Sakeus Edward Twelityaamena "Sacky" Shanghala (born 13 June 1977) 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 lawyer and politician who served as the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

from 8 February 2018 until November 2019 when he was forced to resign in the wake of the Fishrot scandal. He previously also served as Attorney General of Namibia from 2015 to 2018. Shanghala is a former chairperson of the Law Reform and Development Commission which he chaired between 2010 and 2015.

Early life and education

Shanghala was born on 13 June 1977 in

Outapi Outapi wa Nakafingo na Temba, also Outapi or Uutapi and Ombalantu, is a town in northern Namibia near the border with Angola, situated northwest of Oshakati. It is the capital of the Omusati region and the district capital of the Outapi electo ...

in former

Ovamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan and later a non-geographic ethnic-based second-tier authority, the Representative Authority of the Ovambos, in South West Africa (present-day Namibia). The apartheid government stat ...

. He is the son of retired ELCIN bishop Josephat Shanghala. His mother Ndamona was a nurse at Oshakati State Hospital; she died in the 1988 Oshakati bomb blast. Before completing his high school education at the Oshigambo High School, he got his basic education at International Primary School in

Ongwediva Ongwediva is a town in the Oshana Region in the north of Namibia. It is the district capital of the Ongwediva Constituency, Ongwediva electoral constituency. it had 33,777 inhabitants and covered 4,102 hectares of land. Ongwediva has seven ...

. He studied at

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

, where he graduated with B Juris and LLB degrees in 1998 and 2000 respectively.

Business career

In 2004 Shanghala and two partners trading as Hanganeni Investment Holdings won a government contract to supply fuel to National Petroleum Corporation of Namibia (NAMCOR), Namibia's national oil company. In 2021 ''

The Namibian ''The Namibian'' is the largest daily newspaper in Namibia. It is published in English and Oshiwambo. History The newspaper was established in 1985 by journalist Gwen Lister as a weekly newspaper reliant on support of donors, which aimed to ...

'' estimated that the deal got them 100 million N$ in private wealth. Until at least 2007, Shanghala was working as a lawyer for the Namibian government despite being on its payroll through his position in the Ministry of Justice. After being appointed Attorney General, Shanghala "hit the ground running, and got busy working on reforming laws – mostly for his benefit."

Political career

Shanghala is a member of the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) party. In 1997 while on an internship at the Namibia Non-Governmental Organisation Forum (Nangof), Shanghala met

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 ...

, then

Prime Minister of Namibia The prime minister of the Republic of Namibia is the leader of the Government of Namibia. The prime minister is appointed by the president and coordinates the work of the Cabinet. They also advise and assist the president in the execution o ...

. Geingob hired him as special assistant shortly thereafter. He served in that position until late 2001. He then worked as the special advisor to the Attorney General. In 2010, he was appointed the chairperson of the Law Reform and Development Commission. He became a member of

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 2015 and was appointed

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...

in the same year. In a cabinet reshuffle in February 2018, Shanghala became

Fishrot scandal

In November 2019 he was forced to resign his ministerial post over allegations that he took bribes in exchange for providing fishing quotas to the Icelandic fishing company Samherji, In December 2019 he was removed from the 6th National Assembly and from SWAPO's parliament list for the 7th National Assembly, for which the election had just concluded. He had been placed 53rd on the SWAPO party list of parliamentary candidates, which would have guaranteed his seat in parliament because SWAPO ended up winning 63 seats in 2019. Part of '' The Fishrot Six'', he and former fisheries minister Bernhardt Esau were arrested in late November 2019. Already in jail for over 5 months, Shanghala, like Esau, was removed from SWAPO's politburo, one of the party's top decision-making structures, in April 2021, after absenting himself "from three consecutive meetings".

References

External links

* https://www.facebook.com/pages/Namibia-Law-Reform-Development-Commission/331063310360092 {{DEFAULTSORT:Shanghala, Sacky Living people SWAPO politicians Attorneys-general of Namibia Justice ministers of Namibia 1977 births University of Namibia alumni