<p>This thesis makes an ethnographic contribution to the anthropological debates about the contested nature of &lsquo / culture&rsquo / as a central term in the discipline. It examines discourses as tools that create, recreate, modify and transmit culture. The research was done in the town of Rundu in Kavango region, northeastern Namibia. In attempting to understand the local notions of culture this study focused on two main events: the Independence Day celebration on 21 March 2006 and a funeral that was held earlier in the month of January. During the study two particular media through which cultural ideas are negotiated, language and clothing were observed.</p>

All the taxa of scorpions previously described from South West Africa are revised and a monographic account presented with phylogenetic and biogeographic discussions and conclusions derived in terms of current concepts in systematic zoology which include cladistics and historical biogeography. South West Africa is treated as a subregion of the Afrotropical region and the limits of this subregion coincide broadly with the political borders. All the characters used are defined and illustrated. Many characters previously unstudied for the fauna are investigated. These include comparative studies of trichobothria distributions and detailed structures of the hemispermatophore. Disc electrophoresis of the haemolymph of a few species was carried out and the results discussed. Ecological factors are extensively described and discussed. The nature of the substratum, taken in its broadest possible definition, was found to be the most important single factor determining species distribution. 70 subgeneric taxa were revised, 45 of which are retained as valid, while 11 new species are described bringing the number of known species to 56. These are distributed among seven genera as follows: Buthotus, two species; Karasbergia, one species; Parabuthus, 14 species; Urop1ectes, 10 species; Hadogenes, three species; Lisposoma, two species; Opisthophthalmus, 24 species. Determination keys are provided for all levels of taxa occurring in South West Africa. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1978.

The design, implementation, management and the evaluation of sound conservation practices, is often dependent on the availability of reliable estimates of animal abundance. Large carnivores often pose particular problems in this regard, due to their low densities and wide-ranging behaviour, so the true abundance of such species are seldom able to be reported in literature . As a result, the use of indices of abundance, mostly for relative abundance, has been investigated. However, before these indices can be reliably utilized for conservation purposes , there is a pressing need to calibrate them. As of yet, calibration studies have primarily been performed on demarcated conservation areas, where individuals could be individually identified. Not all these calibrations studies reported indices to be a function of true density. Nevertheless , spoor frequency has been reported to be a function of true density for carnivores in certain Parks in Namibia . Precisely , cheetah spoor density was reported to correlate with visuals in the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. The majority of these studies elucidate a species spatial organization, animal behaviour, as the paramount factor determining the relationship between densities estimated via different censusing methods. Thus, the efficiency of spoor frequency to estimate and monitor relative abundance for wild cheetahs is yet to be empirically tested . Despite the lack of a true density estimate for the free-ranging cheetahs in the study area, evaluated spoor tracking as a possible index to monitor relative cheetah abundance using radiotelemetry densities estimates as representative of true abundance for the area, for the 1995 to 2000 period. The study is considered to be opportunistic , and a pillar for future research, as transects where spoor tracking was conducted were layout primarily for ungulates strip counts. Least-linear regression and Spearman's correlation were used to evaluate the relationship between density estimates derived by the two methods. Percentages of change on annual densities were also regressed as a mean to test spoor frequency sensitivity to density changes. The calibration of spoor frequency with estimates of density produced using radio-telemetry, without the ascription of imprints to individual animals, was poor (rs=17.4, y=0.36+0.20). The sensitivity analysis also showed spoor tracking poor reliability to monitor cheetah population. This can be attributed, in order of importance, to the discrepancies on the spatial extent sampled by the two methods, the species large home ranges, substrate quality , habitat preferences, the availability of farm road networks and the transect design, i.e., cyclic. However, the paramount factor limiting the study conclusions was the lack of a more local density estimate at a farm level. Therefore, the use of spoor frequency to estimate wild cheetah relative abundance requires further research, particularly using a different sampling design, longer straight transects and the acquisition of local densities estimates. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2007.

