Rosa Namises
| Rosa Namises | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1958 |
| Citizenship | Namibian |
| Alma mater | University of South Africa |
| Occupation | Activist |
Visolela Rosalinda "Rosa" Namises (born 1958), nicknamed the "Rosa Luxemburg of Namibia", is a Namibian politician and human-rights activist. She is a former Member of Parliament and founding member and former secretary-general of the Namibian Congress of Democrats (CoD). A prominent voice on gender issues, human-rights violations, and violence against women and children in Namibia, she is the director of Woman Solidarity Namibia and works at the Dolam Residential Child Care centre, a day-care centre for vulnerable children.
Namises was born on 20 April 1958 as one of nine children to an Angolan father and Damara mother in the Old Location of Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. She grew up with her father until she was 15 years old and attended the Augustineum Secondary School in Windhoek. After graduating she worked first as a cleaner, then as a nursing assistant, and in parallel she completed her matric through a correspondence course with Sukses College.
Her political activism first landed her in jail and then led her into exile, conditions that forced her to discontinue her education. Only in 1990 when Namibia became independent did she continue to study. She obtained a Diploma in Adult and Basic Education from UNISA and a Diploma in Gender Development and Planning from the University of London. She further holds a Diploma in Women in Management, has had some paralegal education, and acquired counselling and facilitation skills.
In the early 1980s Namises joined the then-illegal SWAPO party. She organised meetings, acquired new members, and distributed promotional material. She was caught and spent two months in solitary confinement but soon returned to her activist's activities. In 1985 she lost her job in the hospital after having been seen holding hands in public with a white doctor, violating apartheid legislation on racial segregation. She was also jailed a second time for her political activities, this time for 14 months.
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