H.E. ADVOCATE. BIENCE PHILOMINA GAWANAS
COMMISSIONER FOR SOCIAL AFFAIRS
 
Nationality: Namibian

Date and Place of Birth: 16 August 1956, Windhoek, Namibia

Qualifications: Executive MBA from the Graduate School of Business, Cape Town, South Africa. LLB Honours degree from the University of Warwick in the UK and an Utter Barrister degree from the Inns of Court School of Law in the UK

Career: Since her return from 12 years of exile in 1989, Advocate Gawanas has served in different capacities in Namibia including being a member of the Public Service Commission and the Ombudswoman. She has been a gender law lecturer at the University of Namibia, a Member and a Chairperson of the Law Reform and Development Commission as well as a member of the Board of the Central Bank of Namibia. She was a teacher in SWAPO’s exiles’ centers in Angola, Cuba and Zambia. Since 2003, she has been Commissioner for Social Affairs at the AUC.
 
Marital status: Married with four children.