Peter Mweshihange

Peter Mweshihange (1976)

Peter Mweshihange , also Mueshiange (born May 5, 1930 in Epinga , South West Africa , † March 20, 1998 in Windhoek ), was a Namibian revolutionary and later a politician of the SWAPO . From 1990 to 1995 he was Minister of Defense in the Nujoma I cabinet and then Namibian Ambassador to the People's Republic of China until his death .

Mweshihange was born as the fifth of 25 children in the far north of Namibia. He became interested in naturopathy at a young age and described himself as a traditional healer .

Life path

He attended St. Mary's Mission School in Odibo and was trained as a teacher from the age of 14. In 1946 Mweshihange moved to Tsumeb and initially worked as a truck driver. He later headed the transportation division of the South West Africa Native Labor Association (SWANLA).

In 1954, Mweshihange was arrested in Rundu after trying to flee into exile . He left South West Africa and went to Johannesburg as a miner and worked as a cook in the French Consulate General in Cape Town . In 1960 he followed Sam Nujoma , the later President of Namibia , into exile in Tanganyika .

During the first years in exile, Mweshihange received further training as a teacher and then studied political science in Ghana from 1963 to 1964 . During this time he intensified his involvement in SWAPO with regard to the Namibian liberation struggle .

Mweshihange rose to command the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN). In 1970 he went to the Soviet Union for military training. In 1986 Mweshihange became SWAPO's Secretary General for Defense. He was responsible for the PLAN activities in the battle of Cuito Cuanavale in Angola .

After Namibia's independence, Mweshihange became the country's first defense minister and died in 1998 while visiting Namibia. Mweshihange received a state funeral , he was given hero status and he is buried on the Heldenacker in Windhoek.

Web links

Commons : Peter Mueshiange  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b c} Catherine Sasman: Peter Mweshihange: Man of all seasons (1931 to 1998) . In: New Era , October 2, 2010. Archived from the original on March 31, 2012. 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e} Shampapi Shiremo: Peter Mweshihange: The cornerstone of Namibia's liberation struggle. (1930-1998) . In: New Era , May 6, 2011. Archived from the original on March 31, 2012.