Emma Inamutila Theofelus (born 28 March 1996) is a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n politician, currently serving as deputy minister of Information, Communication and Technology. She is the current youngest woman government minister in both

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

, and she was just 23 years old at the time of her appointment in March 2020. A lot of people were not happy with Emma's appointment as a deputy minister of ICT, and this was her respond to them “I do not think I am special, I do not think I am inexperienced, and I do not think my age or gender has anything to do with my appointment. Anything I set myself to and any environment I want to work into, I can do it. The issue of inexperience does not hold any water,” Emma says".

Career

Theofelus is a former youth activist, having served as deputy speaker of the Children's Parliament from 2013 to 2018. She started her career after she completed a law degree 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 ...

, as legal officer in the

Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry. Lists of current ministries of justice Named "Ministry" * Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia) * Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan) * Ministry of Just ...

. The call from the State House came as a surprise. The appointment of younger leaders to high office is not entirely new in Africa. Theofelus was appointed Namibia's deputy minister of Information, Communication and Technology in March 2020, as part of

Hage Geingob Hage Gottfried Geingob (born 3 August 1941) is a Namibian politician, serving as the third president of Namibia since 21 March 2015. Geingob was the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 ...

's second term cabinet. In her role, she was tasked with assisting in leading public communication on preventative steps against Namibia's COVID-19 pandemic. At the time of

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 ...

appointment, Theofelus was 23 and one of Africa's youngest cabinet ministers. She is also a board member of the ''National Council of Higher Education''. As a deputy minister, she led the country’s public communication campaign on COVID-19 preventions in Namibia, and as a Member of Parliament, her motion enabled feminine hygiene products to be identified as a tax-free commodity. Prior to her appointment, Theofelus was a member of the Namibia chapter of AfriYAN, a regional youth-led organisation, where she led pioneering efforts to fight teen pregnancy and protect young people’s sexual and reproductive health.

Achievements

In 2020 she was judged to be one of 100 most influential African women, the youngest person on this list. In 2021 Theophelus was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of the year. She also received the 2022

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Population Award individual laureate award for her work advocating for women’s empowerment and adolescent sexual and reproductive health in

In 2021, Theofelus proposed a motion on the removal of the tax on sanitary pads in Parliament. In 2022, the motion was put into effect when the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

Iipumbu Shiimi Iipumbu Wendelinus Shiimi is a Namibian economist who has been the Minister of Finance since 2020. Before that, he served as governor of the Bank of Namibia from 2010 until 2020. Early life and education Shiimi holds a Master of Science degree in ...

announced the abolishment of Value Added Tax on sanitary pads, according to the Tax Amendment Act of 2022, effective since 1 January 2023.

Interests

Her legislative interests are parliament oversight, parliamentary self-development, E-parliament,

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

legislation, youth participation in parliament, and parliamentary research

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Theofelus, Emma Government ministers of Namibia Women government ministers of Namibia University of Namibia alumni 1996 births Living people Year of birth uncertain 21st-century Namibian women politicians 21st-century Namibian politicians BBC 100 Women