Namibia's first Cabinet: Where are they now?

 HAGE GEINGOB

He became Namibia’s first prime min¬ister aged 48, and held the position for 12 years until his unceremonious demotion in 2002. Having rejected the local government portfolio, he worked briefly in the USA before be¬ing elected Swapo vice-president in 2007, a position he retained at last year’s congress. He was appointed as trade minister in 2008 before being elevated to prime minister in December last year.

MARCO HAUSIKU

At 36, he was one of the two young¬est Cabinet members along with Hartmut Ruppel. He was the first minister of lands before switching to works and transport, and later prisons. He also worked as minister of labour before moving to foreign affairs. In 2010, he was appointed deputy prime minister, which remains his position.

THEO-BEN GURIRAB

A career diplomat, the then 51-year-old held the foreign affairs portfolio until he was appointed prime minis¬ter in 2002. He is the Speaker of the National Assembly, a position he has held since 2005.

RICHARD KABAJANI

The first minister of works, he was 47 in 1990. In 1992 he became minis¬ter of lands before moving on to the youth and sport portfolio in 1996. He became ambassador to Cuba in 2000 but retired in 2004. He died in 2007.

NANGOLO MBUMBA

Mbumba was 51 when he was ap¬pointed as agriculture minister in 1993, before moving on to finance in 1996. He then moved on to the ministry of information and later education. He later became safety and security minister before becom¬ing the fulltime secretary-general of Swapo in December last year.

HENDRIK WITBOOI +

The first labour minister, 56 at the time, served in that capacity from independence until he was appointed deputy prime minister in 1995. He served in that capacity until 2004. He retired from active politics in 2005 and died in October 2009.

NGARIKUTUKE TJIRIANGE

Aged 46 in 1990, he served as justice minister until 2003, before becom¬ing a minister without portfolio for three years. In 2006 he became the minister of veterans’ affairs before heading into retirement. He later returned from retirement and is currently the special advisor to the home affairs minister.

BEN AMATHILA

Aged 51, he was appointed as the country’s first trade minister in 1990 and, later, took over the information portfolio in 1993.

He retired from the National As¬sembly in 2007, but made himself available for a parliamentary seat once again in 2009.

He is a now a Swapo backbencher in the same house of parliament.

OTTO HERRIGEL +

Aged 52 in 1990, he was the country’s first finance minister but surprised all and sundry when he resigned in 1992. He turned to commercial farming, but died in May this year.

NAHAS ANGULA

Aged 46, he was the country’s first education minister and went on to serve in the same portfolio, which has been renamed over the years, until he was appointed prime minister by incumbent President Hifikepunye Pohamba. He was a sacrificial lamb for the return of Geingob to that posi¬tion last year and is currently the minister of defence.

NICKEY IYAMBO

Became the country’s first health minister, between 1990 and 1996, before moving on to the local government portfolio, which he held until 2002. He had stints at the ministries of mines and of agriculture before taking over the veterans’ affairs ministry where he currently is.

HIFIKEPUNYE POHAMBA

The country’s first home affairs minister (then aged 54), also served as minister of fisheries before becoming a minister without portfolio for two years between 1998 and 2000. He later became the lands minister before sensationally becoming the president of Namibia in 2005, a position he holds to date. LIBERTINA AMATHILA

She became the first minister of local government, aged 49. In 1996 she took over the health portfolio before becoming deputy prime minister in 2005. She has since retired and is farming.

HARTMUT RUPPEL

Served as the country’s first attorney general between 1990 and 1995. After leaving parliament in 2000, he went on to work as a lawyer for Lorentz Angula law firm, in which he is currently a partner.

 NICO BESSINGER +

He was 41 when Nujoma appointed him as minister of environment in 1990. A qualified architect, he resigned from Cabinet in 1996 to pursue business interests. He died of heart attack in March 2008.

GERT HANEKOM +

He was 59 upon resumption of his tenure as agriculture minister in 1990. In 1992 he became the finance minister, a position he held until 1995. He has since passed on.

HIDIPO HAMUTENYA

He became independent Namibia’s first minister of information when he was 50. Between 1993 and 2002, he worked as trade minister before Nujoma appointed him as minister of foreign affairs in 2002. After a failed bid at the country’s presidency in 2004, he quit Swapo to form the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), of which he currently is president and member of parliament.

PENDUKENI ITHANA

At age 37, she was appointed to the newly formed youth ministry in February 1991 and served there until 1995. She then became minister of lands, and later attorneygeneral and justice minister. She is currently the minister of home affairs.

ZEDEKIA NGAVIRUE

At 57, he became the first director-general of the National Planning Commission, a position he held until 1995. Since then, he was appointed as Namibian ambassador to the European Union and Belgium, a position he held between 1995 and 2003. He is now retired.

ANDIMBA TOIVO YA TOIVO

At 65, he was the oldest Cabinet member when he was appointed as mines and energy minister. He had stints at the labour and prisons ministries before retiring in 2005. Now a fulltime businessman, he also serves as a director on the boards of several companies.

PETER MWESHIHANGE +

He was 59 when Nujoma appointed him as the country’s first minister of defence until 1995. In 1996, he was appointed as ambassador to China, a position he held until his death on the eve of Independence Day (March 20) in 1998.

HELMUT ANGULA

He was 44 when he became the country’s first minister of fisheries in 1991, a new ministry then. He had a brief stint as minister of finance and later agriculture. He later became director-general of the NPC. In 2008 he became minister works, but did not secure re-election to parliament in the 2009 elections. He is currently a businessman with various interests.

ANTON VON WIETERSHEIM

Aged 38, he was the country’s first agriculture minister before he resigned (or was sacked by Nujoma) in 1993. After more than a decade of farming commercially, he resurfaced in 2009 as an RDP parliamentary candidate and won a seat in the National Assembly that he still occupies.

SAM NUJOMA 

He served as the country’s president for three terms (15 years) before stepping down in 2005 to make way for his preferred candidate, Pohamba. In 2007, he relinquished the Swapo presidency to Pohamba to all but retire from active politics. He is currently involved in farming and other business interests.