Ben Amathila

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Ben Amathila (born 1 October 1938 in Walvis Bay) is a semi-retired Namibian politician. Amathila served in the government of Namibia with SWAPO from independence in 1990 until his retirement from the National Assembly in April 2007. From 1990 to 1993, he served as Minister of Trade and Industry then, after resisting the change, became the Minister of Information and Broadcasting (1993-2000). In 2000, he became one of the few government ministers in Namibia to be dropped from the Cabinet by President Sam Nujoma. He retained his seat the Assembly until his resignation in 2007, citing concerns with his party. He is still a member of SWAPO's Politburo. Internationally, Amathila is a member of the Pan-African Parliament.

Amathila was re-elected to the SWAPO Central Committee at the party's August 2002 congress, placing eighth with 369 votes,^[1] and he was again elected to the Central Committee at SWAPO's November 2007 congress.^[2]

[edit] Namibian War of Independence

Amathila began working towards Namibian independence in 1959 with the forerunner to SWAPO, the Ovamboland People's Organization. He helped mobilizing support for SWAPO from 1959 until going into exile in 1966. He then was instrumental in organizing SWAPO's consultative congress at Tanga, Tanzania in 1969. Shortly afterwards, Amathila became SWAPO's representative in Scandinavia then the movement's Secretary for Economics in Lusaka than Luanda.

[edit] Personal

Amathila is the owner of a farm near Omaruru, where he plans to spend his retirement. He is married to the first Black Namibian female physician and fellow politician, Libertina Amathila. Amathila was educated in Okahandja then Tsumeb.

[edit] References

• Hopwood, Graham. Guide to Namibian Politics, 2007 edition. Namibia Institute for Democracy, Windhoek, 2007