Piet Jacobus van der Walt (born 14 January 1966 in

Okahandja Okahandja is a city of 24,100 inhabitants in Otjozondjupa Region, central Namibia, and the district capital of the Okahandja electoral constituency. It is known as the ''Garden Town of Namibia''. It is located 70 km north of Windhoek on the ...

) 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 e ...

n businessperson and politician who has been the Deputy Minister of National Planning since 2018.

Early life and education

Van der Walt grew up in Okahandja and went to primary school there. His secondary school was the Higher Technical School in

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 20 ...

. He became a diesel mechanic by profession, graduating in 1989 from the Windhoek Technical College. He also holds an engineering diploma in mechanical drawing and machines and properties of metals. Commenting on his alleged service for ''

Koevoet Koevoet (, meaning ''crowbar'', also known as Operation K or SWAPOL-COIN) was the counterinsurgency branch of the South West African Police (SWAPOL). Its formations included white South African police officers, usually seconded from the South ...

'', the counter-insurgency branch of the South West African Police (SWAPOL) before Namibian independence, he stated that his short stint in

Oshakati Oshakati is a town in northern Namibia. It is the regional capital of the Oshana Region and one of Namibia's largest places. Oshakati was founded in July 1966 and proclaimed a town in 1992. The town was used as a base of operations by the S ...

in the north of Namibia was merely to serve in the auxiliary service as mechanic. From 1990 he worked for

Old Mutual Old Mutual Limited is a pan-African investment, savings, insurance, and banking group. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange, the Namibian Stock Exchange and the Botswana Stock Exchange. It was founded ...

in Windhoek. In 1999 he started ''Van der Walt Motors'', a service station with surrounding shops near Windhoek's city centre.

Political career

A White Afrikaner Namibian, van der Walt began associating with

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 ...

in a business capacity following independence in 1990. He was placed on the parliamentary list for SWAPO at number 42 prior to the 2009 National Assembly election and subsequently elected. He was associated with the SWAPO Youth League. He retained his parliamentary seat in the 2014 general elections and was subsequently appointed Deputy Minister for Industrialisation, Trade and SME Development. After a

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 * Filing ...

reshuffle in February 2018 he swapped positions with

Lucia Iipumbu Lucia Magano Iipumbu (born 20 November 1975 in Onamenga near Elim) is a Namibian politician. A member pf SWAPO she entered parliament in 2015 and immediately was appointed as Deputy Minister of Economic and National Planning. After a Cabinet res ...

and is since then Deputy Minister of National Planning.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van der Walt, Piet 1966 births Living people Namibian people of South African descent Namibian businesspeople Namibian farmers van der Walt, Piet van der Walt, Piet Namibian expatriates in South Africa Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) People from Otjozondjupa Region SWAPO politicians