Esther Utjiua Muinjangue (born 17 August 1962) 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 and the president of the

National Unity Democratic Organisation The National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) is a political party in Namibia. It has been represented in the National Assembly of Namibia and in the National Council of Namibia since it split from the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (now PDM ...

(NUDO), a party which occupies two seats in the

National Assembly of Namibia The National Assembly is the lower chamber of Namibia's bicameral Parliament. Its laws must be approved by the National Council, the upper house. Since 2014, it has a total of 104 members. 96 members are directly elected through a system of close ...

and one seat in the

National Council of Namibia The National Council is the upper chamber of Namibia's bicameral Parliament. It reviews bills passed by the lower chamber and makes recommendations for legislation of regional concern to the lower chamber. The 42 National Council members are i ...

. In addition, she is the first woman to lead a political party in Namibia, and the country's first female presidential candidate. She was appointed as the country's deputy minister of health and social services in March 2020 by Namibian president

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 ...

. She has for a long time been advocating for social workers’ role in many aspects of people’s lives and at different levels.

Education

Muinjangue is a social worker by profession and obtained her BA qualification from Academy of Tertiary Education (now

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 ...

). She further obtained her Masters in Social Work at the

University of Pretoria The University of Pretoria ( af, Universiteit van Pretoria, nso, Yunibesithi ya Pretoria) is a multi-campus public university, public research university in Pretoria, the administrative and de facto capital of South Africa. The university was ...

. In December 2019, Esther Muinjangue obtained her PhD from the

Stellenbosch University Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

in South Africa. Esther was congratulated by her party people (NUDO) for obtaining her PhD.

Professional career

Muinjangue joined the public sector in 1987 as social worker, and in 1996, she became a social work lecturer at the

Political career

The National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) elected Muinjangue as its President –making her the first woman leader of a political party in Namibia.

2019 Presidential election

In the 2019 Namibian general election, Muinjangue ran as a presidential candidate, but only won 1.5% of the popular vote. However, NUDO won two seats in Parliament, so, as the leader of her party, she will sit in the National Assembly.

References

Living people Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Women members of the National Assembly (Namibia) National Unity Democratic Organisation politicians Candidates for President of Namibia 1962 births {{Namibia-politician-stub