Libertina Inaviposa Amathila ( née Appolus, born 10 December 1940) 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 physician and politician. She was the deputy Prime Minister of Namibia from 2005 to 2010.

Early life

Amathila was born in

Fransfontein Fransfontein is a small settlement in Kunene Region, Namibia. It is the hometown of former Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia Libertina Amathila Libertina Inaviposa Amathila (née Appolus, born 10 December 1940) is a Namibian physician and politi ...

Kunene Region Kunene is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Opuwo, its governor is Marius Sheya. The region's name comes from the Kunene River which forms the northern border with Angola. Besides the capital Opuwo, the region contains the ...

. Under the SWAPO Nationhood Programme, she received a scholarship to study medicine in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

and graduated from the Warsaw Medical Academy in 1969, becoming Namibia's first female doctor. She later worked in SWAPO refugee camps.

Political career

At SWAPO's 1969 consultative congress in exile in

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

, Amathila became deputy secretary for health and welfare on the SWAPO central committee and director of the SWAPO Women's Council. Immediately prior to

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

, she was a SWAPO member of the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

, which was in place from November 1989 to March 1990, and since independence in March 1990 she has been 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 ...

. She was Minister of Regional and Local Government and Housing from March 21, 1990 to September 12, 1996, at which point she became Minister of Health and Social Services, serving in that position until becoming deputy

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

on March 21, 2005. In September 1999, she was elected for a one-year term as chairperson of the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...

's Regional Committee for Africa, and on May 15, 2000 she elected as the president of the 53rd Session of the

World Health Assembly The World Health Assembly (WHA) is the forum through which the World Health Organization (WHO) is governed by its 194 member states. It is the world's highest health policy setting body and is composed of health ministers from member states. Th ...

. She received the tenth highest number of votes—363—in the election to the central committee of SWAPO at the party's August 2002 congress. She retired from politics on the 20th anniversary of Namibia's independence, on 21 March 2010.

Awards and recognition

Amathila received the

Ongulumbashe Omugulugwombashe (also: ''Ongulumbashe'', official: ''Omugulu gwOombashe''; Otjiherero: ''giraffe leg'') is a settlement in the Tsandi electoral constituency in the Omusati Region of northern Namibia. The settlement features a clinic and a prima ...

Medal for Bravery and Long Service in 1987, and she was the 1991 recipient of the

Nansen Refugee Award The Nansen Refugee Award is awarded annually by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to an individual, group, or organization in recognition of outstanding service to the cause of refugees, displaced, or stateless people. Th ...

. In 2002 she named the street Brückenstrasse in

Swakopmund Swakopmund (german: Mouth of the Swakop) is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo administrative district. The town has 44,725 inhabitants and covers ...

after herself."Namibia: Minister Urges Swakopmund Residents to Accept Change", Maggi Bernard, AllAfrica.com, 12 December 2002
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Personal life

Amathila is married to fellow politician

Ben Amathila Ben Amathila (born 1 October 1938 in Walvis Bay) is a retired Namibian politician. Amathila served in the government of Namibia with SWAPO from independence in 1990 until his retirement in April 2007. From 1990 to 1993 he served as Minister of ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amathila, Libertina 1940 births Living people People from Kunene Region SWAPO politicians Urban and rural development ministers of Namibia Health and social services ministers of Namibia Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Women members of the National Assembly (Namibia) 21st-century Namibian women politicians 21st-century Namibian politicians 20th-century Namibian women politicians 20th-century Namibian politicians Women government ministers of Namibia Nansen Refugee Award laureates