Elma Dienda
Elma Jane Dienda (born 16 November 1964 in Upington, Northern Cape, South Africa) is a Namibian politician and teacher. Currently a member Democratic Turnhalle Alliance which she joined four years after her resignation from the CoD,[1] Dienda was a member of the National Assembly of Namibia from taking CoD's final spot in 2004 until CoD did not receive enough votes for her re-election in 2009.[2] She is of South African and Malawian descent.[3]
Elma Dienda | |
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Dienda at the opening of the Namibian Parliament in 2019 | |
Member of Parliament of Namibia | |
Assumed office 27 November 2014 | |
Personal details | |
Born | South West Africa |
Career
Dienda is a teacher by profession, having earned an education diploma at the Windhoek College of Education and worked at Eldorado High School in Khomasdal. She also has a paralegal diploma from the Legal Assistance Centre.[4] She received training as a counselor at Catholic AIDS Action.
Political positions
Dienda joined the Congress of Democrats in 1999, the year of its foundation. She also held the position of the secretary of the Women Democrats Party. In 2007, she opposed the election of Ben Ulenga as party president.[5]
Dienda led a drive in the National Assembly which called for the distribution of condoms to prison inmates as a means of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. Dienda and other opposition politicians were shouted down, with Utoni Nujoma and Petrus Iilonga vocally opposing the idea. Several SWAPO members denied that sexual activities ever occurred in prisons.[6]
References
- http://www.sun.com.na/politics/former-cod-mp-dienda-joins-dta.63132
- Who’s in, who’s out The Namibian, 7 December 2009
- Profile Archived 2011-06-11 at the Wayback Machine at the Namibia Institute for Democracy
- Corporation, New Era Publication. "Honorable Dienda, Elma Jane - Profile". classifieds.newera.com.na. Retrieved 2018-01-02.
- Tonchi, Victor; Lindeke, William A.; Grotpeter, John J. (2012). Historical Dictionary of Namibia. Scarecrow Press. ISBN 9780810853980.
- 'Sex and the Prisons' get a rise out of MPs The Namibian, 19 June 2008