South West Africa

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South West Africa
Suidwes Africa
South West Africa
Namibia (from 1968)
flag Coat of arms 1960–1990
Official languages
Capital Windhoek
Form of government Province of South Africa
General administrators
founding
  • 1915: Informal entry into force of British and South African administrations
  • 1919: Mandate territory of the League of Nations under the administration of the South African Union
  • 1946: Trust Territory of the UN (not accepted by South Africa)
  • 1949: Incorporation into the South African Union as a province
  • 1966: De jure under UN administration
independence March 21, 1990
currency South African rand
license plate SWA
LocationNamibia.svg
South West Africa until 1990
Postage stamp, South African Mandate Area : SWA -print on South African postage stamp; Portrait of King George V.

South West Africa ( Afrikaans Suidwes-Afrika ; English South West Africa (SWA or SWA)) was the name of Namibia during its foreign administration by South Africa from 1915 to 1990. On June 12, 1968, the name Namibia was already recognized by the General Assembly of the United Nations .

South West Africa emerged from the German colony of German South West Africa (1884–1915) and in 1990 became part of the Republic of Namibia .

history

The former German colony became a mandate of the League of Nations in 1919 and was placed under the administration of the South African Union . In 1946 the area was officially converted into a trust area of the UN , which would have increased the influence of the world organization. With the end of the League of Nations, South Africa declared the mandate to be extinguished, did not recognize the UN as the legal successor to the League of Nations and incorporated the area by law of February 21, 1949 as the 5th province of the Union of South Africa. So the white minority got the right to send their own representatives to the Cape Town Parliament.

In 1962, on the initiative of SWAPO and SWANU, the UN General Assembly tried to obtain clarification on the conditions in South West Africa by means of a United Nations Special Committee for South West Africa . In 1966 the UN withdrew the Republic of South Africa's mandate over South West Africa and two years later placed it under its own administration under the name Namibia de jure . After the International Court of Justice in 1971 condemned the continuing South African presence as unlawful, a transition process began in the mid-1970s under strong international pressure and internal tensions, which finally led to the independence of the Republic of Namibia in 1990.

The contemporary use of the terms South West Africa or South West is not appreciated in today's Namibia. They are perceived as a sign of a nostalgic approach to the German colonial era and the apartheid era .

Demographics

From the Department of Statistics (1970) and according to a Survey of South West African affairs , published in 1974 by the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the following information was given in accordance with the demographic group names at the time:

Population group Relatives as of May 6, 1970 Relatives 1974
"Native" groups
Kaokovelders (including Himba ) 6,467 7,000
Ovambos 342,455 396,000
Kavangos 49,577 56,000
East Caprivians 25.009 29,000
Damaras 64,973 75,000
Hereros 49.203 56,000
Tswanas 3,719 5,000
Bushmen 21,909 26,000
Other 14,756 15,000
“Colored” groups
Coloreds 28,275 32,000
Rehoboth Basters 16,474 19,000
Namas 32,853 37,000
white 90,658 99,000
South West Africa as a whole 746.328 852,000

Political-administrative structures

South Africa ruled and administered the area of ​​South West Africa / Namibia through its own parliament and ministries. The Department of Bantu Administration and Development in Pretoria was responsible for the "indigenous" population . The ruling National Party also had a Territorial Office for South West Africa (SWA) in Windhoek, from which its regional chairman, AH du Plessis, ran the business. There was also the South West Africa Legislative Assembly , which worked similarly to the provincial parliaments in South Africa and consisted only of white representatives. Its chairman was Dirk Mudge . An Executive Committee elected therefrom (all members of the National Party) was headed by Eben van Zyl .

In 1973, Prime Minister Balthazar Johannes Vorster convened an Advisory Council with 40 members, representing the white and colored organizations, representatives from the legislative councils of the homelands and the Bantu authorities, for two days in a Cape Town citizen in view of the political pressure from the United Nations regarding South Africa's Namibi policy Hotel merged. Subsequently, to continue this body, the Prime Minister appointed a staff member of the SWA administration, Billy Marais, as the official representative in South West Africa. An office was opened in Windhoek for this purpose. The first regular meeting of the Advisory Council took place on March 23, 1973 in Windhoek.

In the course of 1983 the general administrator Willie van Niekerk presented a plan for the establishment of a Committee for Constitutional Development (German about: Committee for the development of a constitution). It should consist of 50 elected and 22 nominated representatives of the 11 ethnic groups. Elections for this body were planned for September or October. However, the project received too little support and was dropped. From the associated discussion, van Niekerk introduced a new proposal for the formation of a State Council , which was supposed to bring together a group of the most important political organizations that could submit proposals for the future constitutional order for a not yet fully independent Namibia. This State Council was chaired by Judge Joseph Hefer, the then Chief Justice of the Transkei , work. In the course of the formation of opinion it became clear that the State Council had even less representative support than the disbanded (white) National Assembly. The proposal was then rejected.

See also

literature

Web links

Wiktionary: South West Africa  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. Stefan Engelberg, Doris Stolberg: Linguistics and colonial language contact , De Gruyter, 2012, Colonial and Postcolonial Linguistics series / Colonial and Postcolonial Linguistics (KPL / CPL) , No. 3.
  2. ^ Language Ordinance for South West Africa, No 733. Union of South Africa, 1919
  3. 12 June 1968: South West Africa renamed to 'Namibia'. The Namibian, June 12, 2020.
  4. ^ Faye Caroll, South West Africa and the United Nations, Lexington, KY 1967, ISBN 9780813151632 , p. 41
  5. ^ SAIRR : A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1971 . Johannesburg 1972. p. 342
  6. ^ SAIRR: A Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1975 . Johannesburg 1976. p. 331
  7. SAIRR: Survey 1971, p. 344
  8. SAIRR: Survey 1974, pp. 408-409
  9. SAIRR: Survey 1973, pp. 381-382
  10. SAIRR: Survey 1983, pp. 603-604