Tjitunga Elijah Ngurare is a Namibian politician and academic at the

University of Namibia The University of Namibia (UNAM) is a multi-campus public research university in Namibia, as well as the largest university in the country. It was established by an act of Parliament on 31 August 1992. Background UNAM comprises the follow ...

who served as the Secretary General of the

SWAPO Party Youth League The SWAPO Party Youth League (SPYL), formerly known as the SWAPO Youth League (SYL), is the youth wing of the SWAPO Party, the ruling party of Namibia since 1990.Swapo party constitution It shares the same principles as those of the SWAPO Party. ...

from 2007 to 2015.

Early life and education

Elijah Ngurare was born on 28 October 1970 into a peasant family at

Nkurenkuru Nkurenkuru (1.093 m above sea level) is a town on the south-western banks of the Kavango River. It is the capital of the Kavango West Region of northern Namibia, located west of Rundu. It is also a former Mission (station), mission station of the ...

during the

South African Border War The South African Border War, also known as the Namibian War of Independence, and sometimes denoted in South Africa as the Angolan Bush War, was a largely asymmetric conflict that occurred in Namibia (then South West Africa), Zambia, and Angol ...

. His father had four wives and his mother was the youngest in the union. As a little boy, he looked after his father’s cattle and goats like all other boys at the time. He is the first born to his mother’s nine children. Ngurare attended school at

ELCIN The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) is a Lutheran denomination based in Namibia. It has a total membership of over 772,398, mainly in Northern Namibia. Formerly known as the Evangelical Lutheran Ovambo-Kavango Church (ELOC), it pla ...

Nkurenkuru High School,

Linus Shashipapo Secondary School Linus Shashipapo Secondary School, founded 1974 but opened its door in June, is the second oldest secondary school in the former Kavango Region of Namibia. It is named after Linus Shashipapo, Hompa (king) of the Gciriku from 1945 to 1984. Notab ...

, Rundu Senior Secondary School, and Kolin Foundation Secondary School in Arandis, He then studied at the

Central State University Central State University (CSU) is a public, historically black land-grant university in Wilberforce, Ohio. It is a member-school of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. Established by the state legislature in 1887 as a two-year program for te ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

(USA) with a presidential honours scholarship. He graduated

magna cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...

with a Bachelor of Science degree in Water Resources Management and International Relations. He then pursued a Master of Laws from the

University of Dundee The University of Dundee; . Abbreviated as ''Dund.'' for post-nominals. is a public university, public research university based in Dundee, Scotland. It was founded as a University college#United Kingdom, university college in 1881 with a donation ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, where he held a British

Chevening Scholarship The Chevening Scholarship is an international scholarship, funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, that lets foreign students with leadership qualities study at universities in the United Kingdom. History The Chevening Scholarship ...

, and a PhD from the

National University of Ireland, Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one of ...

in 2009.

Political career

Ngurare's political activeness began in 1983 at Nkurenkuru High School and continued at

, where he was a student during the founding of the student movement

Namibia National Students Organisation The Namibia National Students Organisation (NANSO) is a national student organisation in Namibia. It was founded on 2 June 1984 in Döbra, about north of the capital Windhoek. Student Representation NANSO has been representing Namibian stude ...

in 1984. He held various student positions and was active in Section, Branches and District Leadership of

. Ngurare rose to political prominence as Secretary of Information, Publicity and Mobilisation of the SWAPO Party Youth League (SPYL) under

Paulus Kapia Paulus Kapia (born 18 September 1967 in Ehafo, Oshana Region) is a Namibian politician. A member of SWAPO, Kapia was first elected to the National Assembly of Namibia in 2005. He was appointed to the politburo of SWAPO and served for a short time ...

in 2002 before becoming its secretary general in 2007, and being subsequently re-elected in 2012.

Business career

In 2015 he lost his position as secretary-general and expelled from Swapo alongside

Affirmative Repositioning Affirmative Repositioning (AR) is a leftist political movement in Namibia mainly focused on land reform, youth empowerment and social reform. Founded in 2014 by Job Amupanda, Dimbulukeni Nauyoma and George Kambala, the AR uses social media platf ...

founder

Job Amupanda Job Shipululo Amupanda (born 28 August 1987 in Omaalala, Oshana Region) is a Namibian activist and politician who served as Mayor of the City of Windhoek, in office from 2 December 2020 to 1 December 2021. He is an academic at the University of N ...

for "bringing the party's name into disrepute, and .insulting party leaders". He was reinstated as SWAPO member following a lengthy court process. He then joined the

Ministry of Agriculture An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister f ...

as Director for Rural Water Supply and Sanitation coordination in March 2020. He served on the board of directors at Namdeb Diamond Corporation (Pty) Ltd, Namdeb Holdings (Pty) Ltd, Africa Online (Pty) Ltd, MultiChoice Namibia, Kalahari Holdings (Pty) Ltd and Namibia Water Corporation Ltd.

Personal life

Ngurare is married to Albertina Mbute Ngurare. They have four children. As a Christian, he is

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

by religion and an ardent church goer.

References

External links

''Ngurare , NID Namibia Institute of Democracy''Official Twitter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngurare, Elijah 1970 births Living people Alumni of the University of Dundee People from Kavango Region SWAPO politicians