Emma Theofelus

Emma Theofelus
Emma Theofelus
Minister of Information, Communication and Technology
	In office; 27 March 2020 – 20 March 2025
President	Nangolo Mbumba ; Hage Geingob
Preceded by	Peya Mushelenga
Personal details
Born	March 28, 1996 (age 28); Namibia
Alma mater	University of Namibia

Emma Inamutila Theofelus (born 28 March 1996) is a Namibian politician, currently serving as a Minister of Information, Communication and Technology as of 9 February 2024.^[1] Theofelus was 23 years old at the time of her appointment in March 2020 and is the current youngest woman government minister in both Africa and Namibia.^[2]^[3]

Career

Theofelus is a former youth activist, having served as deputy speaker of the Children's Parliament from 2013 to 2018.^[4] She started her career after she completed a law degree^[5] at the University of Namibia, as a legal officer in the Ministry of Justice. The call from the State House came as a surprise.^[6]

The appointment of younger leaders to high office is not entirely new in Africa.^[7] Theophilus was appointed Namibia's deputy minister of Information, Communication and Technology in March 2020, as part of the late Dr. Hage Geingob's second term cabinet.^[8] In her role, she was tasked with assisting in leading public communication on preventative steps against Namibia's COVID-19 pandemic.^[9] At the time of cabinet appointment, Theophilus was 23 and one of Africa's youngest cabinet ministers.^[9] She is also a board member of the National Council of Higher Education.^[10]

As a deputy minister, she led the country’s public communication campaign on COVID-19 prevention in Namibia, and as a Member of Parliament, her motion enabled feminine hygiene products to be identified as a tax-free commodity. Before her appointment, Theophilus was a member of the Namibia chapter of AfriYAN, a regional youth-led organisation, where she led pioneering efforts to fight teen pregnancy and protect young people’s sexual and reproductive health.^[11]

Achievements

In 2020 she was judged to be one of the 100 most influential African women, the youngest person on this list.^[12] In 2021 Theophelus was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of the year.^[13] She also received the 2022 United Nations Population Award for her work advocating for women’s empowerment and adolescent sexual and reproductive health in Namibia^[11]

In 2021, Theofelus proposed a motion on the removal of the tax on sanitary pads in Parliament. In 2022, the motion was put into effect when the Minister of Finance Iipumbu Shiimi announced the abolishment of Value Added Tax on sanitary pads, according to the Tax Amendment Act of 2022, effective since 1 January 2023.^[14]

Interests

Her legislative interests are parliament oversight, parliamentary self-development, E-parliament, climate change legislation, youth participation in parliament, and parliamentary research^[4]