Academic literature on the topic 'Khoisan (African people) – Namibia'

The paper presents factors why people are reluctant to bank money in rural Southern African countries. Six countries namely Botswana, Namibia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe were used in the study. A focus group of 10 people from each of the stated Southern African countries was composed and used to obtain perceptions, views, reactions, attitudes, experiences among others on why people are reluctant to bank their money. People are unwilling to bank their money in rural Southern Africa and the reasons behind this seem to be many. If no correctional measures are put in place, rural Southern Africa will continue to be unbanked for the next five decades.

Abstract The South West African People’s Organisation (SWAPO of Namibia) had a unique status among anti-colonial movements. Fighting South Africa’s illegal occupation of South West Africa/Namibia, dubbed by the United Nations as a “trust betrayed,” it resorted to armed struggle in the 1960s. SWAPO was subsequently recognized as “the sole and authentic representative of the Namibian people” by a United Nations General Assembly resolution since the mid-1970s. The political culture in post-colonial Namibia is much characterized by the dominance of SWAPO as a former liberation movement and its official history. This paper summarizes the relevance of the armed struggle for the heroic narrative. It contrasts the glorification with some of the ‘hidden histories’ and trajectories related to some less documented realities of the armed struggle and its consequences which do not have much visibility in the official historiography. It thereby finally seeks to present a more nuanced picture by giving voice to some protagonists of a post-colonial political culture not considered as mainstream.

Namibian politics and society are today dominated by people who trace their descent from the settlements and homesteads of Ovamboland in southern Angola and northern Namibia. Yet, prior to 1915, and the defeat by South Africa of the German colonial army in German South-West Africa, very few Ovambo had settled in areas to the south of the Etosha Pan. In 1915, a Portuguese expeditionary army defeated Kwanyama forces in southern Angola, and unleashed a flood of refugees into northern Namibia. These refugees entered an area that was already overstretched. Since 1912 the rains had failed and, on account of the First World War, trade and migration had come to a standstill. As a result the area was experiencing its most devastating famine ever. Unable to find sanctuary in Ovamboland, thousands of people trekked southwards into central Namibia, an area which had only just come under the control of South Africa. The famine allowed for the easy entrance of South African military administrators and labour recruiters into Ovamboland and heralded the demise of Ovambo independence. By focusing on developments in the central Namibian town of Karibib between 1915 to 1916, the article explores the move of the Ovambo into central and southern Namibia. It traces the impact of war and drought on Ovambo societies, and follows Ovambo famine migrants on their route south into areas administered by the South African military administration. Discussion also concentrates on the reception and treatment of Ovambo famine migrants in the Karibib settlement, and argues that the refugee crisis heralded the establishment of Ovambo in modern central and southern Namibia.

Setswana (also known as ‘Tswana’ or, more archaically, ‘Chuana’ or ‘Sechuana’) is a Bantu language (group S.30; ISO code tsn) spoken by an estimated four million people in South Africa. There are a further one million or more speakers in Botswana, where it is the dominant national language, and a smaller number of speakers in Namibia. The recordings accompanying this article were mostly produced with a 21-year-old male speaker from the area of Taung, North-West province, South Africa. Some of the accompanying recordings are of a 23-year-old female speaker from Kuruman (approximately 150 km west of Taung). The observations reported here are based on consulting with both these speakers, as well as a third speaker, from Kimberley. All three were speakers of South African Setswana varieties. For discussion of some differences between these varieties and more Northern and Eastern Setswana dialects – including those spoken in Botswana – see (Doke 1954, Cole 1955, University of Botswana 2001).

Abstract:Economic experiments carried out in the computer laboratory seldom account for broader real-world contextual variables that affect humans as learning and norm-adopting individuals. The here presented ‘within-culture across-country’ design of a standard trust experiment reveals an interesting phenomenon which most probably is related to the context that people live in: South African communities expressed extremely low trust while participants from Namibia exhibited high trust, but low reciprocity, although both share the same ethnic background. The country effect between the two regions remained large even after using a matching estimator to substantiate that these differences were not driven by sample selection bias. Qualitative evidence from the study area suggests that corrupt local institutions have led to lower trust in South African communities while participants in Namibia seemingly applied a deep-rooted behavioural norm of the Nama society which they perceived to be appropriate for the exchange in the experiment.

