Namibia’s First Cabinet (1990 to 1995)

Hage Geingob

Hage Geingob became Namibia’s first prime minister aged 48, and held the position for 12 years until his demotion in 2002. Having rejected the local government portfolio, he worked briefly in the USA before being elected Swapo vice-president in 2007, a position he retained at the 2012 congress. He was appointed as trade minister in 2008 before being elevated to prime minister in December 2012. He is the third and current president of Namibia, in office since 21 March 2015. Geingob is also the current president of Swapo since his election to the position in November 2017.

Marco Hausiku

At 36, Marco Hausiku was one of the two youngest Cabinet members along with Hartmut Ruppel. He was the first minister of lands before switching to works and transport, and later prisons. He also worked as minister of labour before moving to foreign affairs. Hausiku was deputy prime minister from 2010 to 2015. In 2017, he was elected deputy secretary-general of Swapo and still serves in this position.

Theo-Ben Gurirab

A career diplomat, the then 51-year-old Theo-Ben Gurirab held the foreign affairs portfolio until he was appointed prime minister in 2002. He was the Speaker of the National Assembly, a position he held from 2005 to 2015 when he was replaced by Peter Katjavivi. Gurirab ultimately resigned from politics in 2015. He died on 14 July 2018, after a long illness, at the age of 80.

Richard Kabajani

The first minister of works, Richard Kabajani was 47 in 1990. In 1992, he became minister of lands before moving on to the youth and sport portfolio in 1996. He became ambassador to Cuba in 2000 but retired in 2004. He died on 17 May 2007.

Nangolo Mbumba

Nangolo Mbumba was 51 when he was appointed as agriculture minister in 1993, before moving on to finance in 1996. He then moved on to the ministry of information and later education. He later became safety and security minister before becoming the full-time secretary-general of Swapo in December 2012. Mbumba serves as the current vice president of Namibia.

Hendrik Witbooi

The first labour minister, 56 at the time, Hendrik Witbooi served in that capacity from independence until he was appointed deputy prime minister in 1995, until 2004. He retired from active politics in 2005 and died on 13 October 2009.

Ngarikutuke Tjiriange

Aged 46 in 1990, Ngarikutuke Tjiriange served as justice minister until 2003, before becoming a minister without portfolio for three years. In 2006, he became the minister of veterans’ affairs before heading into retirement. He later returned from retirement and was the special advisor to the home affairs minister.

Ben Amathila

Aged 51, Ben Amathila was appointed as the country’s first trade minister in 1990 and, later, took over the information portfolio in 1993. He retired from the National Assembly in 2007, but made himself available for a parliamentary seat once again in 2009.

Otto Herrigel

Aged 52 in 1990, Otto Herrigel was the country’s first finance minister. He resigned in 1992, reportedly due to differences with former president Sam Nujoma over fiscal policy and the procurement of a presidential aircraft. Afterwards, Herrigel was on the board of the Bank of Namibia (1998 to 2008), and on the board of directors of TransNamib (2001 to 2002). He turned to commercial farming, but died at the age of 75 on 13 May 2013.

Nahas Angula

Aged 46, Nahas Angula was the country’s first education minister and went on to serve in the same portfolio, which has been renamed over the years, until he was appointed prime minister by former president Hifikepunye Pohamba. He was succeeded by Geingob in a Cabinet reshuffle after the 2012 Swapo congress. He subsequently served as defence minister from 2012 until his retirement from active politics in 2015.

Nickey Iyambo

Nickey Iyambo was Namibia's first vice president from 2015 until his resignation in February 2018. He was the health minister from 1990 to 1996, regional and local government and housing minister from 1996 to 2002, mines and energy minister from 2002 to 2005, agriculture minister from 2005 to 2008, safety and security minister from 2008 to 2010, and also veterans' affairs minister after that. Iyambo died at the age of 82 on 19 May 2019.

