The nearest Namibian town to Katima Mulilo is Rundu, about 500km away. About 40km east of Katima Mulilo lies the village of Bukalo, where the road to Ngoma branches off and joins Namibia to Botswana.
Economy and infrastructure
Established and run as a garrison for a long time, Katima Mulilo still shows signs of its military past. In the city centre was the South African Defence Force military base and almost every house had a bomb shelter. The town benefited from the military presence in terms of infrastructure and employment, and there are still a number of military bases surrounding the town.[7]
Since the opening of the Katima Mulilo Bridge that spans the Zambezi River and connects the Zambian Copperbelt with the Namibian deep sea harbour at Walvis Bay in 2004, Katima Mulilo has become a boom town that attracts significant investment. This development has, however, also fanned illegal business activities, and driven the establishment of shanty towns to an extent that endangers social stability.[8]
The town features an Export Processing Zone and the largest open market in Namibia. There is an important international electricity inter–link facility, the Caprivi Link Inter–Connector; its inauguration has improved the power supply to the town. The Zambezi Waterfront Tourism project is currently[update] under construction.[7]The Caprivi Vision, a newspaper from and for the Caprivi, is published in town.[9]
Since being proclaimed a town on 2 October 1999, development has been steady but Katima Mulilo does not yet compare to more established towns and cities in Namibia. Few streets are tarred, and there is a lack of street lights and sewerage. Many residents use the bushes for lack of toilet facilities, and there have been many outbreaks of diseases such as diarrhea.[10]
The town has been affected by corruption, financial mismanagement, and infighting between councillors. Water supply has been unstable because of debt to the national water supplier, NamWater.[11]
Katima Mulilo is the terminal town of the Trans–Caprivi Highway, and the highway together with its extension to Zambia is called the Trans-Caprivi Corridor. The Trans–Caprivi Highway was opened in 1999, and the bridge to Sesheke, and with it the entire Trans-Caprivi Corridor, in 2004.[12]
Katima Mulilo is not yet connected to the Namibian railway network. In October 2007, a proposal was announced for a railway connection between Namibia and Zambia which would pass through the town.[13] The line would join Grootfontein to Katima Mulilo, then run for 130km to Mulobezi with an 80km upgrade of the line to Livingstone.
The town is served by Katima Mulilo Airport, situated about 18km to the southwest, which is serviced by regular flights from the capital Windhoek.[5]
History
The name Katima Mulilo comes from the SiLozi for quench the fire, referring to nearby rapids in the Zambezi).[14] From early days (and before the advent of fire-lighting matches), there was river transport by barge (propelled by paddlers) along the Zambezi from Livingstone to Sesheke,[15] onwards past the Ngonye Falls at Sioma, where an attempt was made in about 1905 to bypass the Falls with a canal.[16] Barges were unloaded and dragged by oxen round the Falls. The route continued to Mongu, the administrative capital of Barotseland, and northwards to the settlement of Balovale (now Zambezi) in the North West of Zambia, at 13°33′04″S23°06′54″E / 13.551°S 23.115°E / -13.551; 23.115. When the barge reached Katima Mulilo, the fire was extinguished (but embers kept), and the barge was unloaded and then dragged empty up the rapids, and re-loaded before continuing the journey – but not before the fire was re-lit.[citation needed]
On 28 January 1935, the administrative centre of the Caprivi Strip was moved from Schuckmannsburg to Katima Mulilo. This date is assumed as the foundation date of Katima Mulilo. The regional office, the only brick-and-mortar building at Katima Mulilo at a time when the area consisted exclusively of pristine forests, was built under a giant Baobab situated near today's SWAPO Party regional offices. In present times the tree is known as the Toilet Tree because of a rest room carved into it.[17]
Katima Mulilo was very sparsely populated at that time. It had a missionary school run by the Seventh-day Adventists, and the small settlements were connected only by sleigh tracks. Without any roads nor other infrastructure it was difficult to administer the Caprivi Strip from here. The South African administration therefore decided to shift the regional office again, this time to Pretoria, in 1939. Given its proximity to important transport routes, particularly the railway bridge at Victoria Falls, the location of Katima Mulilo became strategically important in the Second World War which broke out soon afterwards. All military supplies, people, and goods had to be flown in. The town's first car arrived in 1940 and belonged to the air strip operator.[17]