Missionary work was one of the main forces in the opening of the African continent to direct western influence. In many cases, from the 1830s onwards, missionaries were the first Westerners residing in the interior of the continent, thus accumulating considerable knowledge concerning geographical conditions in their respective areas of residence.The question arises: how did information from these people with scarce knowledge about the interior filter down to representations of geographical conditions such as maps and literary descriptions? Working in close cooperation with Africans, their conceptions were likely to be somewhat more detailed than those of the colonial administration. Politically, they often assumed the role of mediators between the foreign powers and local societies; perhaps this was also the case where geographical knowledge was concerned. The aim of this study is to investigate the extent to which the Finnish Mission in colonial Ovamboland under German influence had an active role in mapmaking.One ostensible reason for Germany's annexation of colonies was to turn a profit from them and strengthen the economy of the homeland. An additional function of German colonies was to persuade people who otherwise would have emigrated to the United States or Latin America to stay within the German economic sphere. White settlers were to supplant what was considered inefficient African land use with commercial agriculture whose products were to be exported to Germany. Public opinion in Germany also advocated colonization for status reasons, which made politicians sensitive to it.

AbstractIn the year 1966, the first government hospital, Oshakati hospital, was inaugurated in northern South-West Africa. It was constructed by the apartheid regime of South Africa which was occupying the territory. Prior to this inauguration, Finnish missionaries had, for 65 years, provided healthcare to the indigenous people in a number of healthcare facilities of which Onandjokwe hospital was the most important. This article discusses these two agents’ ideological standpoints. The same year, the war between the South-West African guerrillas and the South African state started, and continued up to 1988. The two hospitals became involved in the war; Oshakati hospital as a part of the South African war machinery, and Onandjokwe hospital as a ‘terrorist hospital’ in the eyes of the South Africans. The missionary Onandjokwe hospital was linked to the Lutheran church in South-West Africa, which became one of the main critics of the apartheid system early in the liberation war. Warfare and healthcare became intertwined with apartheid policies and aggression, materialised by healthcare provision based on strategic rationales rather than the people’s healthcare needs. When the Namibian state took over a ruined healthcare system in 1990, the two hospitals were hubs in a healthcare landscape shaped by missionary ambitions, war and apartheid logic.

The themes of colonisation and decolonisation dominate in this issue of JoALLS. The colonisation of African communities by European forces was so inhuman and brutal that it left skeletons of African people littered in affected areas on the continent. The trails of murder, massacre, plunder and displacement of defenceless and innocent Africans by marauding, bloodthirsty colonialists are unsavory, heart-rending and disgusting. The crucial role literature plays in documenting the trials and tribulations of Africans cannot be overemphasized. The historical novel and (auto) biography have always become handy in this regard, although caution should be taken on which perspective they are framed. As you read this issue, you will realise that the words 'Germans' and 'genocide' are what linguists call 'collocates'; in other words, you cannot talk of one of these two words without the other as the Germans' heinous crimes were meant to decimate the Herero and Nama populations of Germany South West Africa, now Namibia. The violence against the indigenous African people was not only frightening but also sickening.

Abstract:Mawazo Nakadhilu is a former refugee born to a Namibian father and a Tanzanian mother near Kongwa, Tanzania, in 1972. Her biography illuminates how people have made homes in Southern African exile and post-exile contexts. Williams traces Mawazo’s story from her Tanzanian childhood through her forced removal to SWAPO’s Nyango camp to her “repatriation” to Namibia. In so doing, he highlights tensions that have not previously been addressed between exiled liberation movements and their members over family situations. Moreover, he stresses the value of biographical work focused on aspects of refugees’ lives that tend to be overlooked in nationalist discourse.

