West, followed in 1970. source

8. 1966 to 1990

   SWAPO (the South West Africa People's Organisation) took up arms against South African rule in 1966, and the UN recognised it as the representative of the Namibian people in 1973. Namibia became independent on 21 March 1990. source

Language

At the 2023 census Otjiherero was the main home language in 40.9 percent of Omaheke households, followed by Khoekhoegowab, the Nama and Damara language (23.9 percent), Afrikaans (7.6 percent) and Oshikwanyama (5.4 percent). Otjimbanderu, the Mbanderu form of Herero, was counted separately at 2.5 percent. source

Communities

The census counted Ovaherero as the largest group (23.9 percent), then Damara (14.1 percent), San (12.6 percent) and Ovambanderu (7.5 percent), with smaller Kwanyama, ǃGobanin, Tswana, Nama and Juǀʼhoansi communities. source

Cattle

Omaheke is Namibia's cattle country. There are about 900 commercial and 3,500 communal farmers in the region, and most of them breed cattle. source

Remembrance

Ovaherero and Ovambanderu people gather every year at Ozombu Zovindimba, about 18 km north-east of Otjinene, to remember those who died in the genocide. source