Stanley Simataa
Stanley Mutumba Simataa is a Namibian politician and former minister of information and communication technology. He served as deputy minister for information from 2010 until his appointment as minister in 2018.
Simataa gained undergraduate degrees in Australia and South Africa before receiving master's degrees from universities in the Republic of Tanzania and the United Kingdom. In Namibia, Simataa served as Executive Director of the National Council for Higher Education , Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education, and Director in the Speaker's Office of the National Assembly.
Since becoming minister, he has spoken about the need to improve Namibia's communications infrastructure. In 2018 he promoted a project to bring mobile telecommunications coverage to rural parts of Namibia.
Simataa was elected President of the 38th session of the General Conference of UNESCO in 2015.
In 2018 he complained that government agencies were undermining the improvement of transparency by not publishing up to date procurement information on their websites. The Editors Forum of Namibia have criticised Simataa for a lack of commitment to the forum's Code of Ethics and Conduct. In May 2018, Simataa rejected a report by IPPR which stated that government monopolies were one of the leading causes of corruption in Namibia, calling the report 'prejudiced'.
When he was not reappointed into cabinet in March 2020 he also resigned his seat in parliament.
