McHenry Venaani

McHenry Venaani (born 8 September 1977) is a Namibian politician and the president of the Popular Democratic Movement, a party with five seats in the National Assembly of Namibia. Venaani was a member of the National Assembly from 2002 to 2010. At the time of his appointment in 2002, he was Namibia's youngest ever MP.[1]

Education

Born in Windhoek, Venaani is a graduate of Dawid Bezuidenhout High School in Khomasdal, Windhoek. He studied at the University of Wolverhampton.

Career

Considered a rising star in the Democratic Turnhalle Alliance (DTA, today the Popular Democratic Movement), Venaani ran for the top position in the party in 2005 against Katuutire Kaura. In that election, Venaani lost and also lost his position as party secretary general. In November 2008, Venaani retook his position as secretary general, beating Alois Gende by a margin of 111 to 35 in party elections.[2]

Venaani was placed on DTA's electoral list prior to the 2009 general election, but the party did not receive enough votes for his re-election.[1] In the 2013 DTA elective central committee meeting, Venaani defeated Kaura by a margin of 96 to 52 and assumed the party presidency.[3] When Kaura was expelled from the DTA in February 2014, Venaani also took over his seat in Parliament,[4] but a court case brought by Kaura days after the decision was not contested by the DTA, and Kaura was reinstated both as parliamentarian and party member.[5]

On 4 November 2017, days after its 40th anniversary, the DTA was renamed the Popular Democratic Movement at Venaani's suggestion. This was done to facilitate modernisation of the party, and to shed its "colonial" name.[6]

Personal life

He has been married to Cloudina Venaani since 2005 and has two children.

References

  1. 1 2 "Who’s in, who’s out", The Namibian, 7 December 2009
  2. ↑ "Venaani back in DTA seat" The Namibian, 17 November 2008.
  3. ↑ Immanuel, Shinovene (9 September 2013). "Youth take over at DTA". The Namibian.
  4. ↑ Immanuel, Shinovene; Kahiurika, Ndanki (3 February 2014). "DTA boots out Kaura". The Namibian.
  5. ↑ Kahiurika, Ndanki (13 February 2014). "Kaura is back". The Namibian.
  6. ↑ Iikela, Sakeus (6 November 2017). "Exit DTA, enter PDM". The Namibian.
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