Ben Amathila (born 1 October 1938 in Walvis Bay) is a retired Namibian politician. Amathila served in the government of Namibia with

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

from independence in 1990 until his retirement in April 2007. From 1990 to 1993 he served as Minister of Trade and Industry. In 1993 he was moved against his will to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and served as minister until 2000. In 2000, president Sam Nujoma dismissed him from his

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

post. He retained his seat in the National Assembly until his resignation in 2007, citing concerns with his party. Internationally, Amathila is a member of the

Pan-African Parliament The Pan-African Parliament (PAP), also known as the African Parliament, is the legislative body of the African Union. It held its inaugural session in March 2004. The Parliament exercises oversight, and has advisory and consultative powers, ha ...

. Amathila was re-elected to the SWAPO Central Committee at the party's August 2002 congress, placing eighth with 369 votes, and he was again elected to the Central Committee at SWAPO's November 2007 congress.Christof Maletsky
"Swapo big names dropped"
''The Namibian'', December 3, 2007.

Namibian War of Independence

Amathila began working towards Namibian independence in 1959 with the forerunner to SWAPO, the

Ovamboland People's Organization The Ovamboland People's Organization (OPO) was a nationalist organization that existed between 1959 and 1960 in South West Africa (now present day Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. It ...

. He helped mobilizing support for SWAPO from 1959 until going into exile in 1966. He then was instrumental in organizing SWAPO's consultative congress at

Tanga, Tanzania Tanga is both the name of the most northerly port city of Tanzania on the west of the Indian Ocean, and the capital of Tanga Region. It had a population of 273,332 in 2012. The name ''Tanga'' means "sail" in Swahili. The city of Tanga sits on t ...

in 1969. Shortly afterwards, Amathila became SWAPO's representative in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion#Europe, subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, ...

then the movement's Secretary for Economics in

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...

than Luanda.

Personal life

Amathila was educated in Okahandja then Tsumeb. He is married to the first Black Namibian female physician and fellow politician,

Libertina Amathila Libertina Inaviposa Amathila ( née Appolus, born 10 December 1940) is a Namibian physician and politician. She was the deputy Prime Minister of Namibia from 2005 to 2010. Early life Amathila was born in Fransfontein, Kunene Region. Under the SW ...

. He is the owner of a farm near Omaruru, where he plans to spend his retirement.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amathila, Ben 1938 births Living people People from Walvis Bay Ovambo people SWAPO politicians Trade and industry ministers of Namibia Information ministers of Namibia Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Members of the Pan-African Parliament from Namibia Augustineum Secondary School alumni