Eric Biwa (born 8 May 1953 in

Vaalgras Vaalgras ( af, pale grass) is a village in Namibia's ǁKaras Region. Located northeast of Keetmanshoop, the village is also home of the ''Vaalgras Traditional Authority''. It is home to a community of the Oorlam people, a group descends from the ...

ǁKaras Region The ǁKaras Region (pronounced , with a lateral click) is the southernmost and least densely populated of the 14 regions of Namibia; its capital is Keetmanshoop. The name assigned to the region reflects the prominence of the Karas mountain rang ...

) is a former

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 with the Patriotic Unity Movement (PUM), a party which was a member of the United Democratic Front (UDF).

Pre-independence

A former combatant in the Namibian War of Independence 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 ...

's armed wing, Biwa was one of many alleged spies detained near

Lubango Lubango, formerly known as Sá da Bandeira, is a municipality in Angola, capital of the Huíla Province, with a population of 914,456 in 2022. The city center had a population of 600,751 in 2014 making it the second-most populous city in Angola af ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

in the 1980s. Biwa founded the PUM in July 1989 ahead of the

1989 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1989. Africa * 1989 Beninese parliamentary election * 1989 Botswana general election * 1989 Equatorial Guinean presidential election * 1989 People's Republic of the Congo parliamentary election * ...

and immediately led the party into the UDF alliance. Biwa was a member of the National Assembly of Namibia from its founding as the

Constituent Assembly A constituent assembly (also known as a constitutional convention, constitutional congress, or constitutional assembly) is a body assembled for the purpose of drafting or revising a constitution. Members of a constituent assembly may be elected b ...

prior to independence in 1989 until his resignation in 2003. He was replaced by Gustaphine Tjombe.Gustaphine Tjombe
Namibia Institute for Democracy, 2008

References

1953 births Living people Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) United Democratic Front (Namibia) politicians Members of SWAPO People from ǁKaras Region People's Liberation Army of Namibia personnel {{Namibia-politician-stub