Jacobus Willem Francois Pretorius, commonly known as Kosie Pretorius (5 September 1935CV at Namibian Parliament website
– 14 July 2017), was 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. He was the Chairman of the Monitor Action Group party, which mainly represents conservative

white Namibians White Namibians ( or ) are people of European descent settled in Namibia. The majority of White Namibians are Dutch-descended Afrikaners (locally born or of White South African descent), with a minority being native-born German Namibians (de ...

, and was 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 cl ...

from 1990 to 2005.

Early life and education

Pretorius was born in

Swakopmund Swakopmund ("Mouth of the Swakop River, Swakop") is a city on the coast of western Namibia, west of the Namibian capital Windhoek via the B2 road (Namibia), B2 main road. It is the capital of the Erongo Region, Erongo administrative district. It ...

Erongo Region Erongo is one of the 14 regions of Namibia. The capital is Swakopmund. It is named after Mount Erongo, a well-known landmark in Namibia and in this area. Erongo contains the municipalities of Walvis Bay, Swakopmund, Henties Bay and Omaruru, as ...

. He earned his B.A. and M.A. from what was then the University of the Orange Free State in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

now known as the

University of the Free State The University of the Free State (; Sotho language, Sesotho: ''Yunivesithi ya Freistata'') is a multi-campus public university in Bloemfontein, the capital of the Free State (province), Free State and the judicial capital of South Africa. It wa ...

in 1956 and 1959, respectively. While there, he was an organising secretary of the Afrikaner Student Union.

Pre-independence

Pretorius was a member of the all-white Legislative Assembly of South West Africa for Gobabis from 1962 to 1989. From 1981 until the founding of Action Christian National (ACN) party in 1989, Pretorius was the leader of the

National Party of South West Africa The National Party of South West Africa (, ) was a political party in South West Africa. History The party was originally established in Mariental by Frikke Jooste in July 1924.Victor L. Tonchi, William A. Lindeke & John J. Grotpeter (2012) ' ...

in what was then

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. ...

, an extension of the then ruling party of

. He was also Minister of Water Affairs, and Post and Telecommunications in the Transitional Government of National Unity from 1988 to 1989. Immediately prior to independence, he was an ACN member of 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.

Post-independence

Following independence in March 1990, Pretorius was a member of the National Assembly from 1990 to 2005.Lindsay Dentlinger
"Kosie to vacate MAG seat in NA"
, ''The Namibian'', 3 December 2004. He initially represented the ACN in the National Assembly, but became the chairman of a new party, Monitor Action Group (MAG), in 1991. He was subsequently the only member of MAG in the National Assembly. Pretorius was the MAG candidate in the November 2004 presidential election, in which he received 1.15% of the national vote, finishing last out of seven candidates."ELECTION UPDATE 2004, NAMIBIA"
, EISA report, number 3, 10 December 2004, page 9. MAG announced on 2 December 2004 that Pretorius would leave the National Assembly in March 2005 and be replaced by

Jurie Viljoen Johannes Jurie Viljoen (born 14 May 1942 in Aranos, Hardap Region) is a Namibian politician. Viljoen was a member of the 4th National Assembly of Namibia from 2005 to 2010. From 2005 to 2010, Viljoen was the only representative of the Monitor Ac ...

. Pretorius said that he would advise Viljoen and would remain the Chairman of MAG. According to Pretorius, this decision was difficult, but he felt it was necessary to train someone younger to represent the party in the National Assembly, and because the party held only one seat he had to step aside to make this possible. He penned a regular column in the '' Windhoek Observer'' called "Parliamentary Potholes".

Death

Pretorius died on the morning of 14 July 2017 at Walvis Bay, where he has lived since retiring from active politics. He is survived by his wife, his four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

References

* Hopwood, Graham. Guide to Namibian Politics, 2007 edition. Namibia Institute for Democracy,

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 ...

, 2007 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pretorius, Kosie 1935 births 2017 deaths People from Swakopmund Namibian Afrikaner people National Party (South Africa) politicians Monitor Action Group politicians Members of the 1st National Assembly of Namibia Members of the 2nd National Assembly of Namibia Members of the 3rd National Assembly of Namibia Candidates for President of Namibia 20th-century Namibian writers 21st-century Namibian writers