State House of Namibia

Last updated
State House of Namibia
Laika ac New State House (8406704947).jpg
State House of Namibia
State House of Namibia
Alternative namesNew State House
General information
Town or city Windhoek
Country Namibia
Coordinates 22°35′29″S17°06′04″E / 22.5913°S 17.1011°E / -22.5913; 17.1011
Construction started2002
Inaugurated21 March 2008
Design and construction
Architecture firm Mansudae Overseas Projects
Fence around State House Laika ac New State House (8407827942).jpg
Fence around State House

The State House of the Republic of Namibia is the administrative capital of Namibia, as well the official residence of the President of Namibia. Located in the Auasblick suburb of Windhoek, the State House was constructed by Mansudae Overseas Projects of North Korea from September 2002 to March 2008, a total of 66 months. The administrative building cost 400 million Namibian dollars. [1] [2]

Contents

History

The State House was designed by the North Korean company, Mansudae Overseas Projects, and built in 66 months [3] [4] In September 2002, at the end of his term, Sam Nujoma, the first President of Namibia, had construction begin on the new building, to replace the old State House in the inner city, [5] because the office space in the old State House and the very inadequate parking was too small. [6]

On 21 March 2008, the Namibian President opened Hifikepunye Pohamba's house in the presence of Kim Yong-nam, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea, and the Cuban General Leopoldo Cintra Frias. [7] The presidential residence was initially not finished completely, the Cabinet Secretary had to commute between the Old State House and the new building. On 2 September 2008, the first Cabinet meeting was held. [8] On 4 June 2010, the president officially moved to the new presidential residence. [9]

According to unofficial estimates, the construction cost was between 413.2 million [10] and 600 million Namibian dollars. [6] Forty Namibian subcontractors and suppliers were involved in the project. Another 100 Namibians were working on the project. [5]

Structure of the complex

The site covers 25 hectares and is bordered by a two-kilometer long steel fence. At each corner of the fence, there are dark-glassed towers and large guard rooms [5]

The administrative area consists of the Office of the President, the offices of cabinet members and 200 staff offices of the president. A guest house for visiting heads of state to state and two apartments for more state visitors is a little off, as the residence of the President. There are also garages and accommodation for police forces and security personnel. Opposite the main gate on the opposite side of the road there are two helipads. About the park-like grounds are animal replicas (e.g. kudu and elephants ) made of copper. [5]

In the entrance hall is a painting of the members of the first Namibian Cabinet, including as Sam Nujoma, Hifikepunye Pohamba, Hage Geingob, Theo-Ben Gurirab, Ben Amathila, Libertina Amathila, Hidipo Hamutenya and Gert Hanekom. Before the door to the two-storey entrance hall, a wood carving shows a representation of women from all ethnic groups in the country. On the opposite wall at this level there is a large painting of the Epupa Falls, painted in 2005 by a Korean artist. [5]

Old State House

The Old State House is located on Robert Mugabe Avenue in the Windhoek Central Business District, near the Christ Church. Due to its central location and close buildings, an expansion of the building was not possible, so the new State House had to be built.

On 20 July 2010, the cabinet decided that the old state house would be used as the residence and office of the Prime Minister of Namibia. [11]

Related Research Articles

SWAPO Political party in Namibia

The South West Africa People’s Organisation, officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former independence movement in Namibia. It has been the governing party in Namibia since the country achieved independence in 1990. The party continues to be dominated in number and influence by the Ovambo ethnic group.

Sam Nujoma 1st President of Namibia

Samuel Shafiishuna Daniel Nujoma, is 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 the first president of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) in 1960. Prior to 1960, SWAPO was known as the Ovambo People's Organisation (OPO). He played an important role as leader of the national liberation movement in campaigning for Namibia's political independence from South African rule. He established the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) in 1962 and launched a guerrilla war against the apartheid government of South Africa in August 1966 at Omungulugwombashe, beginning after the United Nations withdrew the mandate for South Africa to govern the territory. Nujoma led SWAPO during the lengthy Namibian War of Independence, which lasted from 1966 to 1989.

Hidipo Livius Hamutenya was a Namibian politician. A long time leading member of the South West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO), Hamutenya was a member of the Cabinet of Namibia from independence in 1990 to 2004. He was defeated in a bid for the party's presidential nomination in 2004 and left SWAPO to form an opposition group, the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), in 2007. He was elected to the National Assembly of Namibia with RDP in the 2009 general election. He was forced to step down as RDP President on 28 February 2015 and rejoined SWAPO on 28 August 2015.

Hifikepunye Pohamba 2nd president of Namibia

Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba is a Namibian politician who served as the second President of Namibia from 21 March 2005 to 21 March 2015. He won the 2004 election overwhelmingly as the candidate of SWAPO, the ruling party, and was reelected in 2009. Pohamba was the president of SWAPO from 2007 until his retirement in 2015. He is a recipient of the Ibrahim Prize.

Mansudae Overseas Projects is a construction company based in Jongphyong-dong, Phyongchon District, Pyongyang, North Korea. It is the international commercial division of the Mansudae Art Studio. As of August 2011, it had earned an estimated US$160 million overseas building monuments and memorials. As of 2015, Mansudae projects have been built in 17 countries: Angola, Algeria, Benin, Botswana, Cambodia, Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Germany, Malaysia, Mali, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, Togo and Zimbabwe. The company uses North Korean artists, engineers, and construction workers rather than those of the local artists and workers. Sculptures, monuments, and buildings are in the style of North Korean socialist realism.

