Anton von Wietersheim

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Anton Gusinde von Wietersheim (born June 10, 1951 in Windhoek ) is a former Namibian politician. He was Minister of Agriculture .

education and profession

Von Wietersheim grew up on his parents' farm Gras am Fischfluss in the municipality of Kalkrand and attended the German higher private school in Windhoek . After graduating from high school in 1970, he did his military service in the South African military. Between 1972 and 1975 von Wietersheim studied at the universities in Cape Town and Stellenbosch and graduated with a diploma in agricultural sciences (B. Agric. Admin.). From 1976 he worked as a farmer and safari pilot in South West Africa and Botswana. During this time he took on numerous offices in farming and hunting associations. Together with his then wife, Erika von Wietersheim-Falk, he was one of the first farmers to set up a school for the children of his black employees in 1980.

Von Wietersheim had been the owner of the Swakopmund bookstore since 1998 , which he passed on to one of his sons in March 2011.

He was also active as chairman of the Namibian Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Swakopmund.

Political career

In 1985 Anton von Wietersheim was one of the founders of the group "Namibia Peace Plan 435". The group, to which mainly white residents of the country belonged, advocated Namibia's independence on the basis of UN Security Council Resolution No. 435 and held talks with the liberation organization SWAPO . In 1989 von Wietersheim, who was seen as an integrating figure for white Namibians, became a member of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia for SWAPO. After the country gained independence, von Wietersheim was a member of parliament from 1990 to 1995. In 1991 he was appointed Vice Minister for Economic Affairs and in 1992 Minister of Agriculture. President Sam Nujoma dismissed him from this position in 1993 because of a dispute over a corruption affair uncovered by von Wietersheim. In 1999 he left SWAPO and justified this step with the increasing centralization of decision-making powers within the party.

From 2010 to 2015 von Wietersheim was once again a member of the Namibian parliament , now as a member of the opposition Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP).

Private

Von Wietersheim is a second wife and has five children.

literature

  • Information in Namibia-Magazin issue 1/2010, p. 26.
  • Interview ( memento from February 21, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) in the Allgemeine Zeitung from February 17, 2006.
  • Klaus A. Hess, Klaus J. Becker (Eds.): From Protected Area to Namibia 2000. Klaus Hess Verlag, Göttingen / Windhoek 2002, p. 532.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The next generation is at the start, Allgemeine Zeitung, March 31, 2011
  2. ↑ Christoph Emminghaus: Political parties in the democratization process - structure and function of African party systems. Leske + Budrich, Opladen 2003, pp. 209f.
  3. ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung of August 13, 2009.
  4. ↑ Allgemeine Zeitung of April 9, 1999.
personal data
SURNAME Wietersheim, Anton von
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wietersheim, Anton Gusinde von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Namibian politician
DATE OF BIRTH June 10, 1951
PLACE OF BIRTH Windhoek