This thesis explores how people’s knowledge about sustainability affects participation in combined conservation and development initiatives. It focuses principally on two case studies that embody these dual objectives: the ‘conservancy programme’ in Namibia and the Alto Bermejo Project in Argentina. The concept of sustainability – of living in a way that meets both current and future needs – has led, on a global scale, to a re-casting of the relationship between conservation and development as one of necessary interdependence. Such is the credibility invested in the concept of sustainability that it is found underpinning policy and intervention in countries as distinct as Namibia and Argentina. These observations set up the two central questions of the thesis. First, what types of participation characterise decision-making processes within these two contexts? Second, how is having knowledge on sustainability one (though not the only) causal determinant of who participates, in what activities and on what basis? These questions pave the way for analysis of the types of participation found in two Namibian conservancies and specific components of the Alto Bermejo Project in Argentina. A key belief shaping policy and intervention in both contexts is that wider local involvement is a precondition of sustainable natural resource use. Consequently, strong efforts are made in both places to attempt to ensure that local people are key decision-makers. However, talk of local-level, grassroots participation in the Namibian or Argentine context, whilst by no means wholly misplaced, can obscure the high participation levels of NGO, government and specific private-sector actors. This is because both initiatives depend for the achievement of their objectives on a process of knowledge transfer from implementers to beneficiaries. Much of the knowledge deemed necessary for the realisation of these objectives lies with government, NGO and specific private sector actors. Having this knowledge, therefore, renders their participation indispensable. Indeed, the very access of these actors to the resources on which intervention depends is partly a function of the credibility invested in their knowledge. Access to resources is also a means through which the credibility of such knowledge is reinforced. This dynamic I call ‘circularity in intervention’. ‘Circularity in intervention’ entails a variety of advantages and disadvantages relative to context and perspective, which this thesis neither condemns nor condones. It does, nonetheless, seek to clarify one important point. Our account of participation in the Namibian or Argentine examples is incomplete without looking at how having or not having knowledge about sustainability affects participation.

M.Com. (Transport Economics) / This study attempts to determine the role of transport in the socio-economic development in South West Africa/Namibia. By analysing the effect of transport policy on transport supply and demand an attempt is made to determine the amount of transport capacity required for continued socio-economic development. Some economic, demographic, physical and political aspects of South West Africa/Namibia are covered as a background to the study. Current international opinion on the role of transport in development is analysed and it is pointed out that although transport is an essential requirement for growth it is not a sufficient means in itself to bring about development ...

M.Sc. / Please refer to full text to view abstract

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / The Gariep Belt is an arcuate north-south trending tectonic unit extending ;along the western coast of southern Namibia and northwestern South Africa. It forms part of the Pan-African Damara Oragert, which consists of a north-south trending coastal branch (Kaoko and Gariep Belts) and an east-west trending inland branch. The Gariep Belt is subdivided into an eastern parautochthonous passive continental margin on the western edge of the Kalahari Craton, the Port Nolloth Zone, and a western allochthonous ophiolitic terrane, the Marmora Superterrane, thrusted on the Port Nolloth Zone. The sedimentary evolution of the Gariep Belt was initiated with the deposition of sediments of the Rosh Pinah Formation into fluvial, alluvial and lacustrine depositional systems, which are associated with bimodal volcanic activity and related Zn-Pb-Cu-Ag- (+Ba) sulphide mineralization. The overlying mixed continental/shallow marine deposits of the Gumchavib Formation are overlain by the carbonate dominated Pickelhaube Formation, which was deposited in shallow marine to pelagic depositional settings. The Rosh Pinah, Gumchavib and lower Pickelhaube Formations are intruded by basic volcanic sills of the "Gannakouriep dyke swarm", The conformably overlying Obib Peak Formation was deposited into a fluvial/alluvial palaeoenvlronrnent, The Numees Formation unconformably overlies the underlying stratigraphic units and consists predominantly of glaciomarine massive diamictites and occasionally interbedded iron formations, which are occasionally interbedded with interglacial sediments and volcanics. The regional structural pattern is characterized by three phases of deformation. The earliest deformational event, D1, comprises intrafolial small scale recumbent and isoclinal F1 folds, a penetratlve beddlnq-subparatel 81 cleavage and a preferred elongation of boulders, pebbles, grains and minerals (11). Associated with D1 are bedding-subparallel thrust faults. The D2 deformational phase is characterized by small to large scale, north to northwest trending F2 folds with a generally easterly vergence, which can change into a westerly direction due to backfolding. The F2 folds are associated with a penetrative axial planar S2 cleavage. Thrusting continued during the D2 deformational phase. The latest deformational event, D3, is characterized by small to large scale open F3 folds with southerly to south-westerly trending fold axes. The metamorphic evolution of the Gariep Belt during the Damara Orogeny was associated with barrovtan-type metamorphism with a geothermal gradient of about 20oC/km, reaching greenschist to lower amphibolite facies metamorphism. The sedimentological and structural features are explained in a tectono-sedimentery model, which started with rift initiation during the deposition of Rosh Plnah Formation lithologies along old tectonic weakness zones of Middle Proterozoic age at about 780Ma. Supercontinenta! breakup is documented by the initial transgression of Gumchavib Formation sediments and the continuous trensgression of the Pickelhaube Formation, which is related to thermal subsidence after the initiation of oceanic spreading of the Adamastor Ocean. Renewed rifting and/or glacial outwash heralding' the advance of the Numees glaciation and associated seale': :'changes may be responsible for the sudden break in marine sedimentation during the deposition of the Ohio Peak Formation. The Numees glaciation is probably contemporaneous with the 670Ma old Varangian glacial and the Rapitan glacial episodes and provides a minimum age for the deposition of Gariep Group lithologies. Rifting and spreading was followed by the closure of the Adamastor Ocean, associated with. a southeastward directed subduction. of oceanic crust under the Kalahari Craton and was accompanied by intense southeastward and subsequently eastward directed tectonic transport during 01 and D2. During D3, a late Sinistral movement developed along tre defined fault zones in the late stages of the Adamastor Orogeny.Metamorphic ages from the Nama and Vanrhynsdorp Groups indicate that that the tectonic evolution of the Gariep Belt only ceased at about 500Ma. / Andrew Chakane 2018

