1947 SA informs the UN that it will continue to administer SWA as a mandate and not as a trusteeship area.
The South West African Coloured Teachers’ Association (SWACTA) is formed by Andrew Kloppers. Another "coloured" organisation is the South West Africa Coloured Peoples’ Bond (SWACPB). The two organisations campaign later for the creation of a "coloured" township in Windhoek.
Johannes Hans Gerard Adolf Diergaardt becomes a member of the Rehoboth Burgervereniging (Rehoboth Civic Organisation).
A consortium of US, British and SA firms (Newmont Mining, American Metal Company, Selection Trust, British South Africa Company, Union Corporation, SWAC and O’okiep Copper Company) buys the former OMEG-Tsumeb mine. The Tsumeb Corporation (TCL) is formed. An agreement is also made with the SWAC to form the Tsumeb Exploration Company for prospecting in the Otavi Mountains. The exclusive mining rights for vanadium remain with SWAC. Five months after the opening of the Tsumeb mine, Ovambo contract labourers go on strike.
The recruitment statistics for contract labourers for the period 1947 to 1953 reveal that 29.143 men were recruited to work in Namibian mines and a total of 12 688 were recruited in the same years to work in South African mines.
Sam Nujoma starts working in Walvis Bay (in a shop owned by Hugo Ludwig).
Arthur Mylo from the Allgemeine Zeitung is replaced by E Müller.
Carl (Cocky) Hahn, Resident Commissioner in Ovamboland, is succeeded by Harold Eedes.
In the Kavango the King of the Shambyu area, Mbambangandu II becomes blind. Successor is Queen Maria Mwengere (1947-1987).
JH Oberholzer discovers the Petrified Forest in the southern Kaokoveld, west of Khorixas.
03.07. Heinrich Vedder retires as head of the Rhenish Missionary Society. He is followed by Hans Karl Diehl. He begins investigating the training of "black" clergymen and how to keep the Rhenish mission together before the mission’s work once again runs the risk of breaking down "as happened in Namaland".
22.08. The SA Governor-General G. Brand van Zyl visits SWA.
October Two hundred and thirty-four Germans are on the point of being deported from SWA.
25.10. Malan proposes that SWA should get certain legislative and administrative rights in the South African parliament.
12.11. The |Hai-|khauan Chief Diederik Ruben Goliath of Berseba dies in Hoachanas, after having spent roughly nine years in exile there. He has been banished there by the South African colonial administration after being deposed as Chief of Berseba at the behest of the colonial power but also at the height of internal strife within the Berseba community (power struggle between the Goliath and Isaak clans). (His corpse will be brought back to Berseba after the Independence of the Republic of Namibia on 02.06.1995).

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The Grave of |Hai-|khauan Chief Diederik Ruben Goliath of Berseba in Hoachanas: Hardap Region: April 2003
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks

1948 The National Party is victorious in SA’s "whites-only" elections. The threat of German deportations is removed. "White" settlement in SWA is encouraged.
SA Prime Minister DF Malan announces that his country will not continue to apply to the UN for SWA’s incorporation into SA.
The African Methodist Episcopal Church (AMEC) calls for wide-ranging political change, especially the abolition of all kinds of racial discrimination.
In Diamond Mining Area No. 1 near Oranjemund, the first of 18 screening plants is commissioned.
The first copper ore concentrates are produced at Tsumeb and exported via Walvis Bay.
The production of vanadium ceases at the Abenab Mine while new deposits are mined at the Abenab West Mine (until 1958).
The Ongandjera King Tshaanika shIipinge dies.
The Kai
5khaun leader from Hoachanas, Noach Tsai-Tsaib, dies. He is succeeded by Matheus Kooper (until 1986).

Namibia_Hardap_Hoachanas_Cemetry_4.JPG (119017 bytes)

The Grave of Noach Tsaib Tsaib, Success or of Chief !Hoëb 5Oasmab (alias Fritz Lazarus 5Oaseb) of Hoachanas: Old Cemetry: Hardap Region: April 2003
Copyright of Photo: Dr. Klaus Dierks

19.01.

The magistrate for the Eastern Caprivi Strip, L Trollope, and the District Commissioner for Kasane in British Bechuanaland, Redman, produce a sketch of the Kasikili Island in the Chobe Rover and come to the conclusion that Kasikili Island has been cultivated since 1907 by the Subya community in the Eastern Caprivi Strip.
21.01.-22.01. Under the leadership of Preses Diehl a Missionary Conference takes place in Windhoek. For the first time some "black" evangelists criticise the Rhenish Mission: "The crisis in the Nama congregations had been caused by the lack of friendly relations between the missionaries and the black congregations".
07.06. The "all-white" Legislative Assembly again requests incorporation of SWA into the Union of South Africa.
26.09. Carl Hugo Linsingen (Cocky) Hahn dies at Kranzfontein, near Grootfontein.
18.10. DF Malan visits SWA.
25.10. Malan proposes that SWA be given certain legislative and administrative powers in the SA Parliament.
1949 The National Party amends the SWA Constitution by deleting references to the mandate (South West Africa Affairs Amendment Act, No. 23 of 1949). This means a de facto incorporation because the "whites" of SWA are granted representation in the SA Parliament. In response the UN General Assembly asks the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to decide on the sovereignty of SWA (Advisory Opinion)(UNGA Resolution 338 (IV)). Michael Scott is the first to petition the ICJ on SWA’s behalf.The SWA Agricultural Union (SWAAU) appoints a representative of agricultural interests to the South West Africa Native Labour Association (SWANLA) council.
German immigration to SWA is encouraged.
The dewatering of the TCL mine at Tsumeb is completed and underground mining once again becomes operational.
The manganese deposits of Otjosondu are investigated by J Paulsen. Paulsen sells his claims to SA Minerals Corporation Ltd. and open pit mining starts in October 1950. The mine closes in 1961 due to a decline in the world market prices for manganese. The mine is again productive between 1965 and 1968 and 1980 to 1981.
ISCOR takes over the rights in the Okorusu fluorspar deposits. Mining takes place between 1950 and 1955.
Sam Nujoma moves to Windhoek to join his uncle Hiskia Kondombolo. With the assistance of Aaron Hamutenya, father of Hidipo Hamutenya, he learns English at the St. Barnabas Night School. The school's director is Berthold Himumuine, the real force behind Hosea Kutako. Nujoma becomes aware of the United Nations through Hosea Kutako. He meets Hosea with help of Gabriel Mbuende, father of Kaire Mbuende and Clemence Kapuuo.
April The SWA Monuments Council declares four sites as national monuments: the grave of Jonker Afrikaner in Okahandja, Fort Namutoni, the Petrified Forest in the southern Kaokoveld and the Hoba meteorite.
12.06 The dispute around Kasikili Island in the Chobe River and the Trollope-Redman agreement of 1948 results in a South African legal opinion that traditional rights of Caprivi inhabitants are not legally binding in relation to the international border between SWA and Bechuanaland (called Botswana as from 1966). It is recognised, however, that the status-quo (cultivation by communities from the Eastern Caprivi Strip) on the island should be followed.
July SA informs the UN that it will stop reporting to the UN on the administration of SWA.
December Windhoek’s automatic telephone exchange is extended to 2 000 lines.
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