Clara Gowases

Who is Clara Gowases?

Clara Gowases is a Namibian teacher and politician. Gowases was elected the chairperson of the Republican Party in September 2009 and subsequently listed second on the party's electoral list for the 2009 general election. Gowases missed out on being elected to the National Assembly as the party only won a single seat. In the February 2010 regional elections, Gowases ran to represent Windhoek Rural in the Regional Council of Khomas Region and was narrowly defeated by SWAPO's Frederick Arie. In March 2011, party president and National Assembly member Henk Mudge resigned and Gowases replaced him in both posts. She is a teacher by profession.

In her inaugural speech to the National Assembly, Gowases criticized the SWAPO-led government for allegedly favoring construction firms from China over neighboring South African firms. She also criticized government-affiliated trade unions for not criticizing Chinese firms for abuses.