This paper brings together a wide range of concepts from climate change predictions, palaeoecology, wildlife ecology and sustainable livelihoods in order to prioritise adaptive management measures that are necessary for the conservation of the African megafauna. Climate change predictions emphasise the severe aridity that will surge into southern Africa later this century and must be contrasted with the relatively wetter conditions in eastern Africa. The evolution of African mammals and their adaptive responses to past episodes of climate change is explained by reference to range shifts and movements along Balinsky’s (1962) ‘drought corridor’ that extends from SW Africa northeastwards to Somalia and then westwards across the Saharan-Sahelian zone. The drought corridor today could potentially extend from Kenya southwestward through to Botswana/South Africa and Namibia, via connectivity corridors linking existing wildlife areas, forming the Kalahari-Rift Valley Transfrontier Conservation Landscape (KALARIVA TFCL). The most promising route along the drought corridor links the Chobe – Linyanti – Kwando river systems of Botswana/Namibia with Luangwa Valley in Northern Zambia, along the Zambezi River via Lake Kariba (Matsudonna and Mana Pools) in Zimbabwe. Malawi poses an absolute barrier to such connectivity and by the turn of this Century runs the risk of confining the area to the south almost entirely to the SW arid adapted fauna and that to the north to water dependent ungulates such as elephants, buffalo and zebra. The key movement corridors are identified in a bid to extend the spatial and temporal scale of conservation planning in order to adapt effectively to climate change. The importance of ‘co-existence’ between wildlife and people is emphasised together with the need for local communities to benefit from sharing the KALARIVA TFCL with African wildlife, via new models of conservation financing and management that reward rural African communities for being the true custodians of the African megafauna.

The purpose of this study was to investigate and document parental involvement in a San community in Namibia over a period of two months. The emphasis was to investigate whether San parents in the Omusati region were involved in the learning of mathematics of their children. The learner participants were selected according to those who were open to sharing their ideas. An interpretive approach was used to collect and analyse data. The collected data was gathered from 9 participants (4 learners in grade 5 together with their parents, plus their mathematics teacher). Semi-structured interviews, parental contributions and home visit observations were the three tools that I used to collect data. The selected school is located in a rural area in the Omusati region of northern Namibia. The interviews were conducted in Oshiwambo (the participants‟ mother tongue) and translated into English and then analyzed. I discovered that the selected San parents were involved in some but limited school activities. The findings of this study emphasizes that illiteracy may be one of the contributing factors of low or non-involvement of parents among the San community. Other factors which I found caused parents not to assist their children with homework was parents spending much of their time at the local cuca shops during the day until late in the evenings. The study also highlights possible strategies that can be carried out by teachers to encourage parental involvement in school activities.

This dissertation offers a literary-thematic investigation based on a postcolonial approach to the representation of the Khoisan and their descendants. I restricted my scope to selected Afrikaans novels at the centre of critical attention between between 1994 and 2014. Earlier novels in this period under discussion are Dolf van Niekerk’s Koms van die hyreën (1994), Willem Kotze’s Tsats van die Kalahari (1994), Die spoorsnyer (1994), Olifantjagters (1997) and Gif (2001) by Piet van Rooyen, plus Karel Schoeman’s Verkenning (1996). Later texts in the focus are Duiwelskloof (1998) and Bidsprinkaan (2005) by André P. Brink, Dalene Matthee’s Pieternella van die Kaap (2000), Eben Venter’s Santa Gamka (2009) and most recently, the Hertzog prize winner of 2015, Buys by Willem Anker (2014). Themes central to South African literature will form the focus of the research, namely intercultural interaction between the first inhabitants of South Africa and missionaries, the question of land ownership, the language motif, and the role of religion (indigenous versus Western belief systems). Attention will also be on more specific issues such as the nature of the relationship between the Khoisan and the colonisers, the characterization of the Khoisan by the selected white authors, as well as other contemporary debates. The secondary objective of the study is to review the historical presence of the Khoisan and their descendants as reflected through the fictional lense of these authors writing over the last two decades, since democratization of the regime in 1994. My focus is particularly on the substantial cultural contribution of the Khoi and the San, as reflected through their representation in fictional works. The question will be posed whether the portrayal of Khoisan characters in novels after 1994 is different from the portrayal in fiction before 1994? My hypothesis is that in the fictional representation one finds a move towards restoration of their human dignity, yet the fact remains that all the authors are white. A different study of fictional works by coloured writers (whose numbers as Afrikaans authors grew substantially after 1994), investigating their representation of the descendants of the Khoi and the San, would in all probability yield radically different results, as the white authors imagine the characters and their consciousness from outside the community and the racial group, whereas the coloured writers belong to the community and the group that they portray.

