Marco Mukoso Hausiku (25 November 1953 – 26 August 2021) was a Namibian politician who was deputy

Prime Minister of Namibia The prime minister of the Republic of Namibia is the leader of the Government of Namibia. The prime minister is appointed by the President of Namibia and co-ordinates the work of the Cabinet. They also advise and assist the president in the exe ...

from 2010 to 2015. Previously he served as

Minister of Foreign Affairs A foreign affairs minister or minister of foreign affairs (less commonly minister for foreign affairs) is generally a cabinet minister in charge of a state's foreign policy and relations. The formal title of the top official varies between co ...

from 2004 to 2010. In 2017 he was elected deputy secretary general of the

Swapo Party 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 ...

at the party's 6th congress.

Life and career

Hausiku was born on 25 November 1953 in Kapako,

Okavango Region Kavango (before 1998: Okavango) was one of the thirteen regions of Namibia until it was split into the Kavango East and Kavango West Regions in 2013. Its capital was Rundu. In the north, Kavango bordered the Cuando Cubango Province of Angola, an ...

(now

Kavango West Kavango West is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital and only self-governed settlement is Nkurenkuru, its governor is Sirkka Ausiku. The Region was created in 2013 when the Kavango Region was split into Kavango East and Kavango ...

).Profile at Namibian Parliament website
retrieved 5 July 2022. . Immediately prior to

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

, Hausiku was a SWAPO delegate to 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 ...

which was in place from November 1989 to March 1990, and since 1990 he has been a member of the

National Assembly of Namibia The National Assembly is the lower chamber of Namibia's bicameral Parliament. Its laws must be approved by the National Council, the upper house. Since 2014, it has a total of 104 members. 96 members are directly elected through a system of clos ...

. He served as Minister of Lands, Resettlement and Rehabilitation from 1990 to 1992, as Minister of Works, Transport and Communication from 1992 to March 1995 and as Minister of Prisons and Correctional Services from March 1995 to August 2002.Entry at the Contemporary Africa Database
. He was appointed

Minister of Labour Minister of Labour (in British English) or Labor (in American English) is typically a cabinet-level position with portfolio responsibility for setting national labour standards, labour dispute mechanisms, employment, workforce participation, traini ...

on 27 August 2002, and after nearly two years in that position he was appointed

by president

Sam Nujoma Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma, (; born 12 May 1929) is a Namibian revolutionary, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served three terms as the first President of Namibia, from 1990 to 2005. Nujoma was a founding member and the first ...

on 27 May 2004. This appointment followed Nujoma's dismissal of the previous foreign minister,

Hidipo Hamutenya Hidipo Livius Hamutenya (17 June 1939 – 6 October 2016) was a Namibian politician. A long time leading member of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), Hamutenya was a member of the Cabinet of Namibia from independence in 1990 to ...

, in the midst of a struggle within SWAPO regarding the nomination of a presidential candidate. Hausiku received the 16th highest number of votes, 345, in the election to the central committee of SWAPO at the party's August 2002 congress. He was SWAPO's Secretary for External Relations as of January 2008. Amidst a push for new faces in the National Assembly, Hausiku opted not to seek a spot on the SWAPO list for the 2014 election. After leaving parliament, he was designated as rector of the Swapo Party School, which was launched in May 2016. He was intended to serve as rector in an interim capacity for the school's first year.

Death

Haufiku died on 26 August 2021 aged 68, during the

COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia The COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The Minister of Health and Social Services, Dr. Kalumbi Shangula, announced ...

, from post-

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...

complications. He was buried at Heroes' Acre outside Windhoek on 11 September.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hausiku, Marco 1953 births 2021 deaths People from Kavango Region SWAPO politicians Deputy Prime Ministers of Namibia Foreign ministers of Namibia Transport ministers of Namibia Works and transport ministers of Namibia Labour ministers of Namibia Security ministers of Namibia Land reform ministers of Namibia Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in Namibia