The candidates

APART from the candidature of President Hifikepunye Pohamba as Swapo President and Hage Geingob as Vice President of the ruling party, five other top Swapo members are in the mix at this week’s congress.

Here are brief biographies of the five confirmed candidates, starting with those who are running for the Secretary General position and the last two for the post of Deputy Secretary General: Dr Ngarikutuke Ernest Tjiriange: He has been Swapo’s main legal advisor since 1970 and was the country’s first Justice Minister, a position he occupied for 13 years. He was the only Minister in the first Cabinet who still had the same portfolio at the start of 2003.From March 2000 to January 2001 he doubled as Attorney General.He was elected Secretary General in 2002 after party President Sam Nujoma nominated him and although the congress resolved that the position be a full-time job, he stayed on as Justice Minister until 2003 when he was made Minister Without Portfolio.He joined Swapo in the early 1960s and left for exile in 1964.At the Tanga Consultative Congress (1969-1970) he was chosen as Swapo’s Deputy Secretary for Legal and Economic Affairs.Pendukeni Maria Iivula-Ithana: One of Namibia’s most prominent female politicians, she has spearheaded the Swapo Women’s Council in exile and became Namibia’s first female Attorney General in 2002.Ithana left Namibia in 1974 and became one of the first women fighters in the People’s Liberation Army in Namibia (Plan).Although she was the Secretary for Women’s Council from 1980 to 1991, Ithana was surprisingly left out of the Council’s Executive in 2002 as current Information Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah strengthened her influence over the organisation.That was also the same time that former Prime Minister Hage Geingob had lost his seat in the party’s Politburo and was no longer a Cabinet member.At Independence Ithana held the low-profile Deputy Minister’s post at Wildlife, Conservation and Tourism but was heading the Youth and Sport Ministry within a year.She later moved to become Minister of Lands where she oversaw the tortuous passage of the Communal Land Reform Bill through Parliament, even though the National Council rejected it on principle.John Alphons Pandeni: One of three former Robben Island prisoners who played a pivotal role in launching the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) and its affiliated unions in the late 1980s.Like his fellow union organisers Ben Ulenga and Petrus Iilonga, he had been a Plan fighter who was captured and then imprisoned on Robben Island.Following his release in 1985, he became the founding General Secretary of the Namibia Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Nafau), which he led until 1992 when he was elected as Regional Councillor for Soweto in Katutura and later became Governor of Khomas Region.He became a Swapo Central Committee member in 1991 and joined the inner circle of the party at the 1997 congress when he was chosen as Deputy Secretary General and joined the Politburo.He was re-elected as Deputy Secretary General in 2002 but wants to go one better this time around.Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah: She was among the generation that left Namibia in 1974 and rose through the party’s ranks in 1990.After starting the decade as Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Ndaitwah was given her own Ministry, Women’s Affairs and Child Welfare, in 2000.She had ministerial status from 1996 when she was made Director General of Women’s Affairs in the Office of the President.In 1996 when she was appointed Deputy Secretary General of the party – a position that put her on the Politburo and appeared to make her heir apparent to the late Moses //Garoëb as Secretary General.However, at the 1997 congress President Hifikepunye Pohamba became Secretary General and Pandeni his deputy.In the late 1990s, she became the dominant personality in the Swapo Women’s Council and in a 2002 ballot for Executive Committee positions came out top while Ithana did not garner enough votes to make it onto the body.She joined Swapo in 1966 while a student as the Odibo mission school and was the chairperson of the Youth League in the North from 1969 to 1974 when she went into exile amid growing persecution.n Nangolo Mbumba: One of Swapo’s most trusted administrators, he has been assigned to key jobs which culminated in his appointment as Minister of Finance in 1996.Before Independence he wad been an advisor to both Hage Geingob (when he was director of UN Institute for Namibia and Elections Director) and former President Sam Nujoma.He was Cabinet Secretary for two years, before being switched to Walvis Bay, where a period of joint administration with South Africa had been introduced as a prelude to full reintegration of the enclave.Before the transfer for the enclave to Namibian sovereignty was completed in February 1994, he was promoted to a full Cabinet post, taking over the Ministry of Agriculture after Anton von Wietersheim walked out of a Cabinet meeting and was promptly sacked in November 1993.His ascent continued in 1996 when he took over the crucial Finance portfolio.In May 2003 his departure for the Information portfolio was