Teopolina Mushelenga (born 11 December 1957 in Omagola- Oshigambo, Oshikoto Region) is a Namibian politician. A member of SWAPO, she was first elected to the National Assembly of Namibia in the

1999 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1999. * 1999 electoral calendar Africa * 1999 Algerian presidential election * 1999 Botswana general election * 1999 Beninese parliamentary election * 1999 Central African Republic presidential elect ...

, and was subsequently reelected in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. After the election of Hifikepunye Pohamba that year, she was appointed deputy minister for home affairs and immigration. Prior to the 2009 general election, Mushelenga was placed 59th on SWAPO's

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

of 72 candidates for the National Assembly. The top 54 SWAPO candidates on the list were elected, leaving her out of the National Assembly.

Career

Mushelenga began her career as a teacher at Oluno Junior Secondary School in

Ondangwa Ondangwa (earlier spelling ''Ondangua'') is a town in the Oshana Region of northern Namibia, bordering the Oshikoto Region. Ondangwa was first established as a mission station of the Finnish Missionary Society (the FMS) in 1890. In 1914, it became ...

, then taught at Ovamboland in 1980. In 1983, she joined SWAPO and subsequently went into exile in

Kwanza Sul Cuanza Sul Province ("South Cuanza"; Umbundu: Kwanza Kombuelo Volupale) is a province of Angola. It has an area of and a population of 1,881,873. Sumbe is the capital of the province. Don founded the province in 1769 as Novo Redondo. Histor ...

, Angola, where she taught at the SWAPO Education Centre until 1986. In 1990, on the independence of Namibia, she returned to Oluno School in Ondangwa, where she stayed until she entered politics in 1992.

Politics

Mushelenga was elected to the town council of Ondangwa in 1992 and stayed in that position until 2000. She was chosen as mayor of Ondangwa in 1992–1995 and 1998–2000. From 2000 to 2010 she was a member of the National Assembly.

Committees served on

Mushelenga was selected to be part of the sub-committee of the National Assembly which was created to look into allegations that only

Herero Herero may refer to: * Herero people, a people belonging to the Bantu group, with about 240,000 members alive today * Herero language, a language of the Bantu family (Niger-Congo group) * Herero and Namaqua Genocide * Herero chat, a species of b ...

-speaking Namibians had been chosen to fill high-level posts during that time.

References

1957 births Living people People from Oshikoto Region People from Oshana Region Mayors of places in Namibia Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Namibian expatriates in Angola SWAPO politicians Namibian exiles 20th-century Namibian women politicians 20th-century Namibian politicians 21st-century Namibian women politicians 21st-century Namibian politicians Women members of the National Assembly (Namibia) {{Namibia-mayor-stub