The Ministry of Defence and Veteran Affairs (MODVA) is the

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 ...

department responsible for the administration of

military affairs ''The Journal of Military History'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal covering the military history of all times and places. It is the official journal of the Society for Military History. The journal was established in 1937 and the ed ...

and veterans affairs in

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 ...

.Official web site
/ref> It was established as Ministry of Defence (MOD) at Namibian independence in 1990. In 2020 the portfolio of veteran affairs was added to defence after the Ministry of Veteran Affairs had been dissolved in 2015. The first Namibian defence minister was Peter Mweshihange, the Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs is

Frans Kapofi Frans Kapofi (born 25 January 1953) is a Namibian politician who since 1999 has served in various positions in cabinet. A member of SWAPO, he is a military officer by training. Kapofi has been a permanent secretary for various ministries of go ...

. The political leader of MODVA is the minister while the accounting officer is the executive director (ED), deputised by a deputy executive director. The deputy ED heads the Department of Defence secretariat and administration. This department is made up of six directorates: Education and Civil Training, Construction and Maintenance, Finance, Defence Central Staff, Procurement Research and Development, and Defence Legal Advisor. All the directorates are headed by civilian directors. In exceptional cases, commissioned officers with the rank of

Brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed ...

can be appointed as directors in the department.

Ministers of Defence

* Peter Mweshihange (1990–1995) *

Philemon Malima Philemon Malima (born 9 July 1946) is a Namibian politician and diplomat who was the chief of intelligence service of Namibia Central Intelligence Service from 2015 to 2020. Malima has been a member of the Cabinet of Namibia since March 1990 and ...

(1995–1997) *Colonel (ret)

Erkki Nghimtina Erkki Nghimtina (born 16 September 1947) is a Namibian politician and former military officer in the Namibia Defence Force (NDF).http://209.88.21.36/opencms/opencms/grnnet/MWTC/Minister/biography.html A member of the South West Africa People's ...

(1997–2005) *Major General (ret)

Charles Namoloh Major General Charles Dickson Ndaxu Phillip Namoloh (born 28 February 1950) is a Namibian diplomat, politician and military figure who served in the cabinet of Namibia as Minister of Safety and Security from March 2015 to March 2020. Namoloh has ...

(2005–2012) *

Nahas Angula Nahas Gideon Angula (born 22 August 1943)Profile on Namibian parliamen ...

(2012–2015) *

Penda Ya Ndakolo Jafet Penda Ya Ndakolo (born 23 March 1960 at Oshigambo) is a Namibian SWAPO politician and current governor of Oshikoto Region. He served as Ministry of Defence (Namibia), Minister of Defence from 2015 to 2020. After losing his position as mini ...

(2015–2020) *Rear Admiral (ret) Peter Vilho (2020-2021) *

(2021-current)

References

Military of Namibia Government of Namibia 1990 establishments in Namibia {{Namibia-gov-stub