Stanley Mutumba Simataa (born 5 June 1960) 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 former minister of information and communication technology. He served as deputy minister for information from 2010 until his appointment as minister in 2018. Simataa was born on 5 June 1960 in Sikanjambuka in the

Caprivi Strip The Caprivi Strip, also known simply as Caprivi, is a geographic salient protruding from the northeastern corner of Namibia. It is surrounded by Botswana to the south and Angola and Zambia to the north. Namibia, Botswana and Zambia meet at a sin ...

(today

Zambezi Region The Zambezi Region is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. It is located in the north-eastern part of the country. It is largely concurrent with the major Zambezi River where it gets its name from. The region has eight constituencies and its capit ...

). He obtained a Bachelor in agricultural pedagogy from the

University of Limpopo The University of Limpopo is a university in the Limpopo Province, South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2005, by the merger of the University of the North and the Medical University of South Africa (MEDUNSA). These previous institutions for ...

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 ...

, and an MSc in agricultural education from the

University of Reading The University of Reading is a public university in Reading, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1892 as University College, Reading, a University of Oxford extension college. The institution received the power to grant its own degrees in 192 ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Simataa also holds an

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the Eastern and Southern African Management Institute 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 and ...

. In Namibia, Simataa served as executive director of the

National Council for Higher Education National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

(NCHE) (2007–10), deputy permanent secretary in the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

, and as director in the Speaker's Office of 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 ...

. Simataa became a

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 ...

member of parliament in 2010 and was immediately appointed deputy Minister of Information and Communication Technology. He served in that position until 2018 when he was promoted to minister. He also served as president of the 38th session of the general conference of

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

in 2015. During his time as minister, he has spoken about the need to improve Namibia's communications infrastructure. In 2018 he promoted a project to bring mobile telecommunications coverage to rural parts of Namibia. In 2018 he complained that government agencies were undermining the improvement of transparency by not publishing up to date procurement information on their websites. The Editors Forum of Namibia have criticised Simataa for a lack of commitment to the forum's Code of Ethics and Conduct. In May 2018, Simataa rejected a report by IPPR which stated that government monopolies were one of the leading causes of corruption in Namibia, calling the report 'prejudiced'. When he was not reappointed into

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 ...

in March 2020 he also resigned his seat in

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simataa, Stanley Living people 1960 births University of Limpopo alumni Alumni of the University of Reading Eastern and Southern African Management Institute alumni Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) People from Zambezi Region SWAPO politicians Information ministers of Namibia