Hifikepunye Pohamba

Aged 54, Hifikepunye Pohamba was the country’s first home affairs minister, and also served as fisheries minister before becoming a minister without portfolio for two years between 1998 and 2000. He later became the lands minister before sensationally becoming the president of Namibia in 2005, a position he held until 2015. He won the 2004 election overwhelmingly as the Swapo candidate, and was re-elected in 2009. Pohamba was the president of Swapo from 2007 until his retirement in 2015.

Libertina Amathila

Libertina Amathila became the first minister of local government aged 49. In 1996, she took over the health portfolio before becoming deputy prime minister in 2005. She has since retired and has been farming.

Hartmut Ruppel

He served as the country’s first attorney general between 1990 and 1995. After leaving Parliament in 2000, he returned to private practice. Ruppel is currently an executive chairperson and director at law firm ENSafrica in Namibia.

Niko Bessinger

Niko Bessinger was 41 when he was appointed minister of environment in 1990, a position he held until 1995. A qualified architect, he resigned from Cabinet in 1996 to pursue business interests. He died of a heart attack on 25 March 2008.

Gert Hanekom

Gert Hanekom was 59 upon resumption of his tenure as agriculture minister in 1990. In 1992, he became the finance minister, a position he held until 1995. He also served as environment minister from 1995 to 1997. He died on 5 December 1999 at the age of 69. At the time of his death, he was government’s advisor on economic affairs and was in charge of the President’s Economic Advisory Council that draws together the private and public sectors.

Hidipo Hamutenya

Hidipo Hamutenya became Namibia’s first minister of information when he was 50. Between 1993 and 2002, he worked as trade minister before he was appointed as foreign affairs minister in 2002. After a failed bid at the country’s presidency in 2004, he quit Swapo to form the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), of which he was the president until 2015 when he was forced to step down. He then re-joined Swapo. He died on 6 October 2016 at the age of 77.

Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana

At age 37, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana appointed to the newly formed youth ministry in February 1991 and served until 1995. She then became lands minister, and later attorney general and justice minister. She also served as home affairs minister until from 2012 until 2018 when Geingob relieved her from her duties in a Cabinet reshuffle.

Zedakia Ngavirue

At 57, Zedakia Ngavirue became the first director-general of the National Planning Commission, a position he held until 1995. Since then, he was appointed as Namibian ambassador to the European Union and Belgium, a position he held between 1995 and 2003. He was also ambassador to the Netherlands and Luxembourg. In 2015, he was appointed as the special envoy to lead deliberations with the German government on the 1904-1908 genocide.

Andimba Toivo ya Toivo

At 65, Andimba Toivo ya Toivo was the oldest Cabinet member when he was appointed as mines and energy minister. He had stints at the labour and prisons ministries before retiring in 2005. After becoming a full-time businessman, he also served as a director on the boards of several companies. He died on 9 June 2017 at the age of 92.

Peter Mweshihange

Peter Mweshihange was 59 when Nujoma appointed him as the country’s first minister of defence until 1995. In 1996, he was appointed as ambassador to China, a position he held until his death on the eve of Independence Day on 20 March 1998.

Helmut Angula

Helmut Angula was 44 when he became the country’s first minister of fisheries in 1991, a new ministry then. He had a brief stint as finance and later agriculture minister. He later became director-general of the National Planning Commission. In 2008, he became works minister, but did not secure re-election to Parliament in the 2009 elections. He is currently a businessman with various interests.

Anton von Wietersheim

Aged 38, Anton von Wietersheim was the country’s first agriculture minister before he resigned (or was sacked by Nujoma) in 1993. After more than a decade of farming commercially, he resurfaced in 2009 as an RDP parliamentary candidate and won a seat in the National Assembly.

Sam Nujoma

Sam Nujoma was the country’s first president at 60 and went on to serve two more terms before stepping down in 2005 to make way for his preferred candidate, Pohamba. In 2007, he relinquished the Swapo presidency to Pohamba to retire from active politics. He is currently involved in farming and other business interests.