Panduleni Filemon Bango Itula (born 2 August 1957) is a

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

n politician, dentist, lawyer, and former Chief Dentist at the Katutura State Hospital, as well as a former

SWAPO party The South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO ; , SWAVO; , SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia (formerly South West Africa). Founded in 1960, it has been ...

school lecturer. He was an independent presidential candidate for the Presidency of Namibia in the

2019 Namibian general election Nineteen or 19 may refer to: * 19 (number) * One of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019 Films * ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film * ''Nineteen'' (1987 film), a 1987 science fiction film * '' 19-Nineteen'', a 2009 South Korean film * '' D ...

and finished second (29%) after

Hage Geingob Hage Gottfried Geingob (3 August 1941 – 4 February 2024) was a Namibian politician who served as the third president of Namibia from 2015 until his death in February 2024. Geingob was the country's first prime minister A prime minister ...

. He is the founder and president of the

Independent Patriots for Change The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) is a political party in Namibia. It was founded by Panduleni Itula in August 2020. As an independent presidential candidate in the 2019 election, Itula won the best result of a losing candidate in a ...

in Namibia. He was also a candidate in the

2024 Namibian general election General elections were held in Namibia to elect a new president and members of the National Assembly. Initially scheduled on 27 November 2024, these were later extended in some areas to 30 November due to poor planning. Opposition parties decri ...

where he represented

as its Presidential candidate. His party was also among the parties running for National Assembly election 2024 where they obtained 20 seats.

Early life and education

During the apartheid years, Itula was a

SWAPO Party Youth League The SWAPO Party Youth League (SPYL), formerly known as the SWAPO Youth League (SYL), is the youth wing of the SWAPO Party, the ruling party of Namibia since 1990.Swapo party constitution It shares the same principles as those of the SWAPO Party. ...

(SPYL) leader in Windhoek, and after several unsuccessful attempts to capture him by the apartheid regime, Itula was arrested at the SWAPO office in April 1979. He was incarcerated and spent some of this period in solitary confinement. After imprisonment, he was released in January 1980. He left Namibia for London, and arrived on 1 April 1981. The trip to London was organised by anti-apartheid activist Anton Lubowski, and in London, Itula stayed with exiled Anglican Bishop

Colin Winter Colin O'Brien Winter (10 October 1928 – 17 November 1981), was an English Anglican bishop, who served as Bishop of Damaraland, a diocese of the Church of the Province of Southern Africa (now the Anglican Church of Southern Africa) coextensive ...

. Itula then worked for the SPYL in London, continuing to lobby for Namibian independence. He studied in Bristol at the

University of Bristol The University of Bristol is a public university, public research university in Bristol, England. It received its royal charter in 1909, although it can trace its roots to a Merchant Venturers' school founded in 1595 and University College, Br ...

Dental School, and was granted a

dental degree A number of professional degrees in dentistry are offered by dental schools in various countries around the world. Degrees Dental degrees may include: Bachelor's degree * Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) * Bachelor's degree of Dentistry (BDS ...

by The Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1994. In 1998, he also obtained a Master in Medical Science degree in oral surgery from the

University of Sheffield The University of Sheffield (informally Sheffield University or TUOS) is a public university, public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. Its history traces back to the foundation of Sheffield Medical School in 1828, Fir ...

. He also obtained additional qualifications in 2002, when he became a fellow in dental surgery of the

Royal College of Physicians The Royal College of Physicians of London, commonly referred to simply as the Royal College of Physicians (RCP), is a British professional membership body dedicated to improving the practice of medicine, chiefly through the accreditation of ph ...

and Surgeons of Glasgow and of the

Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd) is a professional organisation of surgeons. The RCSEd has five faculties, covering a broad spectrum of surgical, dental, and other medical and healthcare specialities. Its main campus is locate ...

. In April 2005, he obtained a Post-Graduate Diploma in Dentistry (Sedation & Pain Control) at the

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC; ) is a Public university, public research university in Bellville, South Africa, Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the Politics of South Africa, South ...

. Itula also studied for a Masters in Law. He had a dental practice at

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It was formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around ...

, a town near

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

in north-east

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. After 33 years in the United Kingdom, he came back to Namibia in December 2013. Itula was involved in a long-standing feud with the Medical and Dental Council of Namibia over registration as a dental specialist. He previously applied with the council in 2001 and again in 2002 to have his qualifications recognised, and was informed in 2008 that the council had decided not to consider his application because regulations under the Medical and Dental Act of 2008 were not yet in place. Itula eventually won the case and the Council was ordered by the Windhoek High Court to register him.

2019 Presidential candidacy

Despite being a SWAPO member since 1971, Itula declared his intentions to run for

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

in the

as an independent candidate. He subsequently received threats of expulsion from SWAPO. The party cautioned Itula that they already fielded

as its candidate for state president at its contested elective congress in 2017. Itula, however, downplayed the warning, citing that the ruling party at the moment did not have a legitimate candidate for the presidential and National Assembly elections, as it has violated the constitution in the events leading up to the congress in 2017, and also does not have a legitimate disciplinary structure to hold members accountable for violating the party's constitution, thus maintaining that he would not resign from the party despite the threats of expulsion. In addition to that, Itula had previously called for the resignation of former health minister Bernard Haufiku as well as SWAPO Secretary General Sophia Shaningwa in January 2019, claiming that she was "not fit for the job". The Namibian Economic Freedom Fighters (NEFF) as well as the Republican Party (RP), both without a realistic chance in the previous election, withdrew their presidential candidates in early November and instead endorsed Itula. Itula finished second in the presidential election, gathering 29.4% of the votes. His candidacy was the main reason for the loss of votes for Hage Geingob compared to the previous election, who nevertheless won a second term in office. Because his independent candidacy was seen as "disruptive behaviour by not accepting the party's choice of Geingob as its sole candidate in the 2019 presidential election", Itula was expelled from SWAPO in March 2020.

2024 Presidential candidacy

He was a presidential candidate in the

. He won second place with 20 seats following president elect Dr. Netumbo Nandi Ndaitwah.

Personal life

Itula is an avid reader and writer. He is married to Shonag MacKenzie and resides in

Windhoek Windhoek (; ; ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek, which ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Itula, Panduleni 1957 births 21st-century dentists 21st-century Namibian politicians Living people Namibian lawyers Politicians from Oshikoto Region Ovambo people SWAPO politicians Candidates for President of Namibia Namibian activists Namibian exiles Namibian expatriates in England Namibian political scientists Politicians from Windhoek Namibian expatriates in the United Kingdom Augustineum Secondary School alumni Alumni of the University of Bristol South West African anti-apartheid activists Alumni of the University of Sheffield Exiled politicians