In 1940, William "Bill" Finaughty established the first shop in the Caprivi Strip in Katima Mulilo; the settlement that surrounded the shop was subsequently named after him. In the 1950s transport on the Zambezi River was established and allowed connection to the train service at Livingstone. The M'pacha Airfield, today Katima Mulilo Airport, was constructed in 1965 at a cost of 65 million Rand, an astronomical amount at that time when 2 Rand roughly equalled 1 Pound sterling. A police station was erected in 1961.[18]
Katima Mulilo became a segregated town in 1965 when the erection of the Nghweeze township began. The South African administration was unhappy with the Mafulo informal settlement where members of the Caprivi African National Union (CANU) were staying and conducting political activism. As a response to this development, Nghweeze (derived from totela language:which literally means "stab me") township was established to enable some degree of control over Blacks by only allowing local workers and their families to take up residence. At the same time the central parts of Katima Mulilo were declared the Katima Mulilo Proper residential area and restricted to Whites. Contract workers from the company Lewis Construction from Salisbury (today's Harare) in Southern Rhodesia (today's Zimbabwe) that built Nghweeze camped in an area that for this heritage is named the Lewis informal settlement. The town had only 575 inhabitants at that time but grew to over 5,000 by 1978.[18]
In 1971 the area around Katima Mulilo got involved in the South African Border War. As in World War II, it was a strategically important location, this time due to troop transports into and out of Zambia and Angola.[19]
The settlement also was at the centre of the Caprivi conflict in the 1990s, an armed conflict between the Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA), a rebel group working for the secession of the Caprivi Strip, and the Namibian government.[20] In the early hours of 2 August 1999, CLA launched an attack occupying the state-run radio station and attacking a police station, the Wenela border post, and an army base. A state of emergency was declared in the province, and the government arrested alleged CLA supporters.[21]
Geography
Suburbs
The oldest suburbs are Nghweeze, the former Blacks' township, and Katima Mulilo Proper, the area restricted to Whites during the apartheid era. Butterfly, Cowboy, Choto and Mahohoma are registered informal settlements of Katima, further parts of town are named Nambweza, Soweto (South–Western Townships, a reminiscence of the famous suburb of Johannesburg), New Look, Mabuluma, Lyambai, Bebi, Greenwell Matongo, Macaravan East and West, and NHE (from National Housing Enterprises, a governmental low-cost housing company that drew development here).[4][22]
People
Katima Mulilo is inhabited by members of the Subia, Mafwe, Mbalangwe, Totela, Yeyi and Lozi. The town's coat of arms, still very similar to that used by the Caprivi government, depicts these tribes as two elephants facing each other, symbolising unity and peaceful coexistence of the two tribal chiefs.[18]
Climate
Katima Mulilo has a hot semi-arid climate (KöppenBSh), bordering on a dry-winter humid subtropical climate (Cwa). Almost all rainfall occurs from November to March, when the weather is hot and humid although substantially moderated by altitude. In the long dry season between April and October the weather remains hot although less humid at the beginning and finish, but very warm weather with chilly mornings occurs at the middle of this dry season during the Southern Hemisphere winter.
Before Katima Mulilo was officially founded missionaries already ran schools in the area. The Seventh–day Adventists operated one, as did the Capuchin Order.[17] Today there are a number of schools in Katima Mulilo such as Katima High School, Caprivi Secondary School, Kizito Secondary School, Ngweze Secondary School, Mavuluma Secondary School and many primary and junior secondary schools.[27]
The Zambezi Region is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. It is located in the north-eastern part of the country. It is largely concurrent with the major Zambezi River after which it was named. The region has eight constituencies and its capital is the town of Katima Mulilo. The self-governed village of Bukalo is also situated in this region. The Zambezi Region had a population of 90,596 in 2011. As of 2020, it had 47,884 registered voters. At the time of the 2023 census, 142,373 people lived in the region.
The Caprivi Strip, also known simply as Caprivi, is a geographic salient protruding from the northeastern corner of Namibia. It is bordered by Botswana to the south and Angola and Zambia to the north. Namibia, Botswana and Zambia meet at a single point at the eastern tip of the Strip, which also comes within 150 m (490 ft) of Zimbabwe thus nearly forming a quadripoint.
Katima Mulilo UrbanConstituency is an electoral district in Namibia. It is situated in the Zambezi Region. The region's capital, Katima Mulilo, is in this constituency. The constituency has a population of 28,362 people. In the 2020 Regional Council Elections, there were 13,860 registered voters.