Hage Geingob President of Namibia

Hage Gottfried Geingob is a Namibian politician, serving as the third President of Namibia since 21 March 2015. Geingob was the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 to 2015. Between 2008 and 2012 Geingob served as Minister of Trade and Industry. He is also the current president of the ruling SWAPO Party since his election to the position in November 2017.

Benjamin Ulenga is a Namibian politician. In the 1990s, he served under the SWAPO government as a deputy minister and as an ambassador, but he left SWAPO in 1998 and founded an opposition party, the Congress of Democrats (CoD), in 1999. He was a member of the National Assembly of Namibia from 2000 to 2015 and led the CoD until 2015.

Ngarikutuke Ernest Tjiriange was a Namibian politician, a member of the National Assembly and former secretary-general of the ruling SWAPO Party. He also served in the Namibian cabinet from 1990 to 2010, first as Minister of Justice, then without portfolio, and then as Minister of Veterans' Affairs.

Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana is a Namibian politician who served as the Secretary-General of the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) from 2007 to 2012. She was also Minister of Justice from 2005 to 2012 and Minister of Home Affairs from 2012 until February 2018 when president Hage Geingob relieved her off her duties in a cabinet reshuffle.

John Pandeni

John Alphons Pandeni was a Namibian politician and trade unionist. A member of SWAPO, Pandeni was Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development at the time of his death in 2008.

Richard Nchabi Kamwi is a Namibian medical physician and politician. A member of the National Assembly with the South West Africa People's Organization since 1999, Kamwi was the Minister of Health and Social Services from March 2005 to 2015.

2009 in Namibia refers to the events which occurred and will occur in the year of 2009 in the Republic of Namibia.

Cabinet of Namibia Namibian institution

The Cabinet of Namibia is an appointed body that was established by the Chapter 6 of the Constitution of Namibia. It is mandated to include the following positions: the President of Namibia, the Prime Minister of Namibia and any positions that the President so appoints.

Penehupifo Pohamba

Penehupifo "Penny" Pohamba is a Namibian educator and politician who was the second First Lady of Namibia while her husband, Hifikepunye Pohamba, was President of Namibia from 2005 to 2015.

The following lists events that happened during 2005 in Namibia.

Calle Schlettwein Namibian politician

Carl-Hermann Gustav "Calle" Schlettwein is a Namibian politician who has served in the country's cabinet since 2012. In March 2020, he was appointed the Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform after serving as the Minister of Finance from 2015 to 2020 and previously as the Minister of Trade and Industry from 2012 to 2015.

Namibia–North Korea relations Bilateral diplomatic relations

Namibia–North Korea relations refers to the current and historical relationship between Namibia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK). Neither country maintains an embassy in their respective capitals, although DPRK formerly had one in Windhoek, which closed down in 1994.

Peter Katjavivi Namibian politician

Peter Hitjitevi Katjavivi is a Namibian politician who is the Speaker of the National Assembly of Namibia since March 2015 and the chancellor of the Namibia University of Science and Technology from 1992 to 2003. Previously he was the founding Vice-Chancellor of the University of Namibia from 1992 to 2003, Ambassador to the European Union from 2003 to 2006, Ambassador to Germany from 2006 to 2008, and Director General of the National Planning Commission from 2008 to 2010.

Independence Memorial Museum (Namibia)

The Independence Memorial Museum is a historical museum in Windhoek, Namibia. It focuses on the anti-colonial resistance and the national liberation struggle of Namibia. The museum is located on Robert Mugabe Avenue and was designed and built by Mansudae Overseas Projects, a North Korean firm. The museum was inaugurated on March 21, 2014, the twenty-fourth anniversary of independence of the country, by President Hifikepunye Pohamba. The museum is flanked by two statues: the Sam Nujoma Statue and the Genocide Statue, also built by Mansudae. The Sam Nujoma Statue sits on the site of the German-era Reiterdenkmal equestrian statue.

Brazil–Namibia relations Bilateral diplomatic relations

Brazil–Namibia relations refers to the diplomatic relations between the Federative Republic of Brazil and the Republic of Namibia. Both nations are members of the Group of 77 and the United Nations.

References

  1. ↑ New State House for New Nation in AllAfrica.com via New Era, 20 March 2008 (registration required)
  2. ↑ MENGES, WERNER (June 5, 2005). "Heroes' monument losing battle". The Namibian. Retrieved 11 October 2012.
  3. ↑ New State House for New Nation allafrica.com, New Era, (20. März 2008)
  4. ↑ Werner Menges (6. Mai 2005) Heroes' monument losing battle. The Namibian (abgerufen 23. Oktober 2009)
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 Catherine Sasman (20. März 2008) New State House for New Nation. allafrica.com (abgerufen 1. November 2009)
  6. 1 2 Christof Maletsky (25. März 2008) No price on 'People's House'. The Namibian (abgerufen 1. November 2009)
  7. ↑ Eberhard Hofmann (25. März 2008) Pakt mit autoritären Gästen Allgemeine Zeitung (abgerufen 1. November 2009)
  8. ↑ Brigitte Weidlich (3. September 2008) First Cabinet meeting at New State House. The Namibian (abgerufen 23. Oktober 2009)
  9. ↑ Brigitte Weidlich (13. Juli 2010) New presidential residence inaugurated Archived 2015-09-24 at the Wayback Machine Die Republikein (abgerufen 14. Juli 2010)
  10. ↑ Pohambas Posten wächst az.com.na, Allgemeine Zeitung, (abgerufen 18. Dezember 2009)
  11. ↑ Premier zieht ins alte Staatshaus, 11. August 2010

Coordinates: 22°35′29″S17°06′04″E / 22.5913°S 17.1011°E / -22.5913; 17.1011

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.