Former information minister Stanley Simataa has resigned as a member of the National Assembly with immediate effect, after failing to make the cut in the new Cabinet.
New Era also understands that former minister of agriculture, Alpheus !Naruseb, who also failed to retain his ministerial position in the new Cabinet, tendered his resignation as a parliamentarian.
However, when pressed to confirm or deny the reports yesterday, !Naruseb said: “I am going inside a post office, I can’t talk at the moment, I am at Okombahe, I can’t talk,” before dropping the line.
National Assembly secretary Lydia Kandetu yesterday confirmed Simataa’s resignation, saying Gothard Kasuto, who was 67 on the Swapo parliamentary candidates list, will replace him.
Kandetu also confirmed Vice President Nangolo Mbumba’s resignation following his reappointment last week.
Former deputy minister of home affairs Maureen Hinda-Mbuende has since replaced Mbumba.
When asked about !Naruseb’s resignation, Kandetu said although she has heard such reports, she has not yet received the resignation letter.
Simataa served as executive director of the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) from 2007 to 2010 and then deputy permanent secretary in the ministry of education, and director in the speaker’s office of the National Assembly.
From 2010, Simataa served as deputy minister for information until his appointment as minister in 2018.
He holds undergraduate degrees from Australia and South Africa before receiving Master’s degrees from universities in the Republic of Tanzania and the United Kingdom.
While as an information minister, he has spoken about the need to improve Namibia’s communications infrastructure.
In 2018, he promoted a project to bring mobile telecommunications coverage to rural parts of Namibia.
–ktjitemisa@nepc.com.na