Angula was born in Onyaanya, Oshikoto Region. He was in exile from Namibia from 1965 to 1989. During this time he worked for Radio Zambia from 1973 to 1976 and for the United Nations as a civil servant from 1976 to 1980 before becoming a SWAPO organizer in 1980. He was in charge of SWAPO voter registration in 1989.[1] Immediately prior to independence, Angula was a SWAPO member of the Constituent Assembly of Namibia, which was in place from November 1989 to March 1990.[3]
Angula became a member of the National Assembly in 1990. He was Minister of Education, Culture, Youth and Sport from 1990 to 1995 and Minister of Higher Education from 1995[1][2] to 2005.
Angula received the highest number of votes, 395 (tied with Jerry Ekandjo), in the election to the Central Committee of SWAPO at the party's August 2002 congress.[4] He was one of three candidates who sought SWAPO's nomination as its presidential candidate in May 2004.[5] He placed third in the first round, receiving 137 votes, while Hifikepunye Pohamba received 213 and Hidipo Hamutenya received 166, and he was therefore excluded from the second round. Those who supported Angula backed Pohamba almost without exception in the second round of voting, and Pohamba was victorious.[6]
On March 21, 2005, when Pohamba was sworn in as president of Namibia, he announced that he was appointing Angula as Prime Minister of Namibia.[7]
After Hage Geingob was re-elected as SWAPO Vice-President on 2 December 2012, and thus confirmed as SWAPO's 2014 presidential candidate, President Pohamba appointed Geingob to replace Angula as Prime Minister on 4 December 2012. Angula was instead appointed as Minister of Defence.[8][9]
Amidst a push for new faces in the National Assembly, Angula opted not to seek a spot on the SWAPO list for the 2014 election.[10]
