TRUSTEESThe Trustees of the Legal Assistance Trust (LAT) oversee the work of the Legal Assistance Centre. Most of the trustees have served on the LAT for several years.
Adv. Dave Smuts
LAT Chair
Adv. Dave Smuts is the founding Director of the LAC and the present Chairperson of the Legal Assistance Trust. He started his articles in 1980 and practiced as an attorney until 1987 at Lorentz and Bone. He obtained a LLM degree from Harvard University in 1982. In 1988 he completed his pupilage at the Windhoek Bar and together with interested organizations and individuals established the LAC in July 1988. He stepped down as Director in 1992 to practice full time as an advocate at the Windhoek Bar. He remained a trustee, and took over as chairperson in 1996 following the death of Justice Kenneth Bethune who had chaired the trust since 1988. Advocate Smuts, SC is highly respected for his integrity and commitment to the protection of human rights and received local and international recognition for his role in defending victims of human rights abuses during the apartheid colonial period. In 1990 he was awarded the Human Rights Watch award as a human rights defender. He also regularly serves as an acting Judge of the High Court of Namibia.Dr. Sakeus Akweenda
Dr Akweenda is serving on the Board of the Legal Assistance Trust since 2001. He is a legal practitioner by profession and like many of the other trustees was a former employee of the LAC. Dr Akweenda holds a Ph.D. in Laws from the London School of Economics and Political Science that was awarded to him on in June 1989. He presently serves as the General Manager: Regulatory and Legal Business Unit at the Namibia Power Corporation (Pty) Ltd. Before this position he was the Senior Legal Officer in the Office of the Attorney ' General. Dr Akweenda served as Chairperson of several Presidential Commissions of Inquiry and is held and high esteem by government and the general public because of his integrity and humbleness.Mr. Hosea Angula
Mr. Angula has served on the Board of the Legal Assistance Trust since 1989. He is a legal practitioner and partner with a prominent Windhoek law firm, LorentzAngula Inc. He is one of the first black legal practitioners to practice in Namibia and was involved in numerous human rights cases during the struggle for Namibia's independence. He regularly serves as an acting judge on the Namibian High Court bench.Mr. Clement Daniels
Mr. Daniels served as the director from 2000 until May 2004 when he stepped down as director. He was immediately appointed as Trustee to the Board of the Legal Assistance Trust in May 2004. He joined the organization in 1988 as a paralegal and in 1991 temporarily left the LAC to complete his post-graduate studies at the University of Western Cape. He returned to the LAC in 1993 for his articles and was admitted as a legal practitioner in 1996. He focused primarily on human rights and labour cases while practicing at the LAC. Due to his interest in management and his leadership skills he was appointed as Director of the LAC with effect from 1 January 2000. After Clement stepped down as the director of the LAC, he opened his own law firm specializing in labour law, but was later appointed as a Magistrate for the labour courts.Hon. Wilfried Emvula
Hon. Emvula has served on the Board of the Legal Assistance Trust since 1996. He is a teacher by profession and a human rights activist. Hon. Emvula joined the LAC during a very difficult period in the history of the organisation as the Walvis Bay Advice Office coordinator when the office opened in 1989, and served in that capacity until his appointment to the National Council in 1993. He was subsequently appointed as Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, and then as the Namibian Ambassador to France, based in Paris. Since 2006, he is serving as the Namibian Ambassador in Ethiopia.Adv. Bience Gawanas
Advocate Gawanas is well known throughout Namibia for her commitment to human rights and gender equality. She joined the Board of the Legal Assistance Trust in 2001. She completed her legal studies at the University of Warwick and qualified as a lawyer in the United Kingdom before she returned to Namibia in 1989. She joined the LAC as a legal researcher in 1989 and soon thereafter was appointed and served as a Public Service Commissioner until 1996. She was appointed Ombudswoman of Namibia in 1996 and was appointed African Union Commissioner for Social Welfare in July 2003. During her term as Ombudswoman she made the Office of the Ombudsman visible and accessible to the majority of Namibians.Mr. Nico Hosea Kaiyamo
Hon. Kaiyamo joined the Board of the Legal Assistance Trust in 2001. He is also a former employee of the LAC and was employed as Coordinator of the Nomtsoub Advice Office in Tsumeb between 1989 and 1992. He was elected to the Oshikoto Regional Council in 1993 and was subsequently appointed member of the National Council during the same year. Nico is a teacher by profession but is also a well-known human rights activist in Namibia.Mr. Norman Tjombe
Mr Tjombe is the current Director of the LAC. He was appointed in June 2004. Before then, Norman was the Coordinator and lawyer for the LAC's Land, Environment and Development Project (LEAD). Norman serves on a number of Boards of not-for-profit organisations, including being the Chairperson of the Namibia NGO Forum, the umbrella organisation of civil society organisations in Namibia. Norman studied law at the University of the Western Cape with an LAC Scholarship, and used to work as a student volunteer at the LAC during university holidays. He completed his law studies in November 1996 when he graduated with B.Juris and LL.B degrees. He immediately started working at the LAC as a candidate lawyer and was admitted as a lawyer in 1999.Dr. Teopilina Tueumuna
Dr. Tueumuna has served on the Board of the Legal Assistance Trust since 1989. She worked as a medical doctor at Oshakati State Hospital for many years and moved to Oranjemund during the 1990’s. She returned to Windhoek in 2001 and is now in private practice. Dr Tueumuna brought her vast experience in the area of community work to the Trust and has a very good understanding of the plight of poor and marginalized rural people.Hon. Ben Ulenga
Hon. Ulenga first joined the Board of the Legal Assistance Trust in 1990. He resigned in 1996 but resumed his membership in 1998 at the Trust's request. He is a former political prisoner who spent several years with people like Nelson Mandela on Robben Island. Hon Ulenga was the former Secretary-General of the Mineworkers' Union of Namibia, SWAPO Central Committee member, Deputy Minister and High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. He resigned from his latter post in London in 1999, and launched the Congress of Democrats (CoD), which contested the Presidential and National Assembly elections at the end of 1999. Hon Ulenga is a member of the National Assembly.