Around Africa there seems to be an increasing disillusion with 'development', seen under the rubric of teleological 'progress', which is touted by post-colonial governments as being the cure for Africa's ailments and woes. Numerous authors have pointed out that this local disillusion, and the attempt to manage the inequities that arise through development and modernity, can be seen to be understood and acted upon by local peoples through the idiom of witchcraft beliefs and fears (see Geschiere & Fisiy 2001; Geschiere 1997; Nyamnjoh 2001; Comaroff & Comaroff 1993; Ashforth 2005) and spirit possession nanatives (see Luig 1999; Gezon 1999), or more simply, occult beliefs and praxis (Moore & Sanders 2001). The majority of the Mayeyi of Namibia's Eastern Caprivi perceive that development is the only way their regiOn and people can survive and succeed in a modernising world. At ~he same time there is also a seeming reluctance to move towards perceiving witchcraft as a means of accumulation (contra Geschiere 1997). This notion of the 'witchcraft of wealth' is emerging, but for the most part witches are seen as the enemies of development, while spirit possession narratives speak to the desire for development and of the identity of the group vis-a-vis the rest of the world. The thesis presented argues that, although modernity orientated analyses enable occult belief to be used as a lens through which to 1..mderstand 'modernity's malcontents' (Comaroff & Comaroff 1993), they can only go so far in explaining the intricacies of witchcraft and spirit possession beliefs themselves. The dissertation argues that one should return to the analysis of the cosmological underpinnings of witchcraft belief and spirit possession, taken together as complementary phenomena, in seeking to understand the domain of the occult. By doing so the thesis argues that a more comprehensive anthropological understanding is obtained of occult belief and practice, the ways in which the domain of the occult is constituted and the ways in which it is a reflection or commentary on a changing world.

Bibliography: pages 194-207.
This contextual archaeological narrative explores the relationship between material culture and social relations, with reference to social, economic, environmental and political changes taking place in Himba and Herero settlements in far north-western Namibia. A starting point is that changes in the organization of space and use of material culture cannot be understood as merely expressing changed social and economic conditions and/or changed value systems. It is necessary to examine how socio-economic conditions and cultural values and ideas work together to transform, produce and maintain cultural representations. By focusing intimately on one semi-nomadic herding community over a five-year period,(where domestic space has to be reconstituted, both physically and conceptually, each time a group relocates,} the study probes how meaning is differentially invested in the spatial order that people build and live in, how the material goods they make, borrow, lend, buy and use recursively come to have and hold meaning, and how and why this meaning changes. In mapping space and material goods at more than 100 wet season and dry season camps and homesteads, a number of discourses are tracked: changing gender relations, changing relations between different generations, people's relationships with natural resources, the spatial relations of former hunter-gatherers now living as herders, as well as material culture conformities and nonconformities between Himba and Herero households. A key concern is to re-empower social actors, past and present, in the creation of (archaeological) meaning. A number of case studies show that meaning is not inherent in space or material goods; people activate meaning by their strategic interpretations. This has implications for both method and theory in archaeology, as well as for the contemporary research and rural development process in Africa. While challenging assumptions about what is knowable from the past's material remains when such remains are, inevitably, recontextualized in a particular present, the thesis contributes to knowledge about material culture and social change and thus offers a number of research directions which could contribute to a more reflexive, dialogic and socially relevant archaeology.

The current situation regarding the accountabilty of transnational corporations, using the lawsuit of the Herero community of Namibia against two German corporations that were involved in the German colonial enterprise that killed approximately 80% of the Herero tribe was explored.

Mandume has fought two colonial powers, Portugal and British-South Africa from the time he became king in 1911 to 1917. This thesis looked at the different ways in which Manume is remembered in Namibia and Angola after these countries had gained their independence from colonialism. His bravery in fighting the colonizers has awarded him hero status and he is considered a nationalist hero in both Namibia and Angola. However, he is memorialized differently in Namibia and Angola. The process of remembering Mandume in different ways is related to where his body and head are buried respectively. This is because there is a belief that his body was beheaded, and his head was buried in Windhoek while the rest of his body is buried in Angola. The monument that is alleged to host his head is claimed to belong to him to this day. However, this monument was erected for the fallen South African troops who died fighting him. The author argued that this belief was in response to the need to reclaim a monumental space to commemorate Mandume in the capital city.

