Andimba Toivo ya Toivo
| Andimba Toivo ya Toivo | |
|---|---|
| Minister of Prisons | |
|
In office 27 August 2002 – 2006 |
|
| President |
Sam Nujoma Hifikepunye Pohamba |
| Prime Minister |
Theo-Ben Gurirab Nahas Angula |
| Preceded by | Marco Hausiku |
| Minister of Labour | |
|
In office 26 March 1999 – 27 August 2002 |
|
| President | Sam Nujoma |
| Prime Minister | Hage Geingob |
| Minister of Mines and Energy | |
|
In office 21 March 1990 – 26 March 1999 |
|
| President | Sam Nujoma |
| Prime Minister | Hage Geingob |
| Preceded by | position established |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
22 August 1924 Omangundu, Oshana Region, South West Africa (now Namibia) |
| Political party | SWAPO |
| Spouse(s) | Vicky Erenstein Ya Toivo (m.1993) |
| Children | 2 |
| Religion | Christianity |
Herman Andimba Toivo ya Toivo (born 22 August 1924) is a Namibian anti-apartheid activist, politician and political prisoner who was active in the pre-independence movement and one of the co-founders of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) in 1960, and its predecessor the Ovamboland People's Organization (OPO) in 1959. ya Toivo served 16 years in Robben Island prison in the same section as Nelson Mandela. He was released from prison in 1984 and rejoined SWAPO in exile in Lusaka, Zambia. He returned to Namibia in 1989 in the wake of the country's independence and served as a Member of Parliament and as a Cabinet Minister in Sam Nujoma's government. ya Toivo retired from active politics in 2006. He is considered an icon of the liberation struggle in Namibia.
Andimba Toivo ya Toivo was born in Omangundu, Ovamboland, Southwest Africa. He attended vocational training at Ongwediva Industrial School between 1939 and 1942. He worked on a farm until he came to Odibo and attended school at St Mary's Mission School where he completed Standard 6. He had to change his religion from Lutheran to Anglican in order to be admitted. He stayed on until 1950, graduating as a teacher, and he successfully operated a store at Ondangwa. Ya Toivo taught at St Cuthberth's School at Onamutayi and St. Mary's Odibo before travelling to South Africa for further studies in 1951. Toivo ya Toivo fought for the Allied Forces during World War II.
ya Toivo left for Cape Town in 1951 and was employed as a railway police officer between 1952 and 1953. He organized with political movements such as the Modern Youth Society (MYS) which was constituted by university students and trade unionists. He became the Deputy Chairman of the MYS, which organized festivals, lectures, discussion groups and night schools for activists who pursued further education. He joined the African National Congress (ANC) at Cape Town in 1957. Later that year, he co-founded the Ovamboland People's Congress (OPC), forerunner of the Ovamboland People's Organization (OPO). He also established close contacts with the two South African parties the Congress of Democrats and the Liberal Party. The OPC sought to fight for the rights of migrant workers, some of whom had deserted the exploitative South West African Native Labour Association (SWANLA). The organization also mobilized against the incorporation of Namibia into South Africa, and therefore shared a political allegiance with other organizations in South Africa. In December 1958, ya Toivo succeeded in sending a petition to the United Nations, with the assistance of Mburumba Kerina and Michael Scott. Consequently, he was deported from Cape Town, first to Keetmanshoop and Windhoek and later to Ovamboland, where he was placed under house arrest in his home village Oniipa.
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