Andimba Toivo ya Toivo

Andimba Toivo ya Toivo
Minister of Prisons and Correctional Services
In office
27 August 2002 – 2005
PresidentSam Nujoma
Prime MinisterTheo-Ben Gurirab
Preceded byMarco Hausiku
Succeeded byPeter Tsheehama
Minister of Labour
In office
26 March 1999 – 27 August 2002
PresidentSam Nujoma
Prime MinisterHage Geingob
Preceded byMoses ǁGaroëb
Succeeded byMarco Hausiku
Minister of Mines and Energy
In office
21 March 1990 – 26 March 1999
PresidentSam Nujoma
Prime MinisterHage Geingob
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byJesaya Nyamu
Personal details
Born22 August 1924 (1924-08-22)
Omangundu, Ovamboland, South West Africa
(now Namibia)
Died9 June 2017 (2017-06-10) (aged 92)
Windhoek, Namibia
Political partySWAPO
SpouseVicky Erenstein ya Toivo (m. 29 March 1990)
Children2

Herman Andimba Toivo ya Toivo (22 August 1924 – 9 June 2017) was a Namibian anti-apartheid activist, politician and political prisoner. Ya Toivo was active in the pre-independence movement, and is one of the co-founders of the South West African People's Organisation (SWAPO) in 1960, and before that, its predecessor the Ovamboland People's Organization (OPO) in 1959.

Andimba grew up in the northern part of Namibia, however he spent some time in Cape Town in the 1950s. He became politicised there and joined the African National Congress (ANC). Back in Namibia he became one of the early petitioners to the United Nations, advocating for the independence of Namibia. Due to his political activism he was tried in 1966 under the Terrorism Act, and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He served 16 years in Robben Island in the same section as Nelson Mandela, to whom he was a personal friend. He was released in 1984 and rejoined SWAPO as secretary general in exile in Lusaka, Zambia. Ya Toivo returned to Namibia in 1989 in the wake of the country's independence and served as a member of parliament and as cabinet minister in Sam Nujoma's first government. He retired from active politics in 2006. Ya Toivo is a national hero of Namibia.