Sesheke is a border town in the Western Province of Zambia, in a district of the same name. It lies on the northern bank of the Zambezi River which forms the border with Namibia's Caprivi Strip at that point.
The Walvis Bay-Ndola-Lubumbashi Development Road runs from Walvis Bay, through Rundu in north eastern Namibia, along the Caprivi Strip to Katima Mulilo on the Zambezi River, which forms the border between Namibia and Zambia. The Katima Mulilo Bridge spans the river to the Zambian town of Sesheke from where a road runs to Livingstone, joining the main north–south highway to Lusaka, connecting onwards to the Copperbelt.
Kongola is a settlement in Namibia's Caprivi Strip and the district capital of Kongola Constituency in the Zambezi Region. Situated on the national road B8, Kongola has a petrol station and a wholesaler. Although the village is situated on a national power line, it has not yet been connected to the electricity grid. There is also no access to safe water at Kongola.
The Katima Mulilo Bridge carries the TransCaprivi Highway over the Zambezi River between Katima Mulilo, Namibia and Sesheke, Zambia. It is a road bridge, completed in 2004, 900 metres long and with 19 spans. It links Namibia's Trans–Caprivi Highway to the Zambian road network, forming a section of the trade route from south-central Africa to the Atlantic known as the Walvis Bay Corridor. It also carries tourist traffic.
Luhonono, until 2013 Schuckmannsburg, is a settlement in the Caprivi Strip in northeastern Namibia with a population of about 800. It belongs to the Kabbe North electoral constituency of the Zambezi Region. During the time of German colonialism, it was the capital of the Caprivi Strip.
The Caprivi conflict was an armed conflict between the Namibian government and the Caprivi Liberation Army, a rebel group that waged a brief insurrection in 1999 for the secession of the Caprivi Strip.
Albert Mishake Muyongo is a Namibian politician and former Member of Parliament who is currently living in exile in Denmark.
The Kazungula Ferry was a pontoon ferry across the 400-metre-wide (1,300 ft) Zambezi River between Botswana and Zambia. It was one of the largest ferries in south-central Africa, having a capacity of 70 tonnes. The service was provided by two motorised pontoons and operated between border posts at Kazungula, Zambia and Kazungula, Botswana.
Caprivi Liberation Army (CLA) is a Namibian rebel and separatist group which was established in 1994 to separate the Caprivi Strip, a region mainly inhabited by the Lozi people. It operates only in the Caprivi strip.
The Caprivi treason trial is a trial in which the Government of Namibia indicted 132 people for allegedly participating in the Caprivi conflict on the side of the Caprivi Liberation Army during a period between 1992 and 2002. They were charged with high treason, murder, sedition, and many other offences, altogether 278 counts of criminal conduct.
Namibia–Zambia relations refers to the bilateral relations of Namibia and Zambia. Namibia and Zambia are separated by the Zambezi River. The Katima Mulilo Bridge connects Katima Mulilo on the Namibia side with Sesheke, Zambia. Both countries are members of the African Union and Non-Aligned Movement.
Richard Kapelwa Kabajani was a Namibian activist, militant, diplomat and politician. Kabajani was a military commander for SWAPO during the Namibian War of Independence and after independence served a minister in the Namibian government.
Bwabwata National Park is a protected area in northeastern Namibia that was established in 2007 and covers 6,274 km2 (2,422 sq mi). It was created by merging Namibia's Caprivi Game Park and Mahango Game Park. It is situated in the Zambezi and Kavango East regions, extending along the Caprivi Strip. It is bounded by the Okavango River to the west and the Kwando River to the east. Angola lies to the north and Botswana to the south.
Sesheke Airport is an airport in the town of Sesheke, Western Province, Zambia. It also serves the town of Katima Mulilo, across the Zambezi River in Namibia.
Tobias Hainyeko (1932–1967) was a Namibian guerrilla fighter who served as the first commander of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) during the Namibian War of Independence from the 1960s through to the 1980s.
Brendan Kongongolo Simbwaye (1934–1972?) was a Namibian anti-apartheid activist who was president of the Caprivi African National Union (CANU). Simbwaye became the vice-president of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in 1964 after the two organizations merged. Simbwaye's life and political career was cut short in 1972 when he disappeared without trace.
The M10 road is a road in Zambia. It goes from Livingstone, through Sesheke and Senanga, to Mongu. The road is approximately 508 kilometres and follows the Zambezi River for its entire length.
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