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Namibian politician that was elected president during the elections of the 15th and 16th of November 2004.
After the 1988 accords between South
Africa and the ONU, Pohamba returned to Namibia in 1989 to prepare the
first election as the director of the campaidn for SWAPO. SWAPO won the
elections gaining 57% of the votes; Pohamaba was elected deputy of
SWAPO under the leadership of President Sam Nujoma.
Independance
was declared March 21, 1990 during which time Pohamba becomes Minister
of the Interior. He also holds a post as Minister of Fisheries and
Maritime Resources and Minister of Agriculture.
As Minister of Agriculture, Pohamba was
charged with leading agriculture reform: white farmers, ancient
colonist, held most of the cultivable land as in Zimbabwe. Pohamba
followed the route of his predecessor, bringing together whites who
wanted to sell and blacks who wanted to buy before promoting a policy
of forced and calculated expropriation which former Prime Minister Hage
Geingob was hesistant to support.
Pohamba climbed the hierarchy of SWAPA becoming Vice-President in 2002.
Always in the shadow of the father of
independence Sam Nujoma, Pohamba becomes the presidential candidate for
on May 30 2004. Nujoma's support was necessary in order for Pohamba to
succeed as an official candidate for SWAPO and stand apart from the two
other candidate Hidippo Hamutenya and Nahas Angula.
In his plateforme, Pohamba promised to fight against corruption, crime, the spriad of AIDs, and the redistribution of agricuture land.
Depuis qu'il est président,
Pohamba a surpris beaucoup d'observateurs par sa modération et
sa modestie, contrairement à Sam Nujoma qui était connu
pour ses sautes d'humeur répétées contre les
homosexuels, les blancs, et ses ennemis politiques, entre
autres.
Hifikepunye Pohamba is equally the President of SWAPO since November 2007 et is up for reelection in 2009.
Source: wikipedia
Hifikepunye Pohamba was born in Okanghudi in the region of Ohangwena in the central north of South West Africa under the South African mandate. He was married in 1983 and has six children.
After his finishing studies in a local anglican mission, Pohamba found a job working as a secretary for a mining company. He became involved in the political organization SWAPO (South-West African People's Organization) in 1960. His involvement with SWAPO led to his arrest; he was also chained and beaten in public. He left for Rhodesia before he was exiled in 1961. He spent four months in prison before he was assigned a residence.
Exiled once again from 1964 to 1966, Pohamba returned to his country with his mentor Sma Nujoma once the South African government notified the ONU that exiles were permitted to return. He picks up where he left fighting for independence which again leads him to becom exiled. During the time he spent on Algeria, where he lived for two years, he learns French.
In 1970, he is elected to the central commity of the SWAPO and seven years later to the political bureau of the party. Locationed in Angola where the MPLA leave him alone, he establishes a SWAPO department in Luanda.
In 1980, Pohamba leaves for Moscow to study at L'Université russe de l'Amitié des Peuples; he receives a degree in political science.
Pohamba undergoes military training in Zambia and Tanzania as the SWAPO guerrillas were pursuing military action agaist the South African power which continues to act as the administrator of the South West Africa/Namibai when the legal mandate had been over since 1968.
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Namibian politician that was elected president during the elections of the 15th and 16th of November 2004.
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