Paul Albertus Smit (born 23 March 1953 near

Otavi Otavi is a town with 10,000 inhabitants in the Otjozondjupa Region of Namibia. Situated 360 km north of Windhoek, it is the district capital of the Otavi electoral constituency. Geography The towns of Otavi, Tsumeb (to the north) and Gr ...

Otjozondjupa Region 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. Geogr ...

) 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 farmer.

Education

Smit attended Etosha High School in

Tsumeb Tsumeb (; ) is a city of around 35,000 inhabitants and the largest town in the Oshikoto Region, Oshikoto region in northern Namibia. Tsumeb, since its founding in 1905, has been primarily a mining town. The town is the site of a deep mine (the ...

, where he graduated from in 1971. Upon graduation in Tsumeb, he left to

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 ...

, where he attended 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 ...

. He graduated with a BSc in Agricultural Economy in 1973.

Political positions

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

farmer, Smit considers himself "apolitical" despite being the Deputy Minister of Agriculture since 2000 in an otherwise

SWAPO 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 ...

-led government. Smit has actively worked towards reconciliation between Black and White Namibians through Transformation Namibia. In October 2002, Smit apologized before the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

for the wrongs of

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. In May 2003, the organization held a successful rally but a planned apology on behalf of White Namibians did not result.

Political career

In 2000 Smit was appointed to the

3rd National Assembly of Namibia Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

by president

Sam Nujoma Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma ( ; 12May 19298February 2025) was 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 t ...

. He became Minister of Agriculture for part of 2004-2005 following

Helmut Angula Helmut Pau Kangulohi Angula (born 11 November 1945) is a Namibian businessman, politician, former cabinet minister and writer. He is currently the director of various private companies after leaving government in 2010 and a longtime member of th ...

's resignation from the post. He was a

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 ...

activist in the 1980s but left the party in 1983. From 1987 to 1997, Smit played a prominent role in the Namibia Agricultural Union, which represents Namibia's prosperous and overwhelmingly white commercial farmers. He served as the NAU's president from 1993 to 1997. On

Heroes' Day Heroes' Day or National Heroes' Day may refer to a number of commemorations of national heroes in different countries and territories. It is often held on the birthday of a national hero or heroine, or the anniversary of their great deeds that ...

2014 he was conferred the Excellent Order of the Eagle, Second Class.

References

1953 births Living people Politicians from Otjozondjupa Region White Namibian people Popular Democratic Movement politicians Government ministers of Namibia Members of the 3rd National Assembly of Namibia Namibian farmers Namibian trade unionists University of the Free State alumni {{Namibia-politician-stub