From reserve to homeland: Local identities and South African policy in Southern Namibia

Reserves in Southern Namibia under South African rule stand out both for th e direct nile system to which they were subjected and for their ambiguous r elationship to the ethnic identities of their inhabitants. While reserves w ere created above all, as reservoirs of labour power, they also acquired me aning due to the long-term attachment formed by specific groups to specific places and pieces of land. From their inception up to the 1950s, the meani ng of Southern Namibian reserves was kept unclear, partly as an ideological cloak for colonial role in the interests of the settler economy. This is e xemplified by the contrasting cases of Berseba and the Krantzplatz or Gibeo n reserve, usually associated with the Witbooi. The 'ethnic shift' that cul minated in the homeland strategy, implemented in Namibia from the mid-1960s onwards, appeared to respond to traditional aspirations frustrated by the former dispensation, but the reality of the construction of Namaland demons trated the ulterior aim of the South African administration to create more efficient means of control and to concentrate African populations. This led to removals that infringed on traditional claims of jurisdiction. The conf licts provoked in this way contributed decisively to the development of par ty politics in Southern Namibia during the 1970s. The settlement of Bondels warts in the area around Gibeon was of particular importance in challenging Witbooi claims to jurisdiction and this conflict remained unresolved a dec ade after independence. Ir testifies to the long-term consequences of colon ial state intervention into the intricacies of established group identities .