Angelika Muharukua

Angelika Muharukua (born 12 January 1958 Opuwo, Kunene Region) is a Namibian politician. An ethnic Herero from northwestern Namibia, Muharukua joined the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in 1979. She was a surprise choice by President Sam Nujoma for the 2nd National Assembly of Namibia in 1995 and has remained in the National Assembly since. In May 2004, she was chosen to replace Marlene Mungunda as deputy minister of Women Affairs and Child Welfare, later renamed the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare.^[1]

In September 2012 Angelika Muharukua contradicted international human rights laws such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples when she publicly announced that Indigenous Peoples such as the Himba and Zemba would not have the right to choose their own traditional leaders.^[2]

On 27 March 2013, Angelika Muharukua publicly opposed protest of about a thousand indigenous Himba and Zemba ^[3] that were manifesting their grievances that their children are not receiving cultural appropriate education, but are instead forced to cut their children's traditional hair styles, remove their cultural attires and therefore forced to remove their cultural identity^[4]

Angelika Muharukua was married to Kenatjironga Festus Muharukua who died in a car accident in March 2015. She lives in Ovinjange.^[5]

References

1. Guide to Namibian Politics by Graham Hopwood, Namibia Institute for Democracy, Windhoek, 2007
2. "Namibia: Muharukua Unimpressed By Kaoko Demonstrations". The Namibian. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
3. "Namibia: Muharukua Angered By Himba Demo". All Africa. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
4. "Declaration by the traditional Himba leaders of Kaokoland in Namibia". earthpeoples.org. Retrieved 2012-04-06.
5. "Ovinjange villagers eulogise Kenatjironga Muharukua". New Era. 17 September 2015.