Samuel Abraham Peyavali "Peya" Mushelenga (born September 01, 1975 in

Oshigambo Oshigambo is a settlement in the Oshikoto Region of northern Namibia. It is situated on the banks of Oshigambo River east of the Etosha pan The Etosha Pan is a large endorheic salt pan, forming part of the Cuvelai-Etosha Basin in the north of N ...

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 of ...

) is 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 politician and poet. He is broadly educated, holding twelve academic qualifications from six different universities. A member of

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 ...

, Mushelenga 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 close ...

since 2005. He has served

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

in several ministerial roles and is the minister of Information and Communication Technologies since March 2020.

Early life and education

Peya Mushelenga was born at

in the

Oshikoto Region Oshikoto is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, named after Lake Otjikoto. Its capital is Omuthiya. The city of Tsumeb, Otjikoto's capital until 2008, and the towns of Omuthiya and Oniipa are also situated in this region. , Oshikoto had 112, ...

of northern Namibia. He attended Oluno Senior Secondary School until 1992 and then entered the

University of Namibia The University of Namibia (UNAM) is a multi-campus public research university in Namibia, as well as the largest university in the country. It was established by an act of Parliament on 31 August 1992. Background UNAM comprises the follow ...

(UNAM). Mushelenga has accumulated twelve university degrees in his career; the '' New Era'' daily called him "Namibia's most avid scholar". He graduated with: * BA in History and Political Studies,

(UNAM), Namibia, 1995 * BA Honours in International Politics,

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

(UNISA), 1997 * MA in International Politics, UNISA, 2009 * B Juris, UNAM, 2011 * LLB (Honours), UNAM, 2014 * D Litt et Phil in International Politics, UNISA, 2015 * BA in Economics,

Open University of Tanzania The Open University of Tanzania (OUT) is a distance learning public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in state ownership, owned by the state or receives significant government spending, public ...

(OUT), 2017 *

LLM A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is an advanced postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in a related subject. In mos ...

, UNAM, 2017 *

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

, Eastern and Southern African Management Institute (ESAMI), 2018 *

BEd A bed is an item of furniture that is used as a place to sleep, rest, and relax. Most modern beds consist of a soft, cushioned mattress on a bed frame. The mattress rests either on a solid base, often wood slats, or a sprung base. Many beds ...

(OUT), 2019 * MSc in Finance,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, 2020 * PhD in Criminal Justice Law,

University of the Western Cape The University of the Western Cape (UWC) is a public research university in Bellville, near Cape Town, South Africa. The university was established in 1959 by the South African government as a university for Coloured people only. Other un ...

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

, 2022 Mushelenga is an admitted legal practitioner (attorney) of the High Court of Namibia.

Career

After his first degree at UNAM Mushelenga worked as teacher at

Nehale Senior Secondary School Nehale Senior Secondary School is a public school in Onayena, Oshikoto Region, Namibia. Established in 1976, it is among the oldest secondary schools in the region. Nehale SSS is named after Nehale Mpingana, king of the Ondonga. The school is ...

in 1996. He then worked for Government until 1998, and thereafter joined

NamPower Namibia Power Corporation, commonly known as NamPower, is the national electric power utility company of Namibia. The company is responsible for generation, transmission and distribution of electricity in the country. Its activities are lice ...

. He became active in the

Namibia National Students Organisation The Namibia National Students Organisation (NANSO) is a national student organisation in Namibia. It was founded on 2 June 1984 in Döbra, about north of the capital Windhoek. Student Representation NANSO has been representing Namibian stude ...

in the 1980s and eventually became a high-level organizer for the

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. ...

, being elected to the Central Committee and National Executive of the SPYL in 1997 and 2002. He had recently led the big delegation of 250 SWAPO Party Youth League leaders to Sochi Russia, to attend the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students, the event organized by World Federation of Democratic Youth WFDY and the Russian government. Also in 2002, he was elected to the SWAPO Central Committee as its youngest member (re-elected in 2007 and 2012). Mushelenga became a member of

Parliament of Namibia The Parliament of Namibia is the national legislature of Namibia. It is a bicameral legislature and, thus, consists of two houses: the National Council (upper house) and the National Assembly (lower house). All cabinet members are also member ...

in 2005. In 2010, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. In a major

reshuffle he was promoted to Minister of Urban and Rural Development on 8 February 2018. On 21 March 2020, Mushelenga was appointed Minister of Information and Communication Technology.

Personal life

In 1980, South African security forces killed Mushelenga's sister and injured other relatives during a raid on their family home in the former

bantustan A Bantustan (also known as Bantu homeland, black homeland, black state or simply homeland; ) was a territory that the National Party administration of South Africa set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa (now N ...

. A book of poetry entitled ''Nando Na Li Toke'', written in the

Ovambo Ovambo may refer to: *Ovambo language *Ovambo people * Ovamboland *Ovambo sparrowhawk The Ovambo or Ovampo sparrowhawk, also known as Hilgert's sparrowhawk, (''Accipiter ovampensis'') is a species of sub-Saharan African bird of prey in the famil ...

dialect of

Ndonga Ndonga, also called Oshindonga, is a Bantu language, Bantu dialect spoken in Namibia and parts of Angola. It is a standardized dialect of the Ovambo language, and is mutual intelligibility, mutually intelligible with Kwanyama dialect, Kwanyama, ...

, was published by Gamsberg MacMillan in 1996.Peya Mushelenga
Namibia Institute for Democracy, 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mushelenga, Peya Living people 1975 births Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Namibian poets People from Oshikoto Region University of Namibia alumni Open University of Tanzania alumni Eastern and Southern African Management Institute alumni Alumni of the University of London University of South Africa alumni University of the Western Cape alumni SWAPO politicians Government ministers of Namibia 20th-century Namibian writers 21st-century Namibian writers