Johan Claasen de Waal (born 17 September 1949 in
Pretoria,
South Africa) is a
Namibian politician. A member of the
Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), de Waal was a member of the
National Assembly of Namibia from 1994 to 2010. De Waal was placed third on DTA's
electoral list
An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...
ahead of the
2009 general election but lost his seat in the National Assembly after DTA received enough votes for 2 legislators. He resigned as chairperson of DTA in March 2010, citing a need to "move on" and make way for a younger generation.
[De Waal resigns from DTA]
'' The Namibian'', 26 March 2010 Since then he has focused on business operations.
Career
De Waal was born in September 1949 in South Africa, but moved with his family to Namibia in the same year of his birth. He received a B.Comm. from the
University of Pretoria in 1971. In 1976, he was a founding member of the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance and Secretary of Information. He was a leading member of the
Republican Party of Namibia
The Republican Party () is a political party in Namibia. It is based among the white minority. Henk Mudge was its President and its sole representative in the National Assembly. Prior to the 2004 parliamentary election, the Republican Party wa ...
, a member of the alliance, until it broke with the DTA in 2003. In that year, de Waal,
Barbara Rattay and
Pieter Boltman
Pieter is a male given name, the Dutch form of Peter. The name has been one of the most common names in the Netherlands for centuries, but since the mid-twentieth century its popularity has dropped steadily, from almost 3000 per year in 1947 ...
formed the
Alliance for Democratic Change, which maintained links with DTA. In March 2005, the DTA re-elected de Waal as party chairperson.
Johan Claasen de Waal
at the Namibia Institute for Democracy While in the National Assembly, de Waal was the party's main spokesperson for trade and financial affairs.[
]
Notes
References
*
1949 births
Living people
White Namibian people
Namibian Afrikaner people
Namibian people of Dutch descent
South African people of Dutch descent
Members of the National Assembly (Namibia)
Popular Democratic Movement politicians
Republican Party (Namibia) politicians
South African emigrants to Namibia
University of Pretoria alumni
Politicians from Pretoria
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