Panduleni Itula

Panduleni Filemon Bango Itula (born August 2, 1957 in the Old Location / Windhoek , South West Africa ) is a Namibian lawyer , dentist and politician . Until his expulsion from the party on March 20, 2020, he was a member of the SWAPO, which has ruled since 1990 .

In July 2020, he announced the founding of the Independent Patriots for Change party .

Career

In April 1979 he was arrested and tortured by the South African occupation . Itula went to London in the United Kingdom on April 1, 1981 . Here he lived with the Anglican Bishop Colin Winter . As a member of the SWAPO youth league, he campaigned for Namibia's independence from an early age.

Ithula studied dentistry at the University of Bristol and graduated from the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1994 . Four years later he also received his Masters in Dental Surgery from the University of Sheffield . Later he also received a Master of Laws .

He returned to Namibia on October 13, 2013 and was then chief dentist at the Katutura State Hospital in the capital Windhoek for a long time .

Presidential candidate 2019

By participating in the 2019 presidential election , he became the first independent presidential candidate in the history of Namibia. The SWAPO statutes forbade participation as a presidential candidate. An exclusion did not take place until the beginning of November 2019.

With 29.4 percent of the vote, it received the highest approval that a runner-up in a Namibian presidential election could ever achieve.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} The 'circumstantial politician'. Windhoek Observer, August 24, 2016.
2. ↑ Swapo expels Itula from party. The Namibian, March 20, 2020.
3. ↑ Itula aims for top job. The Namibian, July 9, 2020.
4. ↑ Swapo hands tied on Itula. The Namibian, October 31, 2019.