- Jerry Ekandjo
-
Jerry Ekandjo (born 17 March 1947[1]) is a Namibian politician, currently serving as Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development.
Ekandjo was born in Windhoek. He was a member of the SWAPO Party Youth League from 1969 to 1973[1] and served as Chairman of its Windhoek Branch. In August 1973 he was arrested, and in November 1973 he was put on trial for incitement of violence. He was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison, which he spent on Robben Island in South Africa.[2] Following his release in 1981, he was a teacher from 1982 to 1987, and in 1989, he was the deputy head of SWAPO voter registration.[1] Immediately prior to independence, he was a SWAPO member of the Constituent Assembly, which was in place from November 1989 to March 1990,[2][3] and since independence in 1990 he has served as a member of the National Assembly of Namibia. He also became Deputy Minister of Local Government and Housing in 1990, serving in that position until 1995, when he became Minister of Home Affairs. After ten years in the latter position, he became Minister of Lands and Resettlement on March 21, 2005.[1]
He received the highest number of votes, 395 (tied with Nahas Angula), in the election to the Central Committee of SWAPO at the party's August 2002 congress.[4] It was reported that at the time of the November 2007 SWAPO congress, some in the party wanted Ekandjo to become the party's Vice-President, although at the congress Hage Geingob was elected to the post without opposition. Ekandjo is widely considered to be a hardliner in the party.[5] He received the highest number of votes in the election for the SWAPO Central Committee at the November 2007 congress.[6] On January 27 2008, he was elected as SWAPO's Secretary for Information and Publicity at a Central Committee meeting, a move that was considered surprising given Ekandjo's reputation for having a harsh attitude toward the media.[7]
Ekandjo was moved from his post as Minister of Lands and Resettlement to that of Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development in a Cabinet reshuffle on 8 April 2008.[8]
Controversies
In 2000, Ekandjo, as Home Affairs Minister, urged police to eliminate homosexuals from Namibia. This caused great controversy in Namibia, especially with Namibia's homosexual community.[9] The opposition Democratic Turnhalle Alliance and United Democratic Front put forward a motion of no-confidence against Ekandjo, but in the vote on October 11 2000, SWAPO MPs voted unanimously against the motion, defeating it.[10]
On 9 February 2001, Ekandjo was found guilty of contempt of court for not releasing the jailed former representative of the Angolan rebel group UNITA in Namibia, Jose Domingo Sikunda, despite a court order to do so.[11] The government said that it would appeal Ekandjo's conviction.[12]
On HIV-AIDS
Ekandjo, through his status as minister, has worked to reduce the prevalence of AIDS in Namibia. He has been quoted as saying "Surely one of the main lessons of these past 25 years is that when we are united we win, when we are divided, AIDS wins".[13]
References
- ^ a b c d Namibian parliament profile on Ekandjo.
- ^ a b Ekandjo profile at klausdierks.com.
- ^ List of members of the Constituent Assembly, parliament.gov.na.
- ^ "The ruling party's new Central Committee", The Namibian, August 27, 2002.
- ^ Gwen Lister, "Political Perspective", The Namibian, December 14, 2007.
- ^ Christof Maletsky, "Swapo big names dropped", The Namibian, December 3, 2007.
- ^ Christof Maletsky, "Surprise changes in Swapo", The Namibian, January 29, 2008.
- ^ Kuvee Kangueehi, "Cabinet Shake Up", New Era (allAfrica.com), April 9, 2008.
- ^ "Namibia gay rights row", BBC News, 2 October 2000.
- ^ "Namibia: Ruling party MPs defeat motion to oust interior minister", Namibia Press Agency (nl.newsbank.com), October 12, 2000.
- ^ "Namibian interior minister convicted for defying court order", Nampa (nl.newsbank.com), February 9, 2001.
- ^ "Namibia: Government to appeal against minister's conviction in UNITA case", Nampa[disambiguation needed
] (nl.newsbank.com), February 12, 2001. - ^ "Namibia: United We Win, Divided Aids Wins", AllAfrica.com, 4 December 2006.
Categories:- 1947 births
- Living people
- Members of the National Assembly of Namibia
- Members of the South West Africa People's Organization
- People from Windhoek
- Namibian people imprisoned abroad
- Inmates of Robben Island
- SWAPO politicians
- Government ministers of Namibia
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