Browsing by Author "Likuwa, Kletus M."

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    Colonialism and the development of the contract labour system in Kavango
    (University of Namibia Press, 2015) Likuwa, Kletus M.
    The contract labour system in Namibia was a colonial invention and needs to be explored in the context of colonial historiography. Many scholars have written on the contract labour system in Namibia. However, while there is a general understanding of the system, the Kavango as a supplier of contract labour is neglected, as the historiography has largely focused on the supply of labour from the region that was labelled ‘Ovamboland’ (Clarence-Smith and Moorsom, 1977; Cronje and Cronje, 1979; Hishongwa, 1992; Kane Berman, 1972; McKittrick, 1998; Moorsom, 1989; Cooper, 2001). However, the area known today as the regions of Kavango East and Kavango West has a significant role in the history of migrant labour in Namibia and there is an opportunity to reassess the system using a different regional context. Although labour recruitment in the Kavango had been on-going prior to 1925, it was unorganised with limited numbers of recruits collected by colonial officials, and it was only after 1925 that the South African administration finally managed to formalise labour recruitment. The formalisation of the contract labour system in the Kavango occurred with the formation of the Northern Labour Organisation (NLO) and Southern Labour Organisation (SLO) in 1925. These were later amalgamated into the South West Africa Native Labour Association (SWANLA) which recruited labourers from the Kavango and Ovambo in the early 1940s until the collapse of the contract labour system in 1972. Using qualitative research methods to gather and analyse data, this paper employs oral interviews, archival and written sources to explain the encounters of the Kavango population with colonialism and asks why both German (1885-1915) and South African (1915-1989) colonial authorities needed labourers from Kavango, and what strategies the colonial administration used to extract labour.
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    Continuity and change in gender relations within the contract labour system in Kavango, Namibia, 1925–1972
    (Journal of Southern African Studies, 2021) Likuwa, Kletus M.
    The gendered historical investigation of migrant labour in Namibia (and southern Africa more broadly) has rightly considered the ways in which women left behind in the sending areas were obliged to take on additional agricultural duties in the absence of men. This has been viewed by some scholars as a form of material exploitation of women and a potential subsidy to white employers in these settler colonial spheres. While there is some validity to these claims, the relationship between the sending areas and the work site was not simply a material one, and contract/migrant labour recruiting systems entered spaces with existing gendered cultural repertoires concerning how to deal with absent men. The significance of these cultural frameworks is worthy of additional empirical, comparative and theoretical investigation. Through the use of oral interviews supplemented by archival materials, this article discusses these issues in the context of Kavango, north-eastern Namibia, which, for much of the 20th century, was a major source of contract labourers to the colonial economy in what was then South West Africa. The article argues that colonialism and labour recruiting schemes built upon and transformed existing precolonial cultural frameworks such as ‘the people’s child’, women’s observance of taboos and a local conception of ‘home’. This article further posits that the maintenance of this migrant labour system was dependent upon its integration into local worldviews.
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    The impact of green schemes on the livelihood of communities in the Kavango region, Namibia
    (2016) Isala, Sophia M.; Mburu, David M.; Likuwa, Kletus M.
    Agricultural production in the dry lands is limited by inadequate rainfall to grow crops but irrigated agriculture increases crop yields for food security and economic benefits to the community. The irrigation projects in Namibia have been termed as Green Schemes as they give a green formation that is different from the surrounding dry vegetation. This study investigated the impacts of the Green Scheme on the livelihood of communities. In particular it sought to ask: are there economic benefits and a change in the diversification of food stuff to people living around the Green Schemes; and what challenges do the people around the Green Schemes experience? A survey was conducted on 30 households in each of the two villages. Purposive and random sampling techniques were used to select Green Schemes and households respectively. Personal interviews were undertaken using structured and unstructured questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, frequencies and cross tabulations were used to outline respondents according to the impacts of the Green Scheme. The study revealed that there was no significant association between economic activities of the two village settings (p>0.05). Most variables were the same before and after the scheme for both village settings. Changes in food diversification for people were assessed and results indicated that food items for consumption reduced for Sikondo village and increased in Siyandeya village. The study further highlights community’s assertion that Green Schemes are not adding significant improvements or changes to community livelihoods as no significant developments in the surrounding villages have been attributed to the Green Schemes. The study further highlights that while there are benefits from the Green Schemes; these are minimal and are not worth their continuing challenges of water shortages and sanitation, their losses and expectations for improved livelihood. Significantly this study highlights the need to inculcate a change in attitude so as to encourage collaborative efforts between communities and the Green Schemes management which will impact on the livelihood of people positively.
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    Native recruiters’ activities along the Kavango river boundary in north-east Namibia, 1925-1943
    (2018) Likuwa, Kletus M.; Shiweda, Napandulwe
    The article examines the activities of native recruiters along the Kavango River boundary. Native recruiters (NRs) were local people appointed by an Assistant Native Commissioner (ANC) of Rundu on behalf of the Northern Labour Organization (NLO) to recruit contract labourers from the Kavango area and Angola for farms and mines in Namibia. The article looks specifically at their collaboration with individuals and institutions in the recruiting process. It further highlights NRs difficulties of establishing networks in distant villages, the unpredictable population movements and settlement patterns across the Kavango River, conditions of wealth and food selfreliance of local communities and the Bushmen attacks as impediments to their recruiting activities.
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    Okaholo: Contract labour system and and lessons for post colonial Namibia
    (Mgbakoigba, 2017) Likuwa, Kletus M.
    This paper looks at the origins and effects of a repressive contract labour system, as experienced by the Kavango and Ovambo contract labourers.1 It also investigates the initial contact with European traders and later employers in the Police Zone, which produced a marked effect on the Ovambo and the Kavango lives. This paper analyses the contract labourers‟ distinct position in the political economy of colonial Namibia, under firstly Germany and later South African rule, and their specific economic, social and living conditions. These aspects are relevant when exploring the exploitation and attempts at totalitarian control by the colonial administration that nurtured class consciousness and political militancy. The exploitative and repressive conditions entrenched in the contract labour system persisted since the inception of Kavango and Ovambo labour migration to the south in the late 19th century, and were factors in their growing political consciousness in the early 1970s. Contract labourers were denied any rights outside their sending areas, enforced by pass and contract laws which put total control over job allocation, residence and mobility in the hands of colonial officials. This paper concludes by highlighting the lasting legacies of the colonial contract labour system in post-colonial Namibia.