John Mutorwa (born 17 August 1957) 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 current Minister of Works and Transport. A member of the

South West Africa People's Organization The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

(SWAPO), Mutorwa has served 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 clos ...

as well as the

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 * Filin ...

since 1992.

Early life and education

Born at Nyangana in Okavango Region, Mutorwa attended the

University of Fort Hare The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to students from across ...

, from where he graduated in 1984. He earned a

B.A. Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

in 1995 from 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 followi ...

. In 2002, he earned a master's degree in Interdisciplinary studies from the

University of Montana The University of Montana (UM) is a public research university in Missoula, Montana. UM is a flagship institution of the Montana University System and its second largest campus. UM reported 10,962 undergraduate and graduate students in the fa ...

.John Mutorwa
at Namibia Institute for Democracy Following his education at Fort Hare, Mutorwa returned to

Kavangoland Kavangoland was a bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Kavango people. It was set up in 1970 and self-government was granted in 1973. The Kavango Le ...

, where he worked as a teacher and principal from 1985 to 1990. He also worked for reconciliation efforts, serving as Secretary of the Repatriation, Resettlement and Rehabilitation of Roman Catholic Justice and Peace Commission from 1988 to 1989.

Political career

Following Namibian independence in 1990, Mutorwa joined

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

as regional commissioner for Kavango,

Omega Omega (; capital letter, capital: Ω, lower case, lowercase: ω; Ancient Greek ὦ, later ὦ μέγα, Modern Greek ωμέγα) is the twenty-fourth and final letter in the Greek alphabet. In the Greek numerals, Greek numeric system/isopsephy ...

, and

Tsumkwe Tsumkwe ( Juǀ'Hoan: Tjumǃkui) is a settlement in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia and the district capital of the Tsumkwe electoral constituency. Nature and wildlife The area associated with Tsumkwe exhibits notable vegetation and wildlife. ...

. In 1992 he became a member of both

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

and

. He was appointed deputy minister of water affairs in the Office of the President in 1992 and deputy Minister of Fisheries and Marine Resources in 1994. In 1995, he was promoted to head the Ministry of Basic Education, Culture and Sport, remaining there until 2005. When that ministry was split in 2005, he retained the Youth, National Services, Sport and Culture ministerial portfolio, and in 2010 he was moved to the post of Minister of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. Under the presidency 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 ...

, Mutorwa was retained in his post as minister of agriculture, water and forestry in March 2015. In February 2018, Mutorwa was appointed Minister of Works and Transport.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mutorwa, John 1957 births Living people Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) People from Kavango Region University of Fort Hare alumni University of Namibia alumni University of Montana alumni Namibian expatriates in South Africa SWAPO politicians Works and transport ministers of Namibia Agriculture ministers of Namibia Education ministers of Namibia Youth ministers of Namibia Sports ministers of Namibia