Peya Mushelenga

Samuel Abraham Peyavali "Peya" Mushelenga (born September 01, 1975 in Oshigambo, Ovamboland) is a Namibian politician and poet. He is broadly educated, holding twelve academic qualifications from six different universities.

Honourable
Peya Mushelenga
Minister of Information and Communications Technology
Assumed office
21 March 2020
PresidentHage Geingob
Preceded byStanley Simataa
Minister of Urban and Rural Development
In office
8 February 2018 – 21 March 2020
PresidentHage Geingob
Preceded bySophia Shaningwa
Succeeded byErastus Uutoni
Deputy minister of International Relations and Cooperation
In office
21 March 2010 – 8 February 2018
PresidentHifikepunye Pohamba
Hage Geingob
Succeeded byChristine ǁHoebes
Personal details
Born (1975-09-01) September 1, 1975
Oshigambo, Oshikoto Region
Alma materUniversity of Namibia
University of South Africa
Open University of Tanzania
University of London
Eastern and Southern African Management Institute
University of the Western Cape

A member of SWAPO, Mushelenga has been a member of the National Assembly of Namibia since 2005. He has served cabinet in several ministerial roles and is the current Minister of Information and Communications Technology since March 2020.

Early life and education

Peya Mushelenga was born at Oshigambo in the Oshikoto Region of northern Namibia. He attended Oluno Senior Secondary School until 1992 and then entered the University of Namibia (UNAM).

Mushelenga has accumulated fourteen university degrees in his career; the New Era daily called him "Namibia's most avid scholar".[1] He graduated with:[2]

Mushelenga is an admitted legal practitioner (attorney) of the High Court of Namibia.[2]

Career

After his first degree at UNAM Mushelenga worked as teacher at Nehale Senior Secondary School in 1996. He then worked for Government until 1998, and thereafter joined NamPower.[2]

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. He had recently led the big delegation of 250 SWAPO Party Youth League leaders to Sochi Russia, to attend the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students, the event organized by World Federation of Democratic Youth WFDY and the Russian government. Also in 2002, he was elected to the SWAPO Central Committee as its youngest member (re-elected in 2007 and 2012).

Mushelenga became a member of Parliament of Namibia in 2005. In 2010, he was appointed deputy minister of Foreign Affairs.[3] In a major cabinet reshuffle he was promoted to minister of Urban and Rural Development on 8 February 2018.[4][5] On 21 March 2020, Mushelenga was appointed minister of Information and Communication Technology.[6]

Personal life

In 1980, South African security forces killed Mushelenga's 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.[7]

References
  1. Kangira, Jairos (4 April 2022). "Mushelenga graduates with second PhD". New Era.
  2. "Mushelenga, Peya". Parliament of Namibia. Retrieved 28 April 2018.
  3. Immanuel, Shinovene; Mongudhi, Tileni (20 March 2015). "Costly Democracy". The Namibian. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original on 10 April 2015. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
  4. Immanuel, Shinovene; Shapwanale, Ndapewoshali (19 February 2018). "Presidency keeps 3 deputies". The Namibian. pp. 1–2.
  5. Chiringa, Kelvin (7 March 2018). "From a village-boy to a minister- Peya Mushelenga". The Villager.
  6. Nakatana, Festus (23 March 2020). "Geingob drops Cabinet surprises". New Era. p. 1.
  7. Peya Mushelenga Archived 2011-06-11 at the Wayback Machine Namibia Institute for Democracy, 2007
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.