Peter Tanyangenge Kalangula (12 March 1926 – 20 February 2008) was 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 political and religious leader. Bishop Kalangula had an interesting personal history which involved both politics and church.

Biography

Peter Kalangula was born at Omafo in

Ohangwena Region Ohangwena is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Eenhana. Major settlements in the region are the towns Eenhana and Helao Nafidi aa well as the self-governed village of Okongo. , Ohangwena had 150,724 registered voters. Ohang ...

Ovamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Ovambo people. The term originally referred to the parts ...

on 12 March 1926 and after studying at St Mary's School, Odibo trained as a teacher through correspondence. In 1966 he began theological studies to train to be an

Anglican priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...

. He studied at first at the Federal Theological Seminary in Alice,

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

, and then at St Bede's Theological College,

Mthatha Mthatha , formerly Umtata, is the main city of the King Sabata Dalindyebo Local Municipality in Eastern Cape province of South Africa and the capital of OR Tambo District Municipality. The city has an airport, previously known as the K. D. Matanz ...

. He was ordained as a deacon in the

Church of the Province of Southern Africa The Anglican Church of Southern Africa, known until 2006 as the Church of the Province of Southern Africa, is the province of the Anglican Communion in the southern part of Africa. The church has twenty-five dioceses, of which twenty-one are loc ...

, but was not ordained as a priest because of a strong disagreement with Bishop Colin Winter in November 1969. As an Ovambo nationalist, Kalangula wanted a separate Anglican diocese in Ovamboland, separate from the Diocese of Damaraland. He then broke away and formed the Ovamboland Anglican Church as an

African independent church An African-initiated church (AIC) is a Christian church independently started in Africa by Africans rather than chiefly by missionaries from another continent. Nomenclature A variety of overlapping terms exist for these forms of Christianity: ...

, with the support of South African government officials and the

Security Police Security police officers are employed by or for a governmental agency or corporations to provide security service security services to those properties. Security police protect facilities, properties, personnel, users, visitors and enforce cer ...

. The Ovamboland Anglican Church was later associated with the

Church of England in South Africa The Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa (REACH-SA), known until 2013 as the Church of England in South Africa (CESA), is a Christian denomination in South Africa. It was constituted in 1938 as a federation of churches. It app ...

, and Kalangula was ordained a priest in the CESA in 1979. In 1973 he was nominated to the Ovambo Legislative Council. He was a member of the Ovambo delegation to the

Turnhalle Constitutional Conference The Turnhalle Constitutional Conference was a conference held in Windhoek between 1975 and 1977, tasked with the development of a constitution for a self-governed Namibia under South African control. Sponsored by the South African government, th ...

1975–1977, and joined the

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 ...

(DTA) as a member of the Namibia Democratic Party (NDP), and was a member of the DTA head committee until 1980. He participated in the 1978 elections, becoming a DTA member of the first National Assembly 1979–1983. He tried to persuade the DTA to form a single party, and when it failed to do so he left to form

Christian Democratic Action for Social Justice The Christian Democratic Action for Social Justice (CDA) was a political party in Namibia. It was founded in 1982 through a split in the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance. The party's president was Peter Kalangula, previously the president of Nami ...

(CDA). In the 1980s he was allegedly the victim of an attempted poisoning by South Africa's notorious Civil Cooperation Bureau. Kalangula died on 20 February 2008 of kidney failure.

Sources

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kalangula, Peter 1926 births 2008 deaths Popular Democratic Movement politicians People from Ohangwena Region Ovambo people Christian Democratic Action for Social Justice politicians Namibia Democratic Party politicians Reformed Evangelical Anglican Church of South Africa clergy