Okahao

Okahao is a town in the Omusati Region of northern Namibia and the district capital of the Okahao electoral constituency. It is situated in the Ongandjera tribal area 73 kilometres (45 mi) west of Oshakati on the main road MR123 (Outapi - Tsandi - Okahao).

Okahao
Okahao
Coordinates: 17°53′S 15°6′E
Country Namibia
RegionOmusati Region
ConstituencyOkahao Constituency
Population
 (2011)[1]
 • Total1,665
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
ClimateBSh

The area around Okahao is flat, arable land which is mainly used for subsistence farming. Okahao is the largest town in Ongandjera, the birthplace of Namibia's founding president Sam Nujoma.

Infrastructure

Okahao has an east/west, unpaved, undeveloped airstrip of 1,020 metres (3,346 ft) length[2] (ICAO code: FYOH,[3] IATA code: none), a clinic, and two hospitals.

Okahao has two secondary schools namely Shaanika Nashilongo SS and Niilo Taapopi SS(Etalaleko SS), one combined school (Nangombe Combined School), one primary school (Okahao Primary School), and one private school. There is also the Okahao community library, a Police station and a prison. Several ministries have representation in the town. The Ongozi Lodge caters for tourists.

As of November 2009, the mayor of Okahao was David Uuzombala Isai.[4]

Politics

Okahao is governed by a town council that has seven seats.[5] Omusati Region, to which Okahao belongs, is a stronghold of Namibia's ruling SWAPO party. In the run up to the 2009 general election, campaigners for the Rally for Democracy and Progress were driven out of the town by school children.[6] For the 2015 local authority election no opposition party nominated a candidate, and SWAPO won uncontested.[7]

SWAPO also won the 2020 local authority election. It obtained 391 votes and gained five seats. The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), an opposition party formed in August 2020, obtained 141 votes and gained the remaining two seats.[8]

References
  1. "Table 4.2.2 Urban population by Census years (2001 and 2011)" (PDF). Namibia 2011 - Population and Housing Census Main Report. Namibia Statistics Agency. p. 39. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  2. Okahao Airstrip
  3. ICAO entry for Okahao Airport
  4. Political office bearers Okahao Town Council
  5. "Know Your Local Authority". Election Watch (3). Institute for Public Policy Research. 2015. p. 4.
  6. Children drive RDP out of Okahao, says NSHR Archived 2011-06-07 at the Wayback Machine The Namibian 6 November 2009
  7. "Local elections results". Electoral Commission of Namibia. 28 November 2015. p. 5. Archived from the original on 10 December 2015.
  8. "2020 Local Authority Elections Results and Allocation of Seats" (PDF). Electoral Commission of Namibia. 29 November 2020. p. 13. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
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