Academic literature on the topic 'Namibia. Herero (African people)'

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.

At the beginning of the 20th century (1904-1908), a genocide took place where Herero and Nama people of the then German South West Africa (present day Namibia) were nearly completely decimated by German soldiers. Through the selected factional novels, Parts Unknown (2018) by Zirk Van Den Burg, The Lie of the Land (2017) David Jasper Utley, The Weeping Graves of Our Ancestors (2017) by Rukee Tjingaete, The Scattering (2016) by Lauri Kubuitsile, and Mama Namibia (2013) by Mari Serebrov, this article explores the literary reconstruction of this Herero Nama conflict of 1904 to 1908 with German as the aggressor. The paper considers the pragmatic disposition of the Herero Nama conflict with the Germans as presented from a fictional perspective (faction) and how it is relevant to the reconstruction of the Herero Nama history. Additionally, there are various art forms that specify new modes of expression for the reconstruction of the same historical event and this paper pays attention to some of these forms as presented in the selected texts. Through the analysis, it was found that the selected historical novels recreate the same event but from different angles yet several incidents emerging in the novels relate to the historical reality that is now reenacted through art. Through the analysis of the historical novels, the researchers also found that there seems to be a thin line between the imaginative literary works and the historical events that took place. Lastly, the selected novels demonstrate literature’s immediacy to recreate some critical arguments that are still unsolved even in present day Namibia about the general welfare of the people with the problems that are still linked to the nation’s history.

Social settings are what characterise each society hence they vary from one society to the other. If these social settings are disturbed by any force internally or externally, chaos becomes inexorable. Between 1904-1908 at the dawning of the 20th century, a genocide happened where Herero and Nama people of the then German South West Africa (present day Namibia) were nearly completely exterminated by German soldiers. Through the selected narratives of genocide: Parts Unknown (2018) by Zirk Van Den Burg, The Lie of the Land (2017) by David Jasper Utley, The Weeping Graves of Our Ancestors (2017) by Rukee Tjingaete, The Scattering (2016) Lauri Kubuitsile, and Mama Namibia (2013) by Mari Serebrov, this paper explores the disruption of social settings as represented in the selected texts. Founded within the disruption of social settings of the Herero and Nama people are three key issues namely: interference with family set ups; discounting religion, culture and tradition; and violation of revered places. The article concludes that the presence of the Germans brought with it a miserable overhaul to the indigenous people’s lives.

ON the morning of 12 January 1904, shooting started in Okahandja, a small town in German South West Africa, present-day Namibia. When the Herero–German war finally ended four years later, Herero society, as it had existed prior to 1904, had been completely destroyed. In the genocidal war which developed, the Herero were either killed in battle, lynched, shot or beaten to death upon capture, or driven to death in the waterless wastes that make up much of Namibia. Within Namibia, the surviving Herero were deprived of their chiefs, prohibited from owing land and cattle, and prevented from practising their own religion. Herero survivors, the majority of whom were women and children, were incarcerated in prison camps and put to work as forced labourers for the German military and settlers.Over the years there have been a fair number of works dealing with the causes and effects of the Herero–German war of 1904–8. It has been argued that the loss of land, water, cattle and liberty, coupled with the activities of unscrupulous traders and German colonial officials, steered the Herero into launching a carefully planned, countrywide insurrection against German colonial rule. In brief, ‘in 1904, the Herero, feeling the cumulative and bitter effects of colonial rule in South West Africa, took advantage of the withdrawal of German troops from central Hereroland…and revolted’.

ABSTRACTThis article examines struggles for masculinity among Herero elders, South African colonial administrators, and the Otruppa, a Herero youth society that appropriated a German military aesthetic, in Namibia between 1915 and 1949. As previous scholars have argued, masculinities are mutually constituted through competitions for authority, though dominance is rarely achieved. Such contestations were integral to processes of Herero societal reconstruction following German rule and during South African colonial state formation, beginning in 1915. Different generational experiences of colonial violence and the destruction of the material resources that undergirded elders' authority led to conflicts between elders and youths over how to define Herero masculinity and negotiate authority in a rapidly changing colonial milieu.

