The administrative history of Caprivi

Shampapi Shiremo writes: A group of academics from the former Eastern Caprivi Zipfel, many with PhDs and Masters Degree qualifications, who recently submitted a petition to the Delimitation Commission, insist that the history of Caprivi must be told in order to clear the matter. Apparently, their problem is that 'Caprivi land' is being systematically stolen by leaders of the Kavango Region, citing as examples the late Governor Maurus Nekaro and His Majesty Fumu Erwin Munika Mbambo, who suggested to the Delimitation Commission that the boundary of the new proposed region to be created in Eastern Kavango must be stretched up to the Kwandu River. This, according to the afore-mentioned concerned group of scholars, is tantamount to advocating for more theft of land from Caprivi Region as it is argued that Western Caprivi was never part of Kavango Region since pre-colonial, colonial and after independence. And, that 'their' land starts at Andara. For scientific and reference purposes, we hereby mainly rely on an official document (SWAA/3113) dated 13/09/1946 and a book readily available on request at the National Archives of Namibia. Inter alia it reads as follows; The geographical position of the Caprivi Zipfel is generally described as being between 21? and 25? East Longitude and along 18? South Latitude, or the area adjoining the Okavango, Mashi and Zambezi rivers. The boundaries were fixed under the German-Portuguese Agreement of 30th December 1886 and the Zanzibar Agreement of 1st July 1890. The length of the territory is quoted as 460 km and the minimum width as 32 km (20 miles). During the German Administration of South West Africa, of which the Caprivi Zipfel forms a part, the Roman Catholic Mission established a mission station at Andara and the Government established a military (later a police) station at Schuckmannsburg [Luhonono] in 1908/9. By Union Proclamation No. 12 of 1922, the administration of the Zipfel was vested in the High Commissioner of South Africa and for that purpose (by Union Proclamation No. 23 of 1922) the territory formed portion of the Bechuanaland Protectorate. By Union Proclamation No. 196 of 1929 the administration reverted to the South West Africa Administration as a portion of the Grootfontein district. By this time a police station had been established at 'Mbambo' and at 'Boti' and for administrative purposes the territory was divided, by the Mashi (Kwandu) River, into two parts, namely the Eastern and the Western parts. By Union Proclamation No. 147 of 1939 that portion of the Zipfel lying to the East of the line running due South from the Beacon No. 22 on the South West Africa/Angola border, was placed for administrative purposes under the Minister of the Union [ based at Pretoria]; Western portion continued to be administered by the South West Africa Administration. [First from] Kuring Kuru (Nkurenkuru) where an Officer in Charge for Native Affairs had been stationed by the South West Africa Administration, [but which was] abandoned and the station transferred to Runtu (now Rundu) in 1936, as latter station is more centrally situated in the present Okavango Native Territory. We can only add that the administrative status quo for Western Caprivi continued to be conducted from Rundu throughout until after independence. Hon. John Mutorwa was first Commissioner for 'Kavango Land' which stretched up to the Kwandu River until in 1992 when new regions called Caprivi and 'Okavango' were created. However, this ended in 1998 when part of Western Caprivi once again reverted back to the Kavango Region as part of the Mukwe Constituency. The reasons for reverting back to Kavango Region were made public and were mainly administrative in nature. In conclusion, we want to pose the following questions to the learned group of academics from Caprivi Region and to Mr Mulife Muchali. (1) Is there an administrative history of Caprivi that is different from the one we presented here? (2) Given the historical synopsis above, how true is the academics' statement that Western Caprivi never formed part of Kavango during pre-colonial, colonial and even after independence? (3) What is the meaning of our land starts at Andara in a new unitary Namibian State? (4) Who is the owner of the land who was supposed to be consulted when the Divundu prison was built if not Fumu Mbambo? We believe that when answering these questions in an honest manner one will be able to justify the claim of the alleged theft of land from Caprivi Region.