Okongo


Okongo is a village in the Ohangwena Region of northern Namibia. It is situated about east of Eenhana on the tarred road to Nkurenkuru. It is the district capital of Okongo Constituency.

History

Okongo was first settled by the San people in the 1900s, who, as a hunter-gatherer community, found the local abundance of wildlife and fruit attractive in the village. The name Okongo derives from the Oshiwambo word meaning: a place or a forest for hunting.
The San were eventually displaced in Okongo by the immigration of Bantu people. Today the commonly spoken language in the area is Oshiwambo and Christianity is the predominant religion.

Economy and infrastructure

Okongo has basic amenities: electricity, water and sanitation, a post office, basic supermarkets and clothing outlets, as well as banking facilities. It also features a 62-bed public hospital that serves the surrounding settlements. There are two pre-primary schools, one primary school, a combined school and a secondary school.
The village is accessible via tarred road. There is also a landing strip for small aircraft.
The Women's Action for Development group conducted a project aimed at skills transfer to local women. A total of about 120 unemployed women graduated from this program in 2010.

Politics

Okongo is governed by a village council that has five seats.
The 2015 local authority election was won by SWAPO which gained 881 votes and all five seats. The Rally for Democracy and Progress and the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance also ran and gained 60 and 29 votes, respectively.