Minister of International Relations and Cooperation

SWAPO Party
Legislative Profile Assistant Whip SWAPO party 2005 – 2010; Deputy Chairperson of Standing Committee on Economies 2005 – 2008; Chairperson of Standing Committee on Economies 2008 – 2010; Member of Standing Committee on Human Resources, Social and Community Development and Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, defense and security 2005 – 2010; Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs (2010 – 2015); Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (2015 – 2018); Minister of Urban and Rural Development (2018 – 2020); Minister of Information and Communication Technology (2020 – 2024); Minister of International Relations and Cooperation (2024 – )
Personal Born on 1 September 1975 at Oshigambo, Oshikoto Region
Education MEd (English), Great Zimbabwe University (2023); BTh, UNISA (2022); Doctor of Philosophy in Criminal Justice Law, UWC (2021); MSc Finance, University of London (2020); BEd, OUT (2019); MBA, ESAMI (2018); Legal Practitioners Qualifying Examinations – admitted as Legal Practitioner of the High Court (2018); LLM, UNAM (2017); BA Economics, OUT (2017); Doctor of Literature and Philosophy in International Politics, UNISA (2015); LLB Honours, UNAM (2014); MA in International Politics, UNISA (2009); BA Honours in International Politics, UNISA (1997); B. Juris, UNAM (2011); BA in History and Political Studies, UNAM (1995); Secondary Education, Oluno Senior Secondary School – now Andimba Toivo ya Toivo SSS, (1987 – 1992); Primary Education, Oshigambo (1980 – 1986).
Publications
Books
Mushelenga P., 1996, Nando na li toke, a poetry book in Oshindonga language, Windhoek: Gamsberg MacMillan Publishers.
Chapters in books
Mushelenga P., 2014, “Principles of foreign policy”, in Bösl A. and Du Pisani A. (Eds.), 2014, Namibian Foreign Relations, Windhoek: Macmillan Education Publishers, pp 59 – 78. Mushelenga P., 2016, Aligning African youth policies to improve their role in Africa and international relations – a Namibian perspective, in Bruhns P., Youth Matters, 10 years of Youth Leadership Development Programme (YLDP), Windhoek: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, pp 40 – 49.Mushelenga P, 2017, Appraising 25 years of foreign policy implementation in Namibia: A glimpse of a new state’s economic diplomacy, in Horn N., and Hinz M. O. (eds.), Beyond quarter century of constitutional democracy, process and progress in Namibia, Windhoek: Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, pp 27 – 44

Journal articles

Mushelenga P., 2016, “Foreign policy-making for a pre-independent Namibia and the subsequent results”, Journal of Namibian Studies, Vol. 19, pp 43 – 68.

Mushelenga P., 2016, “A historiography of victor’s justice in international law as power politics”, in Namibia Law Journal, Vol 8, No. 1, pp 3 – 27.

Mushelenga P. and Van Wyk J. A., 2017, “A new state’s debut in regional diplomacy: Namibia and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)”, in Africa Review, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp 58 – 70.

Mushelenga P. and Van Wyk J. A., 2017, “The diplomacy of small states in the international political system, ” Journal for Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, 6 (2), pp 119 – 145.

Mushelenga P., 2017, “Trends of the immersion of politics with international Law, contextualizing Namibia’s stance towards the International Criminal Court”, in Namibia Law Journal, 9 (1), pp 29 – 53.

Mushelenga P., 2018, “The role of the academia in foreign policy-making, international practices and perspectives as lessons for Namibia”, in India Quarterly, 74 (2), pp 215 –233.

Mushelenga P., 2020, Namibia’s foreign policy and Its impact on peace and security in the Southern Africa Region: A framework of Liberalism as a theory of International Relations Studies, in India Quarterly, 76 (4), pp 569 –586.

Mushelenga P. 2021, Respect for International Law in an unlevelled playing field: the case of Namibia, in Occasional Paper, No 341, New Delhi: Observer Research Foundation.

Mushelenga P., 2022, The 1971 Open Letter, equality, human rights and the church in international relations, in The Brightening Light, Vol 1., No. 2, pp 56 – 70.

Public lectures, conferences, seminars, and workshops papers

Mushelenga P., 1998, Democracy and good governance in Africa, a paper presented at the Southern Africa Youth Forum Conference, Johannesburg, 03 October.

Mushelenga P., 2000, Methods of cooperation between China and Africa, a paper delivered at the seminar for the Department of International Relations Communist Party of China (CPC), Beijing, 02 – 18 June.

Mushelenga P., 2004, How to enhance the ruling capacity, a paper delivered at the seminar for the Department of International Relations of the CPC, Beijing, 13 – 27 October.

Mushelenga P., 2009, Namibia’s upcoming elections and trends in her post-independence foreign policy, a paper presented at the seminar for the Department of Political Science, UNISA, Pretoria, 14 September 2018.

Mushelenga P., 2014, The implementation of national policies by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: challenges and progress in pursuing economic diplomacy, a [aer delivered at the Heads of Mission Conference held in Swakopmund, 7 – 10 July.

Mushelenga P., 2015, Sino-Namibia relations: An inquiry of contemporary diplomacy, a paper presented at the China-Africa Development Model seminar by the University of Namibia and Chinese Embassy, Windhoek, 14 October.

Mushelenga P., 2016, Bilateral diplomacy, a paper delivered at the Foreign Policy Review Conference for the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation, Windhoek, 29 July.

Mushelenga P., 2016, Writing Namibia’s history, academic and political stakes, Keynote address at the workshop for the Namibia History Project for the University of Namibia, 26 September.

Mushelenga P., 2016, A synopsis of the Namibian-German Relations and the question of genocide reparation, a paper submitted to the Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation of Namibia.

Mushelenga P., 2016, Revitalising growth in the changing global geo-economic scenario – opportunities for economic cooperation and diplomacy, a paper presented at the Italy-South Africa summit organized by the Italian Embassy in South Africa and the Europe House Ambrosetti, 18 October.

Mushelenga P., 2022, Women celebrating the visionary leadership in the person of Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma, public lecture organized by SWAPO Party Women’s Council. Windhoek, 18 May.
Career Teacher Nehale Senior Secondary School 1996; Assistant Information Officer at Parliament 1996; Foreign Relations Officer at Ministry of Foreign Affairs 1996 – 1998; Executive Assistant to the Managing Director Nampower 1998 – 2002; Deputy Company Secretary Nampower 2002 – 2004; Project Coordinator Administration and logistics Nampower 2004 – 2005;
Interests International Relations, law, and economies