Ngarikutuke Tjiriange

Ngarikutuke Ernest Tjiriange (born July 12, 1943) is a Namibian politician, a member of the National Assembly and former secretary-general of the ruling SWAPO Party. He also served in the Namibian cabinet from 1990 to 2010, first as Minister of Justice, then without portfolio, and then as Minister of Veteran Affairs.

Ngarikutuke Tjiriange
Minister of Veteran Affairs
In office
2006 – 21 March 2010
PresidentHifikepunye Pohamba
Preceded byposition established
Succeeded byNickey Iyambo
Minister without portfolio
In office
2003–2006
PresidentSam Nujoma
Hifikepunye Pohamba
Minister of Justice
In office
21 March 1990 – 2003
PresidentSam Nujoma
Preceded byposition established
Personal details
Born (1943-07-12) 12 July 1943
South West Africa
Nationality Namibian
Political party SWAPO
OccupationLawyer

Career

Tjiriange, born in Windhoek, studied law at Leningrad State University and received a doctorate from Kiev University in 1973. After doing research at the International Institute for Labour Studies in Switzerland in 1974 and the International Institute of Human Rights in France in 1975, he was an assistant professor at the United Nations Institute for Namibia in Lusaka, Zambia from 1977 to 1982. He became the principal legal advisor of SWAPO in 1970.[1]

Tjiriange was a SWAPO member of the Constituent Assembly, which was in place from November 1989 to March 1990, immediately prior to Namibia's independence. At independence in 1990, he became a member of the National Assembly.[1]

He became Minister of Justice in 1990, serving in that post for thirteen years;[1] he was additionally Attorney-General from March 2000 to January 2001. He was nominated as Secretary-General of SWAPO by President Sam Nujoma at the party's August 2002 congress, and he was elected to that post. It was decided at the congress to make the position of Secretary-General a full-time job, but Tjiriange remained Justice Minister until May 8, 2003, at which point he was instead appointed as Minister without Portfolio.[2] In the November 2004 parliamentary election, he was first on SWAPO's candidate list. He resigned from the National Assembly, as well as from his post as Minister without Portfolio, in February 2005 in order to receive payment of a pension;[3] however, he was reappointed as Minister without Portfolio by the newly sworn in President Hifikepunye Pohamba on March 21, 2005.[4] The opposition Congress of Democrats was critical of the decision to keep Tjiriange in the Cabinet without a ministerial portfolio, arguing that he would effectively receive a salary out of taxpayer money for doing party work as SWAPO Secretary-General.[5] On October 4, 2006, he was appointed by Pohamba as Minister of Veterans' Affairs upon the creation of that ministry.[6]

At SWAPO's November 2007 congress, Tjiriange failed to be re-elected to the party's Politburo.[7] On January 27, 2008, he was elected as SWAPO's Secretary for Environment at a meeting of the Central Committee.[8]

Ngarikutuke Tjiriange announced in September 2009 that he would withdraw from active politics to devote more time to farming, but remained a member of the central committee and the secretariat of the Swapo Party. In his farewell speech on the 16th of March 2010 for the National assembly, Ngarikute urged his successors to deal with the land question, in particular the access to grave sites of ancestors.

After his resignation, Tjiriange presented himself as a prominent advocate against legislation for equal rights of homosexuals in Africa.[9] His prominent presence in the media has earned him a re-entry into politics as of April 2012 when he was appointed special adviser to Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Rosalia Nghidinwa to bring about all-round improvement at the Ministry.

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References
  1. "Tjiriange Ngarikutuke". Parliament of Namibia. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
  2. Christof Maletsky, "Kuugongelwa new Finance Minister", The Namibian, May 9, 2003.
  3. "MPs quit 'for the money'", The Namibian, February 18, 2005.
  4. Christof Maletsky, "New ministries and new faces", The Namibian, March 22, 2005.
  5. "Pohamba fails to impress the CoD", The Namibian, April 22, 2005.
  6. Brigitte Weidlich, "War vets get own Ministry", The Namibian, October 5, 2006.
  7. Christof Maletsky, "Swapo big names dropped", The Namibian, December 3, 2007.
  8. Christof Maletsky, "Surprise changes in Swapo" Archived 2007-08-15 at Archive.today, The Namibian, January 29, 2008.
  9. "This issue of gay rights" Archived 2012-09-04 at Archive.today, New Era, February 8, 2012.
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