inevitably seen as a demotion and speculation was rife as to the reason, including a report that he fell out of favour with the President after his Ministry hired a former Koevoet member to probe the finances of the Roads Authority.He was appointed as Education Minister in Pohamba’s new Cabinet.He was the only Minister in the first Cabinet who still had the same portfolio at the start of 2003.From March 2000 to January 2001 he doubled as Attorney General.He was elected Secretary General in 2002 after party President Sam Nujoma nominated him and although the congress resolved that the position be a full-time job, he stayed on as Justice Minister until 2003 when he was made Minister Without Portfolio.He joined Swapo in the early 1960s and left for exile in 1964.At the Tanga Consultative Congress (1969-1970) he was chosen as Swapo’s Deputy Secretary for Legal and Economic Affairs.Pendukeni Maria Iivula-Ithana: One of Namibia’s most prominent female politicians, she has spearheaded the Swapo Women’s Council in exile and became Namibia’s first female Attorney General in 2002.Ithana left Namibia in 1974 and became one of the first women fighters in the People’s Liberation Army in Namibia (Plan).Although she was the Secretary for Women’s Council from 1980 to 1991, Ithana was surprisingly left out of the Council’s Executive in 2002 as current Information Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah strengthened her influence over the organisation.That was also the same time that former Prime Minister Hage Geingob had lost his seat in the party’s Politburo and was no longer a Cabinet member.At Independence Ithana held the low-profile Deputy Minister’s post at Wildlife, Conservation and Tourism but was heading the Youth and Sport Ministry within a year.She later moved to become Minister of Lands where she oversaw the tortuous passage of the Communal Land Reform Bill through Parliament, even though the National Council rejected it on principle.John Alphons Pandeni: One of three former Robben Island prisoners who played a pivotal role in launching the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) and its affiliated unions in the late 1980s.Like his fellow union organisers Ben Ulenga and Petrus Iilonga, he had been a Plan fighter who was captured and then imprisoned on Robben Island.Following his release in 1985, he became the founding General Secretary of the Namibia Food and Allied Workers’ Union (Nafau), which he led until 1992 when he was elected as Regional Councillor for Soweto in Katutura and later became Governor of Khomas Region.He became a Swapo Central Committee member in 1991 and joined the inner circle of the party at the 1997 congress when he was chosen as Deputy Secretary General and joined the Politburo.He was re-elected as Deputy Secretary General in 2002 but wants to go one better this time around.Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah: She was among the generation that left Namibia in 1974 and rose through the party’s ranks in 1990.After starting the decade as Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister, Ndaitwah was given her own Ministry, Women’s Affairs and Child Welfare, in 2000.She had ministerial status from 1996 when she was made Director General of Women’s Affairs in the Office of the President.In 1996 when she was appointed Deputy Secretary General of the party – a position that put her on the Politburo and appeared to make her heir apparent to the late Moses //Garoëb as Secretary General.However, at the 1997 congress President Hifikepunye Pohamba became Secretary General and Pandeni his deputy.In the late 1990s, she became the dominant personality in the Swapo Women’s Council and in a 2002 ballot for Executive Committee positions came out top while Ithana did not garner enough votes to make it onto the body.She joined Swapo in 1966 while a student as the Odibo mission school and was the chairperson of the Youth League in the North from 1969 to 1974 when she went into exile amid growing persecution.n Nangolo Mbumba: One of Swapo’s most trusted administrators, he has been assigned to key jobs which culminated in his appointment as Minister of Finance in 1996.Before Independence he wad been an advisor to both Hage Geingob (when he was director of UN Institute for Namibia and Elections Director) and former President Sam Nujoma.He was Cabinet Secretary for two years, before being switched to Walvis Bay, where a period of joint administration with South Africa had been introduced as a prelude to full reintegration of the enclave.Before the transfer for the enclave to Namibian sovereignty was completed in February 1994, he was promoted to a full Cabinet post, taking over the Ministry of Agriculture after Anton von Wietersheim walked out of a Cabinet meeting and was promptly sacked in November 1993.His ascent continued in 1996 when he took over the crucial Finance portfolio.In May 2003 his departure for the Information portfolio was inevitably seen as a demotion and speculation was rife as to the reason, including a report that he fell out of favour with the President after his Ministry hired a former Koevoet member to probe the finances of the Roads Authority.He was appointed as Education Minister in Pohamba’s new Cabinet.