Several researchers have proposed that humans are predisposed to treat ethnic identities as stable and inherent. However, the ethnographic, historical, and genetic records attest to the ubiquity of inter-ethnic migrations across human history. These two claims seem to be at odds. In this article we compare three evolutionary accounts of how people reason about identity stability, and the effect that the cultural evolution of ethnic group boundaries may have on these beliefs. We test our hypotheses among Himba pastoralists in Namibia, whose recent fission from the neighboring Herero makes them ideal for studying the effect of cultural distance on folk beliefs about identity stability. In a vignette experiment, we asked participants whether an individual born in one group who moved to another group would retain their original group membership and cultural characteristics or acquire those of the new group. Across vignette conditions we examine the importance of the direction of migration, parental social influence, and age at migration on perceptions of identity stability. We also compare participant responses to two out-groups, the Herero, and the more distantly related Damara. We find that participants seldom thought of identity as stable or fixed at birth. Furthermore, we show that cultural distance and endogamous preferences are independent of beliefs of identity stability. Himba believed the Damara character was more likely to change identity and cultural traits than was the Herero character, despite their greater cultural distance from the former group, and despite the fact that all participants expressed more anti-Damara than anti-Herero sentiment.

In October 2011, twenty skulls of the Herero and Nama people were repatriated from Germany to Namibia. So far, fifty-five skulls and two human skeletons have been repatriated to Namibia and preparations for the return of more skulls from Germany were at an advanced stage at the time of writing this article. Nonetheless, the skulls and skeletons that were returned from Germany in the past have been disappointingly laden with complexities and politics, to such an extent that they have not yet been handed over to their respective communities for mourning and burials. In this context, this article seeks to investigate the practice of ‘anonymising’ the presence of human remains in society by exploring the art and politics of the Namibian state’s memory production and sanctioning in enforcing restrictions on the affected communities not to perform, as they wish, their cultural and ritual practices for the remains of their ancestors.

ABSTRACTThis case study probes the close link between locality and musical production. The setting is Opuwo, a small city in northern Namibia, notorious for its many bars. Here the music of a local band, Bullet ya Kaoko, provides the soundtrack to the quest for belonging and identity that takes place in the marginal space constituted by these bars and pubs. Bullet ya Kaoko performances are characterized by the simultaneous articulation of paradoxical images and different models of identification: they use keyboards and synthesizers to rework an old genre (omitandu, praise songs), fuse Kwaito moves with the elders' warrior dance, and weave Herero polyphony into a jive-like beat and structure. Lyrics, music and dance address the challenges of (post-)modern life and give voice to uncertainty and fragmentation. At the same time, they embed people in kinship and place, evoking a strong yet encrypted sense of belonging. The music of Bullet ya Kaoko is ironizing: it questions, but does not answer. It challenges both the old and the new, but refrains from solving the tensions created by their juxtaposition.

