Jerry Ekandjo

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Jerry Ekandjo (born March 17, 1947) is a Namibian politician, currently serving as Minister of Lands and Resettlement.^[1]

Ekandjo was born in Windhoek. He was a member of the SWAPO Youth League from 1969 to 1973^[1] and served as Chairman of its Windhoek Branch. In August 1973 he was arrested, and in November 1973 he was put on trial for incitement of violence. He was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison, which he spent on Robben Island in South Africa.^[2] Following his release in 1981, he was a teacher from 1982 to 1987, and in 1989, he was the deputy head of SWAPO voter registration.^[1] Immediately prior to independence, he was a SWAPO member of the Constituent Assembly, which was in place from November 1989 to March 1990,^[2][3] and since independence in 1990 he has served as a member of the National Assembly of Namibia. He also became Deputy Minister of Local Government and Housing in 1990, serving in that position until 1995, when he became Minister of Home Affairs. After ten years in the latter position, he became Minister of Lands and Resettlement on March 21, 2005.^[1]

He received the highest number of votes, 395 (tied with Nahas Angula), in the election to the Central Committee of SWAPO at the party's August 2002 congress.^[4] It was reported that at the time of the November 2007 SWAPO congress, some in the party wanted Ekandjo to become the party's Vice-President, although at the congress Hage Geingob was elected to the post without opposition. Ekandjo is widely considered to be a hardliner in the party.^[5] He received the highest number of votes in the election for the SWAPO Central Committee at the November 2007 congress.^[6] On January 27, 2008, he was elected as SWAPO's Secretary for Information and Publicity at a Central Committee meeting, a move that was considered surprising given Ekandjo's reputation for having a harsh attitude toward the media.^[7]

[edit] Controversies

In 2000, Ekandjo, as Home Affairs Minister, urged police to eliminate homosexuals from Namibia. This caused great controversy in Namibia, especially with Namibia's homosexual community.^[8]

On February 9, 2001, Ekandjo was found guilty of contempt of court for not releasing the jailed former representative of the Angolan rebel group UNITA in Namibia, Jose Domingo Sikunda, despite a court order to do so.^[9] The government said that it would appeal Ekandjo's conviction.^[10]

[edit] On the HIV-AIDS virus

Ekandjo, through his status as minister, has worked to reduce the prevalence of AIDS in Namibia. He has been quoted as saying "Surely one of the main lessons of these past 25 years is that when we are united we win, when we are divided, AIDS wins".^[11]

[edit] References