Jan Johannes van Wyk (born 17 October 1967) is a Namibian politician who has served as a Member of 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 clos ...

since 2015, first as a representative for the United People's Movement (UPM) and later for the

Popular Democratic Movement The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic ...

(PDM) from 2020 onwards. He is the UPM's current vice-president and former national chairperson. Van Wyk represented the UPM on the Rehoboth Town Council from 2010 to 2015 and was the UPM's sole parliamentary representative before the party formed a pact with the PDM ahead of the 2019 general election.

Early life and career

Van Wyk was born on 17 October 1967 in Rehoboth in

South West Africa South West Africa ( af, Suidwes-Afrika; german: Südwestafrika; nl, Zuidwest-Afrika) was a territory under South African administration from 1915 to 1990, after which it became modern-day Namibia. It bordered Angola (Portuguese colony before 1 ...

, now

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 ...

, and matriculated in 1988. He obtained multiple degrees from Cambridge Tutorial College and the

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was tak ...

. Prior to becoming active in politics, he worked as a human resources practitioner.

Political career

Van Wyk joined the Rehoboth Democratic Movement, the original name for the United People's Movement (UPM), before the November 2010 local elections and was appointed the party's inaugural national chairperson. He was also elected to the Rehoboth Town Council as one of two UPM councillors. In November 2014, the UPM won a seat in the National Assembly. He filled that seat on 20 March 2015. In August 2019, the UPM and

(PDM) formed an electoral alliance to challenge the governing South West African Peoples Organisation (SWAPO) ahead of the November general election. The UPM and PDM would remain separate political parties, yet only field candidates under the PDM banner. Van Wyk, now vice-president of the UPM, openly endorsed the candidacy of PDM leader and presidential candidate

McHenry Venaani McHenry Venaani (born 8 September 1977) is a Namibian politician and the president of the Popular Democratic Movement, a party with sixteen seats in the National Assembly of Namibia and one seat in the National Council of Namibia. Venaani has be ...

. SWAPO retained their majority and Van Wyk was re-elected as the PDM's support surged. He took office for his second term on 20 March 2020.

References

External links

Van Wyk, Jan Johannes – Parliament of Namibia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Wyk, Jan Living people 1968 births Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Popular Democratic Movement politicians 21st-century Namibian politicians Coloured Namibian people People from Rehoboth, Namibia People from Hardap Region