Central-northern Namibia is home to an approximate 43% of the country’s population, a large proportion of which still depends directly on natural resources for their livelihoods. The main land use in this area is agro-silvo-pastoralism i.e. a combination of subsistence farming and silvi-culture. The few phytosociological and biodiversity data available in Namibia are not substantial to motivate environmental management and sustainable utilization of the country’s natural wealth. The Vegetation Survey Project of Namibia coupled with the BIOTA southern Africa Project therefore share a common goal of re-classifying Namibian vegetation by building on the Preliminary Vegetation Map of Namibia of 1971 and the Homogenous Framing Areas Report of 1979. The vegetation of Omusati and Oshana regions which are situated in the Mopanne Savanna in central-northern Namibia was classified and described by subjecting 415 relevés to multivariate analysis i.e. classification and ordination. The geographical distribution of these community types was established by supervised classification of satellite data of the study area. Data collected in this study will be used for hypothesis generation of further ecological investigations while the map can be used for planning and conservation of vegetation resources in the area. Copyright / Dissertation (MSc)--University of Pretoria, 2012. / Plant Science / unrestricted

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This is a study of the contest over political and social legitimacy in a former precolonial kingdom, Oukwanyama, in northern Namibia, from 1915 to the present. It tracks the historical shifts in this long time frame through the history of one place, a site of important local power, Omhedi. The research begins with the colonial occupation of the kingdom by Portugal and South Africa during World War 1, which resulted in the displacement of the kingship to the southern half of the territory which was now bifurcated by an international boundary between Angola and South West Africa. Following resistance by the last king Mandume, the institution of kingship was abolished and a Council of Headmen installed in its place. Omhedi emerged as a site of important opposition to Mandume by a leading headman, Ndjukuma, and he became one of the senior headman elevated to new levels of authority by olonial rule. The thesis tracks the establishment and consolidation of the policy of Indirect Rule under South Africa, whose aim was the efficient supply of migrant labour to the south, and the selective preservation of traditional customs in Oukwanyama in order to maintain stability in a time of rapid change. The main contribution of the research however is to follow this story into the second half of the 20th century, when Ndjukuma was succeeded by Nehemia Shoovaleka and then Gabriel Kautwima, at a time when nationalist opposition to South African rule was growing and old political legitimacies were tested. Omhedi became a site of the enforcement of headmen’s authority over both striking workers and the educated elite in the early 1970s when Ovamboland became a Bantustan homeland under apartheid. After Independence in 1990 and the demise of Kautwima, Omhedi remained empty until the restoration of the Kwanyama kingship occurred under postcolonial legislation on Traditional Authorities. The question becomes one of how political legitimacy can be reactivated at such a contradictory site of ‘traditional’ power like Omhedi, now the seat of the new Kwanyama Queen. The thesis engages with notions of gender, history, landscape and memory, as well as theories of space developed by Lefebvre and de Certeau, in order to understand the local reconceptualisation of Omhedi as different things over different times. It also analyses the textual, visual and cultural representations of the place, most notably under colonial rule, and the impact of this archive (or its limits) on postcolonial political developments / South Africa

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science. Johannesburg, 2015. / Ovahimba people from Kunene region, northern Namibia, are known for covering their bodies with red ochre mixed with clarified butterfat, traditionally known as otjize to give them a distinct red appearance. Ochre refers to a clay-like earth pigment which contains some form of iron-containing mineral. A mixture of traditional herbs with clarified butterfat, otjizumba, is also applied around the necks as a perfume. This study was prompted by ethnographic interviews amongst the Ovahimba people which revealed functional uses of the traditional cosmetics, specifically the red ochre-derived cosmetic, as a mosquito repellent. Several analytical techniques were used to determine the presence of mosquito repellent compounds in the red ochre- derived cosmetic and the aromatic plant derived-cosmetic. GC-MS was used to identify the presence of compounds which have previously been found to have mosquito repellent capabilities. GC-MS analysis identified mostly oxygenated compounds which include ketones (2-dodecanone, 2-nanonone, 2-undecanone and 2-tridecanone), aldehydes (heptanal and nonanal) and carboxylic acids (hexanoic acid and heptanoic acid) in dichloromethane extracts of otjize and mostly hydrocarbons (o-cymene, α-pinene, limonene, and squalene) and less oxygenated compounds (terpinen-4-ol and α-campholenal) in plant derived cosmetic extracts. The chemical composition of the cosmetics was also analyzed using FTIR. FTIR analysis for organics in both cosmetics showed presence of vibrational motions including O-H, C=O, C-H, C=C and C-C which affirmed the presence of organic functional groups including aldehydes, ketones, esters, alkenes and alkanes. Peak patterns observed using GC-FID showed that the mixture of red ochre and clarified butterfat released higher quantities of volatiles than when individual samples were analyzed. Mineralogical composition of red ochre was determined by PXRD, supported by FTIR which revealed as significant amount of hematite (Fe2O3), the primary mineral responsible for the red hue of the ochre. Other major minerals including quartz (SiO2), kaolinite (Al2(Si2O5)(OH)4, calcites (CaCO3) and chalconatronite(Na2Cu(CO3)2.3H2O) were found to be present in the ochre powder. Elemental analysis of the ochre determined using EDXRF and ICP-OES supported mineralogical composition as iii Ovahimba red ochre exhibited high content of iron (Fe) and silicon (Si) and a significant amount of aluminum (Al), calcium (Ca) and copper (Cu). Based on % weight, presence of transition metals in red ochre powder identified using ICP-OES was observed in the descending order; Fe> V> Cu> Au> Ti> Zr. Based on the analysis carried out in this study, it is suggested that red ochre provides catalytic role, due to its diverse metal content especially the presence of transition metals including Fe and Cu, which might be influencing the production of secondary products during autoxidation of fatty acids present in otjize, specifically ketones and aldehydes. It was also concluded that the composition of clarified butterfat could be attributed to the release of mosquito repellent compounds in the red ochre derived cosmetic because when animal fat (kudufat) was used as an organic binder, the mixture did not release any of the identified possible mosquito repellent compounds. Keywords: Aldehydes, autoxidation, clarified butterfat, fatty acids, ketones, mosquito repellents, and red ochre

When Namibia became independent in March 1990, the new government pledged to alleviate poverty, unemployment and to improve the living standards of the formerly disadvantaged groups in the country. Rural development was presented as one of the priorities because the majority of the people live in or still have strong ties to the rural areas. Rural housing and rural development consist of a number of components. Both have similar objectives, inter alia, the improvement of living standards. Development efforts are often impeded by an urban bias in government policies and projects. In the case of Namibia, certain areas do not even have a formulated policy to guide developments, especially in communal areas with a high population concentration. This study explores to what extent the government has realised rural development policies and in particular rural housing in Northern Namibia as a means to improve living standards. / Public Administration and Management / M.A. (Development Administration)

When Namibia became independent in March 1990, the new government pledged to alleviate poverty, unemployment and to improve the living standards of the formerly disadvantaged groups in the country. Rural development was presented as one of the priorities because the majority of the people live in or still have strong ties to the rural areas. Rural housing and rural development consist of a number of components. Both have similar objectives, inter alia, the improvement of living standards. Development efforts are often impeded by an urban bias in government policies and projects. In the case of Namibia, certain areas do not even have a formulated policy to guide developments, especially in communal areas with a high population concentration. This study explores to what extent the government has realised rural development policies and in particular rural housing in Northern Namibia as a means to improve living standards. / Public Administration and Management / M.A. (Development Administration)