Bantustan In the 1970s the name
Damaraland was chosen for a
Bantustan, intended by the
apartheid-era government to be a self-governing homeland for the Damara people. The Bantustan Damaraland was situated on the western edge of the territory that had been known as Damaraland in the 19th century.
Representative authority (1980–1989) Following the
Turnhalle Constitutional Conference the system of
Bantustans was replaced in 1980 by Representative Authorities which functioned on the basis of ethnicity only and were no longer based on geographically defined areas. The
Representative Authority of the Damaras had executive and legislative competencies, being made up of elected Legislative Assemblies which would appoint Executive Committees led by chairmen. As second-tier authorities, forming an intermediate tier between central and local government, the representative authorities had responsibility for land tenure, agriculture, education up to primary level, teachers' training, health services, and social welfare and pensions and their Legislative Assemblies had the ability to pass legislation known as Ordinances.
Transition to independence (1989–1990) Damaraland, like other homelands in South West Africa, was abolished in May 1989 at the start of the transition to
independence. The name Damaraland predates South African control of Namibia, and was described as "the central portion of
German South West Africa" in the
Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition. ==Leadership==