The author reports about the results of a study of Porthetinae (Pamphagidae) and other Acridoidea preserved in some European museums. The taxonomy of African Porthetinae is still poorly known; some genera were established on variable characters (e.g.: the number of the flagellum segments, the shape of the hind femora or the prosternal tubercle) and collections generally hold only few specimens of this group. These insects are characterized by a remarkable sexual dimorphism, the males generally are winged while females are apterous. Because many species were described only from one sex (sometimes the female sex), there are objective difficulties to identify them correctly. The following synonymies are proposed here: Pagopedilum Karsch, 1896 = Stolliana Bolívar, 1916; Pagopedilum brevis (Walker, 1870) = Pagopedilum martini Bolívar, 1915; Cultrinotus poultoni Bolívar, 1915 = Cultrinotus luanensis Uvarov, 1953. The male of Pagopedilum bradyanum (Saussure, 1887) and adults male and female of Pagopedilum brevis (Walker, 1870) (known only from the nymph) are described. The distinction of the genera Lobosceliana Dirsh, 1958 and Xiphoceriana Dirsh, 1958 is revealed to be very difficult and they are probably synonyms, but more material should be studied. The stridulatory system found in different genera of Porthetinae is briefly described. Further, the South African Batrachotetrix cantans Saussure, 1888 (Pamphagidae: Akicerinae) is recorded for the first time in Namibia, Barombia tuberculosa sublaevis Bolívar, 1905 (Acrididae: Catantopinae) is synonymized with B. t. tuberculosa Karsch, 1891, a probable new brachypterous species of Rhachitopis (Acrididae: Euryphyminae) is reported from Angola, the Namibian Pycnodictya herero Karny, 1910 (Acrididae: Oedipodinae) is recorded for the first time from Angola, and the Tanzanian Tmetonota dispar Miller, 1929 (Acrididae: Oedipodinae) is recorded for the first time from Kenya.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Current discourse regarding the use and management of natural resources in the drylands of sub-Saharan Africa is inspired by three issues: 1) the growing emphasis on strengthening 'community-based' management of natural resources as a means of combining resource conservation with improvements in livelihoods; 2) continuing debate concerning the replacement of communal forms of land management with systems of private tenure; 3) and the widespread assumption of environmental 'degradation' and 'desertification' caused by the land-use practices of African livestock farmers. The way these areas of debate are interpreted affects policy and development intervention relating to the management and conservation of dryland natural resources. In relation to these issues, this thesis has two primary aims: 1) to analyse patterns and determinants of natural resource-use and management by Khoe-speaking Damara farmers in and north-west Namibia; 2) to assess the ecological implications of this resource-use in the context of the unpredictable variations in primary productivity characteristic of dryland environments. A combination of quantitative and qualitative anthropological and ecological techniques are employed to meet these objectives. The use of gathered non-timber products for food and medicine was monitored in 7 repeat-surveys over an 18 month period for a sample of 45 households comprising 2017 individual 'diet-days'. Statistical analysis suggests that food resources are consumed when abundant rather than as dry season supplements, that wealth is a poor predictor of gathered resource-use and that the use of natural resources is remarkably resilient given the disruptive effects of land alienation during this century. The utilisation of timber for fuel and building-poles was quantified at the household level and compansons with equivalent data from rural societies in more humid environments suggests conservative use of these resources. Qualitative data emphasise the continuing relevance of culturally-informed management practice relating to the use of natural resources. With regard to the second research objective, woody and herbaceous vegetation datasets were compiled, the former comprising 2760 plant individuals in a stratified sample of 75 transects and the latter consisting of 48 qradrats, half fenced to exclude livestock, in which herbaceous vegetation was monitored over two growing seasons. A number of standard ecological variables, including patterns in community floristics, diversity, cover and population structure, were used to explore the prediction that concentrations of people and livestock cause measurable impacts on vegetation around settlements. Statistical analysis suggests that effects of settlement are extremely localised and are within the range of variability shown by these measures over larger spatial scales, and that between-year variability in herbaceous vegetation dominates that measured both between- and within-sites. The research results indicate that current understanding of local resource-use practices in northwest Namibia is constrained by two conceptual influences: 1) a misleading colonial ethnography which continues to inform debate and interventions regarding the use and management of natural resources, operating to deny the present-day validity of local ecological knowledge and practice; 2) a temperate-zone ecology which focuses on density-dependent interactions between the biotic components of ecosystems, and plays-down the role of unpredictable abiotic factors, particularly rainfall, in driving a continuing dynamic of non-equilibrium variability in arid environments.

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 chapter discusses academic boycotts in the context of the 1985 ban of South Africa and Namibian participants from attending a World Archaeological Congress (WAC) gathering at Southampton. It argues that a policy of selective academic boycott expresses condemnation of the apartheid regime. For some people, however, the fact itself, together with the desirability of showing where we stand, of not condoning apartheid through silence, justifies a boycott policy. Here, the chapter emphasizes that the only responsible way to assess any policy towards South Africa is strategically: that is, with reference to the policy's probable impact on the struggle for liberation.

The colonial troops of imperial Germany, the Schutztruppe, carried out a systematic war of extermination (1904 – 1908) against the Herero and Nama people in what is now modern day Namibia. An undisclosed number of bones of the victims were traded to Germany in their pursuit of scientific racial studies. As part of the post-genocide growing trend calling for the repatriation of the bones, ongoing negotiations between the Namibian and German governments have resulted in the return of fifty-five skulls, including a few skeletons since October 2011. The return of these bones to Namibia has divided Namibian society on religious, cultural, political and ethnic issues regarding what to do with the genocide victims’ remains. In view of the general public perception that the genocide bones have been treated with a considerable degree of indignity, this study attempts to associate the evolving disrespectfulness for the genocide’s bones with the re-emergence of genocide trauma and suffering of the affected communities in general. It perceives political obstruction, involving German and Namibian governments, as a central factor that impedes humanitarian efforts to seek justice and dignity for the bones or descendants of the genocide’s victims.

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.