Philemon Moongo (April 11, 1943 – March 10, 2015) 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. A member of 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 ...

, Moongo has been a member of 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 ...

since 1995. Moongo was born at Oniipa village in

Oshikoto Region Oshikoto is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, named after Lake Otjikoto. Its capital is Omuthiya. Further major settlements in the region are Tsumeb, Otjikoto's capital until 2008, and Oniipa. , Oshikoto had 112,170 registered voters. Ge ...

in 1943 and died from cancer after a long battle in 2015.

Career

Moongo was an ardent supporter of the

South West Africa People's Organization 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 ...

(SWAPO) and fled into exile with in the mid-1970s. In exile, he eventually became a platoon commander in the

People's Liberation Army of Namibia The People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) was the military wing of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO). It fought against the South African Defence Force (SADF) and South West Africa Territorial Force (SWATF) during the S ...

(PLAN), the armed wing of SWAPO. However, he was arrested and detained for SWAPO from 1976 to 1978 in first

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

then

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

for taking part in protests regarding poor living conditions of exiles and organizational corruption. Following his release in 1978, Moongo moved to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

for a short time before returning to Namibia and organizing support for a new political party,

SWAPO Democrats The SWAPO Democrats, also known as SWAPO-D, was a political party formed from a break within the South West Africa People's Organization in 1978. Formed in Sweden on 10 June 1978, the party was led by former leading SWAPO members Andreas Shipanga ...

. SWAPO Democrats joined the Multi-Party Conference, which sought to come to a settlement over Namibian independence with SWAPO's involvement, in 1983. From 1985 to 1989, Moongo was a SWAPO Democrats delegate to the Transitional Government of National Unity assembly. However, SWAPO Democrats received just 3,000 votes in the 1989 constituent assembly election prior to independence and the party became defunct soon after. Moongo joined the leading opposition party following independence, the

, in 1990 and soon became regional chairperson for much of northern and central Namibia. In 1994, Moongo was put on the voter list for the DTA and was elected to the National Assembly, where he has been a member until his death in 2015.Philemon Moongo
at Namibia Institute for Democracy

References

1943 births Living people Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) People's Liberation Army of Namibia personnel Members of SWAPO Popular Democratic Movement politicians Politicians from Oshikoto Region Namibian expatriates in Tanzania Prisoners and detainees of Tanzania Prisoners and detainees of Zambia SWAPO Democrats politicians {{Namibia-politician-stub

Career

See also

References