WINDHOEK – Namibian Prisons Commissioner-General Evaristus Shikongo officially retired on January 31 after 17 years of uninterrupted service and was succeeded by Commissioner-General Tuhafeni Hamunyela as the new Commissioner General of Correctional Services.
Hamunyela was born on 6 April 1969 at Eeshoke, a village in the Ohangwena Region and is married with four children. He joined the liberation struggle in 1988, and attended military training at the Tobias Hainyeko Training Centre in Lubango in Angola. In 1993, he completed Grade 12 at Odibo High School. In 1995, he attended and completed a basic training course in correctional services. Hamunyela completed his studies in public management and administration at the Institute of Development Management (IDM), Gaborone, Botswana and was awarded a diploma in public management and administration. He was also awarded an LLB (Honours) degree by the University of Namibia in 2011.
He joined the Namibian Correctional Service in 1994 and from 1994 to 1995 he worked as a shift worker at the Hardap Prison and as a probationary warder. From 1995 to 1998 he worked as a Logistics Officer, then head of all sections and then duty officer at Grootfontein Prison with the rank of Prison Officer. From 1998 to 2001, he served at the Grootfontein Prison as the head of the prisoners’ discipline office, with the rank of Senior Prison Officer. From 2001 to 2006, he was the head of the prisoners’ discipline office at Hardap Prison with the rank of Chief Prison Officer. Hamunyela was also the legal officer with the rank of Chief Prison Officer from 2006 to 2009.
In 2009 he also served as legal officer, but was promoted to Prison Superintendent. From 2009 to 2012 he served as the Head of the Division of Legal Services with the rank of Assistant Commissioner. From 2012 to 31 January 2014, before his appointment as Commissioner General in February 2014, he served in the department corporate management with the rank of Deputy Commissioner General.
By Tunomukwathi Asino