Peya Mushelenga

Peya Mushelenga (born in Oshigambo, Oshikoto Region) is a Namibian politician and poet. A member of SWAPO, Mushelenga has been a member of the National Assembly of Namibia since the 2004 elections and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (in 2015 renamed to International Relations and Cooperation)^[1] since 21 March 2010. He joined the movement for liberation of Namibia in 1984, at the age of 9. He became active in the Namibia National Students Organisation in the 1980s and eventually became a high-level organizer for the SWAPO Party Youth League, being elected to the Central Committee and National Executive of the SPYL in 1997 and 2002. Also in 2002, he was elected to the SWAPO Central Committee as its youngest member (re-elected in 2007 and 2012). He earned BA and BJuris degrees from the University of Namibia (1995) and (2012) and Hons BA and MA degrees from the University of South Africa (1998) and (2009).

Personal

In 1980, South African security forces killed his sister and injured other relatives during a raid on their family home in the former bantustan of Ovamboland. A book of poetry entitled "Nando Na Li Toke", written in the Ovambo dialect of Ndonga, was published by Gamsberg MacMillan in 1996.^[2]

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