Thesis (MA (Political Science))--University of Stellenbosch, 2008.
This thesis contributes to existing literature on violent and peaceful societies generally, and more specifically contributes to debates on gender egalitarian societies within the fields of Peace, Gender and Indigenous Studies, by focusing on the KhoeSan, and KhoeSan women especially. This research project focused on two critically intersectional components: (1) reconstructing knowledge in general and reclaiming indigenous knowledge, from an African feminist perspective; and (2) analysing and reclaiming peaceful societies and the notion of nonviolence as a norm. Inextricably tied to these primary research questions, is the issue of gender, and gender egalitarianism, especially as it relates to women. An interdisciplinary, intersectional approach was used, combining the analytical lenses of the fields of Political Science (Peace Studies), Anthropology and Gender Studies, with some attention to cultures and spiritualities. The participatory methods employed include focus group discussions and unstructured interviews with KhoeSan community leaders, especially women elders. Concrete skills exchange with, and support for, the participating communities was consciously facilitated. Scholarship on, as well as practices of, the Khoesan evince normative nonviolence, as well as gender egalitarianism. These ancient norms and practices are still evident in modern KhoeSan oral history and practice. This thesis sets the following precedents, particularly through the standpoint of a female KhoeSan scholar: (a) contributing to the research on peaceful societies by offering an analysis of the KhoeSan’s nonviolence as a norm; (b) and extending scholarship on gender egalitarian societies to the KhoeSan. Further research in these intersecting areas would be invaluable, especially of peacefulness, social egalitarianism and collective leadership, as well as gender egalitarianism, among the KhoeSan. Broadening research to encompass Southern Africa as a region would significantly aid documentation.

