About IWGIAIndigenous peoples in Namibia
Taken together, the indigenous peoples of Namibia represent some 8% of the total population of the country.
It is generally accepted that the San (Bushmen), who number between 32,000 and 38,000 in Namibia, are indigenous to the country.
There are six different San groups in the country, each speaking their own language and with distinct customs, traditions and histories. The San were, in the past, mainly hunter-gatherers but, today, many have diversified livelihoods, working as domestic servants or farm labourers, growing crops and raising livestock, doing odd jobs in rural and urban areas and engaging in small-scale businesses and services.
The San are scattered throughout many parts of Namibia, especially in the central and northern parts of the country. San groups include the Khwe, 4,400 people mainly in Caprivi Region and in Tsumkwe West, the Hai||om in the Etosha area of north-central Namibia (9-12,000), and the Ju|’hoansi, who number some 7,000 and live mainly in Tsumkwe District East in the Otjozondjupa Region.
Over 80% of the San have been dispossessed of their ancestral lands and resources, and today they are some of the poorest and most marginalized peoples in the country. The extent of San marginalisation is clearly evident in the United Nations Development Programme’s (UNDP) socio-economic indicators of human development, where the situation of the San is consistently worse than for other groups in Namibia.
Another group usually recognized as indigenous to Namibia is the Himba, who number some 25,000 and who reside mainly in the semi-arid north-west (Kunene Region).The Himba are pastoral (herding) peoples who have close ties to the Herero, also pastoralists who live in central and eastern Namibia.
Another indigenous group is the Nama, a Khoe-speaking group who number some 70,000. The Nama include the Topnaars of the Kuiseb River valley and the Walvis Bay area in west-central Namibia, a group of some 1,800 people who live in a dozen small settlements and depend on small-scale livestock production, use of !nara melons (Acanthosicyos horrida), and tourism.
Namibia does not have any national legislation that deals directly with indigenous peoples and the Namibian Constitution does not mention them. The Office of the Prime Minister has a San Development Program aimed at helping San citizens and other marginalized groups such as the Himba, as poverty-stricken minorities.
Namibia voted in favour of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In 2010, the Namibian cabinet approved a Division for San Development under the Office of the Prime Minister, which is an important milestone in the promotion of the rights of indigenous people/marginalised communities in Namibia.
Download the 2011 yearbook article on indigenous peoples in Namibia to read more about major developments and events during 2010
