Oshakati

Oshakati
town
New City Council building
Seal
Nickname:  shanangobe kashiiwa nambelela
Motto(s):  Unity, Justice, Development
Oshakati Located at the north of Namibia
Coordinates: 17°47′1″S 15°41′57.8″E
Country	Namibia
Region	Oshana Region
Government
• Mayor	Katrina Shimbulu
Population  (2011)
• Total	36,541
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Climate	BSh

Broadcasting tower (275 Meter high) in Oshakati

Observation Tower Oshungo ya Shakati at the new market (48 m high)

The new „Dr. Frans Aupa Indongo Open Market“ in Oshakati, opened on 11 March 2016 by the President

The old open market of Oshakati at C46 (demolished in 2016)

Oshakati is a town of 37,000 inhabitants in the Oshana Region of Namibia. It is the regional capital and was officially founded in July 1966. The city was used as a base of operations by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the South African Border War.

Oshakati is divided into the electoral constituencies of Oshakati East and Oshakati West.

History

In Oshiwambo, the language of the Ovambo, the town's name means "that which is in between", although some believe that the name (Oshakati, also Otshakati) was used to refer to the broadcast tower (275 m high), the tallest structure downtown and in Namibia. Oshakati is one of Namibia's largest cities and it is located near the B1, Namibia's main highway, which stretches from South Africa through the capital Windhoek and on to the Angolan border. The Oshakati town, (popularly known as 'Otshakati tsha Nangombe' by the native Kwambi people) is within the Kwambi traditional authority.

In February 1988, a bomb blast occurred in Oshakati at the First National Bank, killing 27 people and badly injuring nearly 30 others, most of them nurses and teachers. No one was ever officially convicted of the bombing and the issue was dropped upon independence in 1990 in favour of national reconciliation.

Development and infrastructure

Oshakati has experienced much development since Namibia achieved independence on March 21, 1990. In April 2006, the Oshakati Town Council building was inaugurated by Botswana's President Festus Mogae.

The Oshana Regional Study and Resource Center was established on September 17, 2014 through the assistance of the Millennium Challenge Account Namibia (MCA-N). Situated between the GIPF house and the Social Security regional head office in Oshakati, the library can host up to 600 people, has 220 study spaces, a meeting hall that can accommodate 125 seated people, a video conferencing room, and shelving spaces for up to 35,000 books.

Oshakati has a football team, Oshakati City FC.

Many primary and secondary schools are to be found in Oshakati, e.g. Iipumbu, Oshakati, Ngolo, Erundu Secondary School, Cabatana and others, including Afoti Combined School in Uuvudhiya constituency in Oshana Region in the Omapopo cluster of Oshakati Circuit.

Since the turn of the century, there are now many shops like Jet, Mr Price, furniture stores, shoes stores, pharmacies, etc. The three main shopping centres are Game, Etango, and Yetu. There is also Oshakati Independence Stadium and University of Namibia Northern campus.

Dr. Frans Aupa Indongo Open Market consists of seasonal market spaces, formal fresh food markets, formal cooked food markets. The following groceries are available at the market: tomato, onion, watermelon, meat, dried fish and dried edible caterpillars.

Geography

Location

Oshakati is situated in the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin and cut by the Okatana River. Both of these geographic features make the town prone to flooding; in 2008 it was last hit by heavy floods. The Oshakati Master Plan Project is underway to build a 23 kilometres (14 mi) dike around the town, to deepen and straighten the river, and to resettle people living near the riverbed and clogging the flow of water.

Climate

Oshakati has a semi-arid climate (BSh, according to the Köppen climate classification), with hot summers and relatively mild winters (with warm days and cool nights). The average annual precipitation is 472 mm (19 in), with most rainfall occurring mainly during summer.

Oshakati
Climate chart (explanation)
J F M A M J J A S O N D     109     32 19     118     31 19     98     28 18     29     30 16     3     29 12     0     26 8     0     27 7     0     29 9     1     33 14     10     34 17     47     33 19     57     32 19 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °C █ Precipitation totals in mm Source: World Climate Guide
Imperial conversion J F M A M J J A S O N D     4.3     90 66     4.6     88 66     3.9     82 64     1.1     86 61     0.1     84 54     0     79 46     0     81 45     0     84 48     0     91 57     0.4     93 63     1.9     91 66     2.2     90 66 █ Average max. and min. temperatures in °F █ Precipitation totals in inches

Politics

Oshakati is governed by a town council that has seven seats.

Oshana Region, to which Oshakati belongs, is a stronghold of Namibia's ruling SWAPO party. In the 2015 local authority election SWAPO won by a landslide (4,569 votes) and gained six council seats. The remaining seat went to the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA) which gained 330 votes. Major Katrina Shimbulu from SWAPO has been serving in this position from 2007 to 2010, and again after the 2015 election.

Culture

Oshakati Town Council hosts the annual Oshakati Totem Expo, which combines the celebration of local traditions with a modern business exhibition. The event was launched by Oshana governor Clemens Kashuupulwa, on 9 June 2012. It takes place annually for a period of four days in the months of June or July.

Notable residents

• Gazza a kwaito musician
• Tara Katupose and Muna Katupose, soccer-playing twins
• Craig Williams (1984-), cricketer

External links

• USAID report on HIV/AIDS impact on Namibian municipalities, Volume 3: Oshakati