This report maps the African landscape of Open Science – with a focus on Open Data as a sub-set of Open Science. Data to inform the landscape study were collected through a variety of methods, including surveys, desk research, engagement with a community of practice, networking with stakeholders, participation in conferences, case study presentations, and workshops hosted. Although the majority of African countries (35 of 54) demonstrates commitment to science through its investment in research and development (R&D), academies of science, ministries of science and technology, policies, recognition of research, and participation in the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI), the following countries demonstrate the highest commitment and political willingness to invest in science: Botswana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. In addition to existing policies in Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), the following countries have made progress towards Open Data policies: Botswana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, South Africa and Uganda. Only two African countries (Kenya and South Africa) at this stage contribute 0.8% of its GDP (Gross Domestic Product) to R&D (Research and Development), which is the closest to the AU’s (African Union’s) suggested 1%. Countries such as Lesotho and Madagascar ranked as 0%, while the R&D expenditure for 24 African countries is unknown. In addition to this, science globally has become fully dependent on stable ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) infrastructure, which includes connectivity/bandwidth, high performance computing facilities and data services. This is especially applicable since countries globally are finding themselves in the midst of the 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR), which is not only “about” data, but which “is” data. According to an article1 by Alan Marcus (2015) (Senior Director, Head of Information Technology and Telecommunications Industries, World Economic Forum), “At its core, data represents a post-industrial opportunity. Its uses have unprecedented complexity, velocity and global reach. As digital communications become ubiquitous, data will rule in a world where nearly everyone and everything is connected in real time. That will require a highly reliable, secure and available infrastructure at its core, and innovation at the edge.” Every industry is affected as part of this revolution – also science. An important component of the digital transformation is “trust” – people must be able to trust that governments and all other industries (including the science sector), adequately handle and protect their data. This requires accountability on a global level, and digital industries must embrace the change and go for a higher standard of protection. “This will reassure consumers and citizens, benefitting the whole digital economy”, says Marcus. A stable and secure information and communication technologies (ICT) infrastructure – currently provided by the National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) – is key to advance collaboration in science. The AfricaConnect2 project (AfricaConnect (2012–2014) and AfricaConnect2 (2016–2018)) through establishing connectivity between National Research and Education Networks (NRENs), is planning to roll out AfricaConnect3 by the end of 2019. The concern however is that selected African governments (with the exception of a few countries such as South Africa, Mozambique, Ethiopia and others) have low awareness of the impact the Internet has today on all societal levels, how much ICT (and the 4th Industrial Revolution) have affected research, and the added value an NREN can bring to higher education and research in addressing the respective needs, which is far more complex than simply providing connectivity. Apart from more commitment and investment in R&D, African governments – to become and remain part of the 4th Industrial Revolution – have no option other than to acknowledge and commit to the role NRENs play in advancing science towards addressing the SDG (Sustainable Development Goals). For successful collaboration and direction, it is fundamental that policies within one country are aligned with one another. Alignment on continental level is crucial for the future Pan-African African Open Science Platform to be successful. Both the HIPSSA ((Harmonization of ICT Policies in Sub-Saharan Africa)3 project and WATRA (the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly)4, have made progress towards the regulation of the telecom sector, and in particular of bottlenecks which curb the development of competition among ISPs. A study under HIPSSA identified potential bottlenecks in access at an affordable price to the international capacity of submarine cables and suggested means and tools used by regulators to remedy them. Work on the recommended measures and making them operational continues in collaboration with WATRA. In addition to sufficient bandwidth and connectivity, high-performance computing facilities and services in support of data sharing are also required. The South African National Integrated Cyberinfrastructure System5 (NICIS) has made great progress in planning and setting up a cyberinfrastructure ecosystem in support of collaborative science and data sharing. The regional Southern African Development Community6 (SADC) Cyber-infrastructure Framework provides a valuable roadmap towards high-speed Internet, developing human capacity and skills in ICT technologies, high- performance computing and more. The following countries have been identified as having high-performance computing facilities, some as a result of the Square Kilometre Array7 (SKA) partnership: Botswana, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Mauritius, Namibia, South Africa, Tunisia, and Zambia. More and more NRENs – especially the Level 6 NRENs 8 (Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa, and recently Zambia) – are exploring offering additional services; also in support of data sharing and transfer. The following NRENs already allow for running data-intensive applications and sharing of high-end computing assets, bio-modelling and computation on high-performance/ supercomputers: KENET (Kenya), TENET (South Africa), RENU (Uganda), ZAMREN (Zambia), EUN (Egypt) and ARN (Algeria). Fifteen higher education training institutions from eight African countries (Botswana, Benin, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, and Tanzania) have been identified as offering formal courses on data science. In addition to formal degrees, a number of international short courses have been developed and free international online courses are also available as an option to build capacity and integrate as part of curricula. The small number of higher education or research intensive institutions offering data science is however insufficient, and there is a desperate need for more training in data science. The CODATA-RDA Schools of Research Data Science aim at addressing the continental need for foundational data skills across all disciplines, along with training conducted by The Carpentries 9 programme (specifically Data Carpentry 10 ). Thus far, CODATA-RDA schools in collaboration with AOSP, integrating content from Data Carpentry, were presented in Rwanda (in 2018), and during17-29 June 2019, in Ethiopia. Awareness regarding Open Science (including Open Data) is evident through the 12 Open Science-related Open Access/Open Data/Open Science declarations and agreements endorsed or signed by African governments; 200 Open Access journals from Africa registered on the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ); 174 Open Access institutional research repositories registered on openDOAR (Directory of Open Access Repositories); 33 Open Access/Open Science policies registered on ROARMAP (Registry of Open Access Repository Mandates and Policies); 24 data repositories registered with the Registry of Data Repositories (re3data.org) (although the pilot project identified 66 research data repositories); and one data repository assigned the CoreTrustSeal. Although this is a start, far more needs to be done to align African data curation and research practices with global standards. Funding to conduct research remains a challenge. African researchers mostly fund their own research, and there are little incentives for them to make their research and accompanying data sets openly accessible. Funding and peer recognition, along with an enabling research environment conducive for research, are regarded as major incentives. The landscape report concludes with a number of concerns towards sharing research data openly, as well as challenges in terms of Open Data policy, ICT infrastructure supportive of data sharing, capacity building, lack of skills, and the need for incentives. Although great progress has been made in terms of Open Science and Open Data practices, more awareness needs to be created and further advocacy efforts are required for buy-in from African governments. A federated African Open Science Platform (AOSP) will not only encourage more collaboration among researchers in addressing the SDGs, but it will also benefit the many stakeholders identified as part of the pilot phase. The time is now, for governments in Africa, to acknowledge the important role of science in general, but specifically Open Science and Open Data, through developing and aligning the relevant policies, investing in an ICT infrastructure conducive for data sharing through committing funding to making NRENs financially sustainable, incentivising open research practices by scientists, and creating opportunities for more scientists and stakeholders across all disciplines to be trained in data management.