Dirk Mudge

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Dirk Frederik Mudge (born January 16, 1928 at Rusthof farm near Otjiwarongo ; † August 26, 2020 in Windhoek ) was a Namibian politician . He was considered a representative of the "moderate whites who want to continue living in Namibia".

Career

He came from an Afrikaans-speaking family. In 1947 he obtained a Bachelor (B.Comm.) From Stellenbosch University in South Africa . In the same year Mudge started a job with an accounting department in a company in Windhoek and stayed there until 1951. After that he ran a cattle ranch for ten years until 1961. In 1955 he became a member of the apartheid-friendly South African National Party and was a member of parliament with its representation in South West Africa, the National Party of South West Africa . During this period, Mudge was also a member of the Executive Committee for South West Africa from 1965 to 1977 in the administration for South West Africa occupied by South Africa .

From 1985 to February 1989 Mudge was a member of the Transitional Government of National Unity (TGNU), which was created in preparation for Namibia's independence, as Minister of Finance. In the previous transitional government in South West Africa, Mudge held the post of Prime Minister (Chairman of the Ministers' Council) between 1978 and 1983 . His policy pursued the goal of replacing South African officials with Namibian public officials. His measures for equal pay for blacks and whites and in particular his decisions to formally abolish apartheid brought him into disrepute with the representative of the South African government, the administrator general Danie Hough, and led to the resignation of his government. The dispute was sparked by the general administrator's proclamation (Proclamation AG 8/1980) on an interim constitution for the country, which undermined the current position of the Democratic Gymnasium Alliance (DTA). The text passages in particular regarding the dismantling of racist legislation had been weakened to such an extent by the influence of the South African government that they would have turned out to be counterproductive in practice.

Dirk Mudge helped found the Republican Party (RP) in 1977 and later became its chairman. This was immediately incorporated into the DTA, which Mudge headed from 1977 to 1995. He won a seat in the parliamentary elections in 1989 and was then a member of the National Assembly from 1989 to 1994 .

In December 2016 Dirk Mudge received an honorary doctorate from the University of Stellenbosch .

He died on August 26, 2020 at the age of 92 from complications from COVID-19 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mudge Dirk Frederik. Parliament of the Republic of Namibia, accessed July 31, 2020 .
  2. Jump up ↑ Georges Lory: Afrique australe - l'Afrique du Sud, ses voisins, leur mutation . In: Henry Dougier (ed.): Série monde . No. 45 . Éditions Autrement, Paris 1990, ISBN 2-86260-301-5 , pp. 206 f .
  3. ↑ Joe Pütz, Heidi von Egidy, Perri Caplan: Namibia Handbook and Political Who's Who (= Namibia series; 2). Magus, Windhoek 1989, ISBN 0-620-14172-7 , p. 225.
  4. ↑ Carole Cooper, Muriel Horrell, Barry Streek, South African Institute of Race Relations : Survey of Race Relations in South Africa 1983 . The Institute, Johannesburg 1984, ISBN 978-0-620-07663-0 , p. 602.
  5. ↑ From the depression years to Namibia - Dirk Mudge is 80. In: Allgemeine Zeitung . January 16, 2008, accessed August 26, 2020 .
  6. ^ SU honors four role models with honorary doctorates. In: sun.ac.za . December 9, 2016, accessed August 26, 2020 .
  7. ↑ Eliaser Ndeyanale: Dirk Mudge dies at 92. In: The Namibian . August 26, 2020, accessed on August 26, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Mudge, Dirk
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Mudge, Dirk Frederik (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Namibian politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 16, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Otjiwarongo
DATE OF DEATH August 26, 2020
Place of death Windhoek