H.E. Mrs Doreen Nampiye Sioka was born in 1960 at Kasheshe Village in the North-Eastern Zambezi Region of Namibia. Honourable Sioka is the current Minister of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare and a member of the Namibian Parliament. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management, as well as a host of other qualifications including Nursing, Administration, Gender and Politics Leadership, Defence and Security. The road to the attainment of these educational accolades was not smooth, as Honourable Sioka, like many Namibians at that time was forced by the colonial regime to fled Namibia in 1975 at a tender age of 15, to join the SWAPO led liberation struggle in pursuit of independence. She was the first woman to be elected as a SWAPO Party Regional Coordinator in the Zambezi Region and the first Women’s Council Coordinator.
Honourable Sioka has served in many Government portfolios since Namibia attained her independence on 21st March 1990. She was a Deputy Speaker of the National Assembly and Chairperson of the whole House Committee. She was later appointed as a Cabinet Minister responsible for Labour and Social Welfare and then a Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare. After the 2019 Presidential and National Assembly elections, Honourable Sioka was re-appointed as the Minister of the newly combined Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare. Honourable Sioka is one of the few Namibian Ministers to have served under the leadership of all three democratically elected Namibian Presidents, that is The Founding President His Excellency Dr. Sam Nujoma, the second President, His Excellency Dr. Hifikepunye Pohamba and the incumbent President, His Excellency Dr. Hage G. Geigob.
Honourable Sioka is a dedicated advocate for gender equality, equity and equitable socio-economic development. She is passionate about ploughing back into the community and in this regard she has built a Community Kinder garden at her birth village of Kasheshe, created four football teams for women in Zambezi Region known as Doreen Sioka Football teams, sponsors two San Children at Kasheshe and is a patron of Sesheke Secondary School. Honourable Sioka is married to Mr. Victor Sioka and is a dedicated mother to her three boys and members of her extended family.
