Skip to content

Namibia’s youngest politician Emma Theofelus makes it to the BBC 100 women 2021 list

Namibia’s youngest Politician and Africa’s youngest cabinet minister, Emma Theofelus, made the BBC 100 women 2021 list for her acts in politics and activism.

Emma Theofelus edited
Emma Theofelus makes it to the BBC 100 women 2021 list.

The BBC released its annual 100 women list of inspiring and influential women from around the world and @theofelus_emma  became one of the continent’s nominees.

BBC wrote, ‘This year 100 Women is highlighting those who are hitting “reset” – women playing their part to reinvent our society, our culture and our world.’

They added that most women from Afghanistan made up most of the list and that some would be posted under pseudonyms and some without photos for their own safety.

Emma is also a youth activist- she campaigns for gender equality, children’s rights and sustainable development, is a speaker in the youth parliament and a junior mayor of the City of Windhoek, where she was born.

Who is Emma Theofelus?

Emma Inamutila Theofelus was born on the 28th of March 1996. She was appointed Namibia’s Deputy Minister of Information, Communication and Technology in March 2020, as part of Hage Geingob’s second term cabinet.

In her role, she was tasked with assisting in leading public communication on preventative steps against Namibia’s COVID19 pandemic.

Emma goes down in history as one of Africa’s youngest cabinet ministers having been appointed at age 23.

READ ALSO: Namibian athlete Christine Mboma becomes first woman to win silver medal for Namibia at Tokyo Olympics

Prior to her political appointment, she completed a law degree at the University of Namibia. She is also a board member of the National Council of Higher Education.

In 2020 she was judged to be one of 100 most influential African women, the youngest person on this list.

Many young Namibians have been challenged by Emma and many of the youth look up to her. Congratulatory messages flooded her post with a lot of Namibians and other women leaving her heart emojis.

She is definitely going to go down as one of the great women in African history.

Source: BBC