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Angola's southern border: entrepreneurship opportunities and the state in Cunene*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2010

Cristina Udelsmann Rodrigues
Cristina Udelsmann Rodrigues*
Affiliation:
Centro de Estudos Africanos – ISCTE-IUL, Av. das Forças Armadas, 1649-026 Lisboa, Portugal
*
Email: cristina.rodrigues@iscte.pt
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Abstract

Santa Clara, on Angola's southern border with Namibia, is now a very dynamic urban hub, both economically and socially. It stands out in the remote province of Cunene, recording greater growth in the last five years than the provincial capital, Ondjiva. Its recent transformation into a thriving trading centre was mostly due to massive migration and an intensification of trade between Angola and Namibia at the beginning of this century, although the region's history in the last hundred years is a very different one. While local traders and entrepreneurs have developed their own strategies within this context, national and local administrative structures of the recently pacified country are trying to regulate trading and settlement. These forces in action produce both more sustainable and organised urban growth and at the same time influence social and economic development in the region. The main boom seems to be over, due to relatively successful regulation, which makes the region less attractive to business activity. Traders and entrepreneurs operating locally now have to find new strategies and opportunities. This article, based on empirical research and combined surveys, conducts an analysis of these dynamics and contributes to an understanding of regulation impacts, the way in which local traders cope with them, and the strategies they have developed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , September 2010 , pp. 461 - 484
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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Footnotes

*

This paper received financial support from Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT).

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Interviews

A. J., provincial government statistician, Ondjiva, 1.07.2004.

INAC representative, Ondjiva, 25.02.2006.

Kapaya, second Secretary of MPLA in Ondjiva, Ondjiva, 15.07.2004.

M. T., market seller and cross-border trader, Naipalala, Ondjiva, 15.06.2006.

O. L., market seller and trader, Kachila market, Ondjiva, 15.06.2006.

R. F., high school teacher, Ondjiva, 24.02.2006.