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science. October 1990 / Problems arising from a disparity in viewpoints regarding the surface form of the Tsondab Sandstone Formation, central Namib desert, Namibia, are examined through literature review and field investigation. It is shown that large distal low-angle fans, proposed in what has been termed the Low-Angle Fan model, are absent or limited to proximal reaches of the study area. The depositional sequence identified in what has been termed the Axial Deposition Model along the Kuiseb River in the northern part of the study area is safely applicable to the rest of the study area. Further, new deposits of the Tsondab Sandstone Formation are identified. The problem of the age of the Namib desert in its fossil and active forms is discussed. The processing of satellite images is used and is shown not to be a viable technique for the identification of sedimentary bodies which are partly mantled by deposits of sediments of a similar nature. / MT2017

The period 1960-63 saw the independence of many African countries. Since then, the continent has experienced numerous military coups, attempted coups or military interference in politics. Consequently, many countries have found it important that the power of the military be used responsibly and for the benefit of the society. To achieve this they opted for subordination of the military to civilian authorities, yet coups and coup attempts have persisted. In contrast to this scenario on the continent there has not been a coup d’etat, attempted coup d’etat, or any form of unacceptable influence over the political process by the military in Namibia since independence in 1990. The purpose of this study was to determine the political institutions in the country that are necessary for democratic civil-military relations and how they have effectively contributed to the prevailing peace and stability in Namibia. Much has been written on civil-military relations; however, very little research has been produced on democratic civil-military relations in Namibia since independence. This thesis is a study of how Namibia took the path of democratic civil-military relations that have ensured civil control over the military. The research was informed by examining the generally held assumptions about civil-military relations as espoused in the literature to better understand the phenomenon of civil-military relations in Namibia that has ensured civil supremacy over the military. In this regard, the study was a qualitative method of research. This method helped to describe the concepts of civil-military relations using the guiding theoretical framework and thereafter helped to examine civil-military relations being applied in Namibia. One of the main findings of the research was that civil-military relations in Namibia are characterised by Western liberal civil-military relations traditions. The nature of civil-military relations in Namibia was influenced by factors such as historical legacy, the liberation struggle experience and the international context that shaped the Namibian state. It was also established through this study that the two main shortcomings of civil-military relations in the country were the inadequacy in parliamentary oversight of the defence and security, and serious deficiencies with regard to limited participation of civil society.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Science, University of the Witwatersrand, .Johannesburg, in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / An Index of Biological Integrity (IBI) has been developed for rangeland condition assessment in arid northwestern Namibia. The usefulness of termites as bio-indlcators has been tested and reliable sampling protocol for termite diversity in an arid ervlronrnent has been developed. The study was conducted mainly at a high- and low-intensity site on each of three farms. Two of the farms were communally owned; the other was commercially owned. (Abbreviation abstract) / Andrew Chakane 2019