would not bode too well for the missionary station he intended to establish. Colonial The Gobabis district was proclaimed by the German authorities in February 1894 and in June the following year Gobabis was occupied by a German garrison. While the military fort, built in 1896–7, has long since disappeared, one of the few buildings dating back to that era is the field hospital, or Lazarett, which has been declared a national monument. Geography Climate Gobabis has a semi-arid climate (BSh, according to the Köppen climate classification), with hot summers and cool winters (with mild days and chilly nights). The average annual precipitation is . Economy Gobabis continues to grow as a town due to goods being transported from the mines of landlocked Botswana to the Namibian port of Walvis Bay, and furthermore from consumer goods being imported into Namibia from Gauteng in South Africa. The transport route is known as the Trans-Kalahari Corridor. Gobabis is connected to the Namibian railway system. The passenger train that used to run to the capital Windhoek four times a week no longer takes passengers. The town hosts a state hospital, a state clinic and a private hospital, banking and shopping facilities. Legare Stadium is located in the town. Politics Local Gobabis is governed by a municipal council that has seven seats. The town has its own local party, the Gobabis Residents' Association (GRA) which won three council seats in the 1998 local authority election and one seat in 2004. The 2015 local authority election was won by SWAPO which gained 3,077 votes and five seats. One seat each was won by the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA, 682 votes) and the National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO, 153 votes). SWAPO also won the 2020 local authority election but lost majority control over the municipal council. It obtained 1,986 votes and gained three seats. One seat each went to the Landless People's Movement (LPM, a new party registered in 2018, 818 votes), the GRA (681 votes), NUDO (440 votes) and the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly DTA, with 338 votes. Regional Gobabis is the regional capital of the Omaheke Region. Gobabis Constituency covers most of the town area except for its eastern township of Nossobville which belongs to the Kalahari Constituency. Education Gobabis is home to Wennie du Plessis Secondary School, which began as an Afrikaans-speaking school. With the government abolition of non-English education after grade