Henry Ferdinand "Henk" Mudge (born 18 February 1952) 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 and President of the Republican Party.CV at Parliament website
He was the party's only 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 cl ...

from 2004 to 2011, when he resigned.

Life and career

Mudge, a White Namibian, was born in

Otjiwarongo Otjiwarongo (Herero language, Herero for "beautiful place") is a city of 49,000 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Otjiwarongo Constituency, Otjiwarongo electoral constituency and also the capital ...

Otjozondjupa Otjozondjupa is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its capital is Otjiwarongo. The region further contains the municipalities of Okahandja and Grootfontein and the towns Okakarara and Otavi. , Otjozondjupa had 97,945 registered voters. Geo ...

South West Africa South West Africa was a territory under Union of South Africa, South African administration from 1915 to 1990. Renamed ''Namibia'' by the United Nations in 1968, Independence of Namibia, it became independent under this name on 21 March 1990. ...

(now

); he was the son of Republican Party founder the late

Dirk Mudge Dirk Frederik Mudge (16 January 192826 August 2020) was a Namibian politician. He served in several high-ranking positions in the South African administration of South West Africa, was the chairman of the 1975–1977 Turnhalle Constitutional Con ...

. The younger Mudge was a founding member of the Republican Party in 1977; the party joined the

Democratic Turnhalle Alliance The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA), is an amalgamation of political parties in Namibia, registered as one singular party for representation purposes. In coalition with the United Democratic Front ...

(DTA) in the same year,Petros Kuteeue
"DTA threatens to take Henk Mudge to court"
, ''The Namibian'', 21 August 2003. and Mudge held a seat on the

Khomas Khomas is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia. Its name refers to the Khomas Highland, a high plateau landscape that dominates this administrative subdivision. Khomas is centered on the capital city Windhoek and provides for this reason superio ...

Regional Council from 1992 to 2003 as a member of the DTA, representing

Windhoek West Constituency Windhoek West Constituency is an electoral constituency in the Khomas Region of Namibia. It contains the affluent suburbs of Hochland Park, Pioneers Park, Academia, Cimbebasia, Rocky Crest, Windhoek North and Windhoek West. It had a populat ...

. Mid of 2003 Mudge launched an effort to revive the Republican Party as an independent organization, and he resigned from the Regional Council on 30 June 2003. DTA President Katuutire Kaura denounced Mudge's move to separate the Republican Party from the DTA, saying that Mudge acted unilaterally and illegally, and he said that Mudge had "expelled himself" from the DTA through his actions. Kaura claimed that Mudge wanted to create a party solely for "previously advantaged" minority Namibians. Mudge became the President of the Republican Party, as well as a member of its National Executive Committee, in 2003. In the November 2004 parliamentary election, he was elected to the

; he also stood as the Republican Party's candidate in the presidential election, receiving 1.95% of the vote. In the summer of 2008, Henk Mudge sharply criticized the activities of the CEO of the national airline Air Namibia, Cosmas Egumbo. In response, Egumbo accused Mudge of racism and pursuing selfish family goals. Henk Mudge responded with a special statement. In his speeches, Henk Mudge condemns the apartheid system and acknowledges that white Namibians enjoyed privileges at the expense of their black fellow citizens. At the same time, he calls on whites to be politically active in modern Namibia, using Republican Party activists as an example. He sharply criticizes the ruling SWAPO for its corruption and pro-Chinese policies. In the November 2009 parliamentary election, Mudge was re-elected to the National Assembly as the party's only representative. In the concurrent presidential election, Mudge received 1.16% of the vote, placing seventh out of 12 candidates. In September 2010, Mudge and eight other opposition politicians were sworn-in as members of the National Assembly following a six-month boycott due to electoral irregularities in the 2009 election. In March 2011, Mudge resigned as both a member of the National Assembly and as the President of the Republican Party. The party appointed Clara Gowases, who was ranked second on the party's electoral list in the 2009 election, to replace him. He nevertheless remained in the post of party president. On 9 January 2013 Mudge declared his party's support for

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 ...

in the 2014 presidential election. Mudge was re-elected as President of the Republican Party at a party congress in July 2014. He was elected to the National Assembly in the November 2014 parliamentary election, again as his party's only representative. He ran as a presidential 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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mudge, Henk 1952 births Living people People from Otjiwarongo Politicians from Otjozondjupa Region Popular Democratic Movement politicians Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) Namibian people of South African descent White Namibian people Republican Party (Namibia) politicians Candidates for President of Namibia