Andimba Toivo ya Toivo

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Herman Andimba Toivo ya Toivo (born 22 August 1924) is a Namibian politician who was active in the independence movement. He was a founding member of the Ovamboland People's Congress (OPC) in 1957, at the beginning of the independence movement.[1]

Toivo was born in Omangundu in Oshana Region in the north of Namibia.[2] Because of his political activities he was arrested in 1966 by the South African authorities. On January 26, 1968 he was sentenced by a Pretorian court to 20 years' imprisonment. He was incarcerated at Robben's Island, near Cape Town, where he spend most of his time isolated from his fellow countrymen. Ya Toivo was released on 1 March 1984.[3]

From 1984 to 1991, he was the Secretary General of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO).[1][2]

Toivo was a SWAPO member of the Constituent Assembly, which was in place from November 1989 to March 1990, immediately prior to independence,[1][4] and upon independence in March 1990 he became a member of the National Assembly.[2] He was also Minister of Mines and Energy from 1990[1][2] until his appointment as Minister of Labour on March 26, 1999.[5] After over three years in that position, he was appointed as Minister of Prisons on August 27, 2002, switching posts with Marco Hausiku;[6] he remained Minister of Prisons until 2006.

He chose to not to run for a seat in the National Assembly again at the time of the 2004 election, saying that he had "done enough".[7]

Toivo received the 11th highest number of votes—358—in the election to the Central Committee of SWAPO at the party's August 2002 congress.[8] At SWAPO's November 2007 congress, Toivo failed to be elected to the SWAPO Politburo for the first time in the party's history. This was widely attributed to Toivo's purported link to the opposition Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), a party that had been founded as a split from SWAPO shortly before the congress. Toivo denied being linked to the RDP, but the claim was believed to have influenced the vote.[9]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b c d Profile at klausdierks.com.
  2. ^ a b c d Profile at Namibian Parliament website.
  3. ^ Helao Shityuwete, Never Follow the Wolf, The Autobiography of a Namibian Freedom Fighter, London 1990, pp. 246-7.
  4. ^ List of members of the Constituent Assembly, parliament.gov.na.
  5. ^ "Two-prong strategy in latest reshuffle", The Namibian, March 29, 1999.
  6. ^ Christof Maletsky, "Nujoma shuffles the Cabinet pack", The Namibian, August 28, 2002.
  7. ^ Tangeni Amupadhi, "Major shift in Swapo leadership", The Namibian, October 4, 2004.
  8. ^ "The ruling party's new Central Committee", The Namibian, August 27, 2002.
  9. ^ Christof Maletsky, "Swapo big names dropped", The Namibian, December 3, 2007.
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