Paul Albertus Smit (born 23 March 1953 near

Otavi Otavi is a town of 4,000 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of central Namibia. Situated 360 km north of Windhoek, it is the district capital of the Otavi electoral constituency. Geography The towns of Otavi, Tsumeb (to the north) and Gro ...

Otjozondjupa Region Otjozondjupa is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Otjiwarongo. The region further contains the municipalities of Okahandja and Grootfontein and the towns Okakarara and Otavi. , Otjozondjupa had 97,945 registered voters. Geog ...

) 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 farmer.

Education

Smit attended Etosha High School in

Tsumeb , nickname = , settlement_type = City , motto = ''Glück Auf'' (German language, German for ''Good luck'') , image_skyline = Welcome to tsumeb.jpg , imagesize = , image_caption ...

, where he graduated from in 1971. Upon graduation in Tsumeb, he left to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, where he attended the

University of the Orange Free State The University of the Free State is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It was first established as an institution of higher learning in 1904 as a tertiary se ...

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

. He graduated with a BSc in Agricultural Economy in 1973.

Political positions

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

farmer, Smit considers himself "apolitical" despite being the Deputy Minister of Agriculture since 2000 in an otherwise

SWAPO 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 ...

-led government. Smit has actively worked towards reconciliation between Black and White Namibians through Transformation Namibia. In October 2002, Smit apologized before the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

for the wrongs of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. In May 2003, the organization held a successful rally but a planned apology on behalf of White Namibians did not result.

Political career

He was the Minister of Agriculture for part of 2004-2005 following

Helmut Angula Helmut Pau Kangulohi Angula (born 11 November 1945) is a Namibian businessman, politician, former cabinet minister and writer. He is currently the director of various private companies, after leaving government in 2010, and a longtime member of th ...

's resignation from the post. He was a

Democratic Turnhalle Alliance 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 ...

activist in the 1980s but left the party in 1983. From 1987 to 1997, Smit played a prominent role in the

Namibia Agricultural Union The Namibia Agricultural Union is a union of farmers in Namibia which represents commercial or non-subsistence farmers. The president of the NAU is Piet Gouws. Previous presidents include Raimar von Hase and Jan de Wet. The NAU is part of the Inter ...

, which represents Namibia's prosperous and overwhelmingly white commercial farmers. He served as the NAU's president from 1993 to 1997. On

Heroes' Day Heroes' Day or National Heroes' Day may refer to a number of commemorations of national heroes in different countries and territories. It is often held on the birthday of a national hero or heroine, or the anniversary of their great deeds that m ...

2014 he was conferred the Excellent Order of the Eagle, Second Class.

References

1953 births Living people Namibian farmers People from Otjozondjupa Region Popular Democratic Movement politicians University of the Free State alumni Namibian trade unionists White Namibian people Government ministers of Namibia {{Namibia-politician-stub