Hidipo Hamutenya

Pronunciation of Hidipo Hamutenya

Hidipo Livius Hamutenya (born June 17, 1939 in Odibo , South West Africa , † October 6, 2016 in Windhoek ) was a Namibian politician . He was the founder and long-time president of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP). From 2009 to 2014 he was the official opposition leader and rejoined the ruling SWAPO on August 27, 2015 .

Hamutenya's father was a founding member of SWAPO.

education

Hamutenya went to school at St Mary's Mission School in Odibo and at the Augustineum in Okahandja . In 1960 his political engagement began with participation in a protest march from the Augustineum to Windhoek. He then went into exile and took on a job in the SWAPO office in Dar es Salaam and for two months in their Cairo office. Hamutenya studied in Bulgaria (1964, dropped out) and then in the USA (Bachelor in Political Science from Lincoln University ) and in Canada (Master in Political Science from McGill University ).

Political career

Hamutenya was a founding member and vice director of the UN Institute for Namibia in Lusaka in 1975 , was elected to the Central Committee in 1976 and in 1981 as Secretary for Information and Public Relations in the SWAPO Politburo . After Namibia's independence from South Africa in 1990, Hamutenya served as Minister of Information and Broadcasting , Minister of Trade and Industries and was also Namibia's Foreign Minister. Hamutenya had a good standing in the Namibian and international public .

In 2004 he was considered the most promising candidate for the successor to the presidency , but was not considered in the end due to internal party disagreements. From 2007 to December 8, 2014 he was party president of the then newly founded party Rally for Democracy and Progress . In the presidential election in Namibia in 2009 , he received almost 11 percent of the vote, in 2014 only 3.39 percent.

death

Hamutenya died in a private hospital in Windhoek on October 6, 2016, about two months after suffering a breakdown. He did not regain consciousness until his death. On October 12th, Hamutenya was declared a hero by President Hage Geingob and found the final resting place on the Heldenacker near Windhoek.

Web links

• Entry about Hidipo Hamutenya in the personal database of the Namibia Institute for Democracy ( Memento from March 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Joe Pütz, Heidi von Egidy, Perri Caplan: Namibia Handbook and Political Who's Who . Windhoek 1989, ISBN 0-620-14172-7 , pp. 277-278
2. ↑ Mourning for a political veteran: Farewell to Hidipo Hamutenya. Allgemeine Zeitung, October 7, 2016.