Gerhard Tötemeyer | |
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Deputy Minister of Local and Regional Government and Housing of Namibia | |
In office 2000–2004 |
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Personal details | |
Born | 21 May 1935 Gibeon |
Alma mater | University of Stellenbosch |
Gerhard Karl Hans Tötemeyer (born 21 May 1935) is a professor emeritus and retired Namibian politician.
He was born in Gibeon, and spent the first four years of his life in Keetmanshoop, where his father worked as a missionary. When World War II broke out in September 1939, his family was on vacation in Germany, where they remained until 1950. At that time Tötemeyer spoke neither English nor Afrikaans, the official languages of South West Africa. He did not continue school owing to his language difficulties; the principal would have "placed him in so low a grade that [he] would have been frustrated".
He took up vocational training as a merchant at his uncle's general dealership and caught up with school after hours. When he finished his training in 1953, he entered Paul Roos Gymnasium in Stellenbosch, and matriculated in 1955. He then studied History at the University of Stellenbosch on a stipend awarded by the Administration of South West Africa. He graduated with a B Hons in 1959 and acquired the Secondary School teacher's diploma in 1960.
Tötemeyer returned to South West Africa and taught at Windhoek High School in 1961 and 1962. Afterwards he took up a research post at Freiburg, Germany, and obtained a D Phil from the University of Stellenbosch in 1974. Before entering politics he held several academic and administrative positions at the universities of Stellenbosch, the Transkei, and Cape Town. In 1987, shortly before Namibian Independence, he moved to Windhoek and became Dean of the Faculty of Economics and Management Science at the University of Namibia.