20 Facts About Jerry Ekandjo

Jerry Lukiiko Ekandjo was born on 17 March 1947 and is a Namibian politician, former anti-apartheid activist and political prisoner.

Jerry Ekandjo is one of the founding members of the SWAPO Youth League and has been one of the most active internal leading members of the South West Africa People's Organization during the liberation struggle.

Jerry Ekandjo spent eight years in prison on Robben Island after being charged for inciting violence in 1973.

In 2017 Jerry Ekandjo was nominated as a candidate for the president of SWAPO and came second again to Hage Geingob.

Jerry Ekandjo was born on 17 March 1947 in Windhoek, South-West Africa.

Jerry Ekandjo was a member of the SWAPO Party Youth League from 1969 to 1973 and served as chairman of its Windhoek branch.

Jerry Ekandjo was convicted and sentenced to eight years in prison, which he spent on Robben Island in South Africa.

Jerry Ekandjo became deputy Minister of Regional and Local Government and Housing in 1990, serving in that position until 1995.

Jerry Ekandjo was deputy Minister of Home Affairs from March 1995 until being promoted to the post of Minister of Home Affairs in September 1995.

Jerry Ekandjo received the highest number of votes, 395, in the election to the central committee of SWAPO at the party's August 2002 congress.

Jerry Ekandjo is widely considered to be a hardliner in the party.

Jerry Ekandjo received the highest number of votes in the election for the SWAPO central committee at the November 2007 congress.

Jerry Ekandjo was moved from his post as Minister of Lands and Resettlement to that of Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing, and Rural Development in a cabinet reshuffle on 8 April 2008.

At SWAPO's 2012 party congress, Jerry Ekandjo stood as a candidate for SWAPO vice president, but he was defeated by Hage Geingob in the vote held on 2 December 2012.

Geingob received 312 votes from the delegates, while Jerry Ekandjo received 220 votes and Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana received 64 votes.

In late August 2014, when SWAPO chose its list of parliamentary candidates for the November 2014 general election, Jerry Ekandjo only managed to obtain the 81st spot on the list, a poor performance that made it seem unlikely that he would be elected to the National Assembly.

Jerry Ekandjo was dismissed from his minister position on 1 February 2018, along with fellow critic and minister Iivula-Ithana.

Jerry Ekandjo is known for his "repeated and long-standing pattern of making hateful statements, taking undemocratic decisions, and refusing to comply with court orders".

On 9 February 2001, Jerry Ekandjo was found guilty of contempt of court for not releasing the jailed former representative of the Angolan rebel group UNITA in Namibia, Jose Domingo Sikunda, despite a court order to do so.

Jerry Ekandjo has been quoted as saying "Surely one of the main lessons of these past 25 years is that when we are united we win, when we are divided, AIDS wins".