Honourable Piet van der Walt | |
---|---|
Deputy Minister of Economic Planning | |
Assumed office 8 February 2018 | |
President | Hage Geingob |
Prime Minister | Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila |
Preceded by | Lucia Iipumbu |
Deputy Minister of Industrialisation,Trade and SME Development | |
In office 21 March 2015 –8 February 2018 | |
President | Hage Geingob |
Prime Minister | Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila |
Succeeded by | Lucia Iipumbu |
Personal details | |
Born | Okahandja | 14 January 1966
Piet Jacobus van der Walt (born 14 January 1966 in Okahandja) is a Namibian businessperson and politician who has been the Deputy Minister of National Planning since 2018.
Van der Walt grew up in Okahandja and went to primary school there. His secondary school was the Higher Technical School in Windhoek. He became a diesel mechanic by profession,graduating in 1989 from the Windhoek Technical College. He also holds an engineering diploma in mechanical drawing and machines and properties of metals. [1]
Commenting on his alleged service for Koevoet ,the counter-insurgency branch of the South West African Police (SWAPOL) before Namibian independence,he stated that his short stint in Oshakati in the north of Namibia was merely to serve in the auxiliary service as mechanic. [2]
From 1990 he worked for Old Mutual in Windhoek. In 1999 he started Van der Walt Motors,a service station with surrounding shops near Windhoek's city centre. [2]
A White Afrikaner Namibian,van der Walt began associating with SWAPO in a business capacity following independence in 1990. He was placed on the parliamentary list for SWAPO at number 42 prior to the 2009 National Assembly election and subsequently elected. He was associated with the SWAPO Youth League. [2]
He retained his parliamentary seat in the 2014 general elections and was subsequently appointed Deputy Minister for Industrialisation,Trade and SME Development. [1] After a Cabinet reshuffle in February 2018 he swapped positions with Lucia Iipumbu and is since then Deputy Minister of National Planning. [3]
Theo-Ben Gurirab was a Namibian politician who served in various senior government positions. He served as the second Prime Minister of Namibia from 28 August 2002 to 20 March 2005,following the demotion and subsequent resignation of Hage Geingob. Previously he was the country's first Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1990 to 2002,and was President of the United Nations General Assembly from 1999 to 2000. He was Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia from 2005 to 2015,when he was replaced by Peter Katjavivi. Gurirab ultimately resigned from politics in 2015.
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Okahandja is a city of 24,100 inhabitants in Otjozondjupa Region,central Namibia,and the district capital of the Okahandja electoral constituency. It is known as the Garden Town of Namibia. It is located 70 km north of Windhoek on the B1 road. It was founded around 1800,by two local groups,the Herero and the Nama.
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