Peya Mushelenga is a Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

n politician and poet. A member of SWAPO, Mushelenga has been a member of the National Assembly of Namibia

National Assembly of Namibia

The National Assembly of Namibia is the lower chamber of the country's bicameral Parliament. It has a total of 78 members. 72 members are directly elected through a system of party-list proportional representation and serve five-year terms. Six additional members are appointed by the President.The...

 since the 2004 elections

Namibian parliamentary election, 2004

General elections were held in Namibia on 15 and 16 November 2004 to elect the President and National Assembly. The National Assembly election resulted in a landslide win for SWAPO, which won 55 of the 78 seats with over 75% of the vote. SWAPO's candidate for president, Hifikepunye Pohamba, won the...

 and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, since 21 March 2010. He joined the movement for liberation of Namibia in 1984, at the age of 9. He became active in the Namibia National Students Organisation

Namibia National Students Organisation

The Namibia National Students Organisation was founded in 1984 as non-racial, democratic and independent student organisation. Since its formation the organisation has been organizing from the basic understanding that there is a need for students, together with other strata of our society, to make...

 in the 1980s and eventually became a high-level organizer for the SWAPO Party Youth League

SWAPO Party Youth League

The SWAPO Party Youth League is the youth wing of the South West Africa People's Organization.In 2007, SPYL called protests against a visit by Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe "reactionary and unpatriotic"....

, being elected to the Central Committee and National Executive of the SPYL in 1997 and 2002. Also in 2002, he was elected to the SWAPO Central Committee as its youngest member. He earned a BA degree from the University of Namibia

University of Namibia

The University of Namibia is the national university of Namibia, located in the Pioneers Park district of Windhoek. Established by an act of National Assembly on 31 August 1992, UNAM includes Colleges of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Economics & Management Science Education, Humanities and...

 (1995) and Hons BA and MA degrees from the University of South Africa

University of South Africa

The University of South Africa is a distance education university, with headquarters in Pretoria, South Africa. With approximately 300 000 enrolled students, it qualifies as one of the world's mega universities.-History:...

 (1998) and (2009).

Personal

In 1980, the occupying South African Defence Force

South African Defence Force

The South African Defence Force was the South African armed forces from 1957 until 1994. The former Union Defence Force was renamed to the South African Defence Force in the Defence Act of 1957...

 (SADF) killed his sister and injured other relatives during a raid on their family home in the former bantustan

Bantustan

A bantustan was a territory set aside for black inhabitants of South Africa and South West Africa , as part of the policy of apartheid...

 of Ovamboland

Ovamboland

Ovamboland was the name given by English-speaking visitors to the land occupied by the Ovambo people in what is now northern Namibia and southern Angola...

. A book of poetry entitled "Nando Na Li Toke", written in the Ovambo dialect of Ndonga, was published by Gamsberg MacMillan in 1996.