Ndeutala Angolo

Ndeutala Angolo (born 1952), also known as Ndeutala Selma Hishongwa and Ndeutala Angolo Amutenya, is a Namibian writer and political activist.

Her 1986 book Marrying Apartheid is considered the first English-language novel by a black Namibian woman.

Angolo organized in exile with the independence movement SWAPO in the 1970s and 1980s. After returning to Namibia during its transition to independence, she served as permanent secretary in the Office of the Presidency and in the Ministry of Safety and Security for nearly three decades.

Early life and education Ndeutala Angolo was born in 1952 in Okalili, in Namibia's northwestern Omusati Region. She was the second of seven children. Her native language is the Oshindonga dialect of Oshivambo.

Her parents were traditional farmers, and she did not start school until the age of nine. After attending high school in Oshigambo, she studied to become a nurse and began working in a local hospital.

Career

Writing Angolo has published several books under her married name, Ndeutala Hishongwa. Throughout her work, she links women's oppression to colonialism and women's equality to national liberation.

Her first book, Women of Namibia: The Changing Role of Namibian Women from Traditional Precolonial Times to the Present, was published in 1983. Angolo had found that there was very little research available on the situation of Namibian women and set out to complete her own study. Marrying Apartheid fictionalized real situations Angolo observed or experienced in her youth in Namibia's northwest.

Marrying Apartheid is considered the first English-language novel by a black Namibian woman. It marked a turning point in the country's nascent national literature and helped inspire other women such as Ellen Namhila and Neshani Andreas to produce literary works.

Additionally, Angolo published the scholarly essay Bantu Education: A Tool For Development? in 1984.

Personal life Ndeutala Angolo was married to Hadino Hishongwa, a founding member of SWAPO, diplomat, and government minister, with whom she had two children. The couple later divorced.

Recognition A primary school in the Otamanzi Constituency of her native Omusati Region is named Dr. Ndeutala Angolo in her honor.

In 2014, she was honored with the Excellent Order of the Eagle, Second Class.

Selected works

Women of Namibia: The Changing Role of Namibian Women from Traditional Precolonial Times to the Present (1983) Marrying Apartheid (1986) The Contract Labour System and its Effects on Family and Social Life in Namibia: A Historical Perspective (1992)