Rundu

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Rundu is the capital city of the Okavango Region, northern Namibia, on the border with Angola. Rundu has roughly 44,413 inhabitants(2001) and lies about 1000 m above sea level. It is located at around 17°55′0″S, 19°46′0″E at the Okavango River.It is the commercial capital of the Kavango region, and the main entertainment centre of the town.

1 History
2 Localities
3 Informal housing
4 Business

[edit] History

Rundu formed as a bus stop for the then colonialists, who took the local inhabitants to work in the farms as cheap labour. This was in the early 1940s. The town has since grown into a multilingual city of the Kavango region which has about 203 000 people. The main houses in Rundu where built for the black workers in the area, and as the town grew, it saw the construction of modern housing.

[edit] Localities

The oldest houses in Rundu are those in the Katutura area. These houses are mainly 2 bedroom homes with large backyards even though they are situated next to the CBD. On the west is Tutungeni, which means "let's build". This area was previously occupied by executives of the white-dominated businessplace, but now it is open for any willing buyer in need of a quiet neighbourhood. On the East is Safari. This are the middle-priced houses and were built in the 1970s.

These three main localities dominated Rundu residential life until the turn of the millennium in 2000, when new housing projects by O'B Davids Properties built a new residential area named Millennium Park. After which two others have been built by the NHE, Queens and Kings Parks respectively.

[edit] Informal housing

Towards the edges of the Town are Shanty towns of the Kavango region which symbolise the rapid urbanisation of the town and high unemployment rates. Kehemu, Sauyemwa and Ndama are the most informal areas while a fourth, Donkerhoek ( Dark Corner) is rapidly becoming formal since the start of the Build Together Campaign in 1995.

[edit] Business

The town holds many business prospects but is still to see big investments. The fact that it is the shopping area for about 200,000 people makes its leisure industry a booming and prospective one. Also the town is the legal centre of the region and is growing by the second.

Rundu could be considered the most important town in the North East and is 260 km away from the nearest town of Grootfontein.