He became Minister of Justice in 1990, serving in that post for thirteen years;[1] he was additionally Attorney-General from March 2000 to January 2001. He was nominated as Secretary-General of SWAPO by President Sam Nujoma at the party's August 2002 congress, and he was elected to that post. It was decided at the congress to make the position of Secretary-General a full-time job, but Tjiriange remained Justice Minister until May 8, 2003, at which point he was instead appointed Minister without portfolio.[2] In the November 2004 parliamentary election, he was first on SWAPO's candidate list. He resigned from the National Assembly, as well as from his post as Minister without portfolio, in February 2005 in order to receive payment of a pension;[3] however, he was reappointed Minister without Portfolio by the newly sworn in President Hifikepunye Pohamba on March 21, 2005.[4] The opposition Congress of Democrats was critical of the decision to keep Tjiriange in the Cabinet without a ministerial portfolio, arguing that he would effectively receive a salary out of taxpayer money for doing party work as SWAPO Secretary-General.[5] On October 4, 2006, he was appointed by Pohamba as Minister of Veteran Affairs upon the creation of that ministry.[6]
At SWAPO's November 2007 congress, Tjiriange failed to be re-elected to the party's politburo.[7] On January 27, 2008, he was elected as SWAPO's Secretary for Environment at a meeting of the Central Committee.[8]
Ngarikutuke Tjiriange announced in September 2009 that he would withdraw from active politics to devote more time to farming, but remained a member of the central committee and the secretariat of the Swapo Party.
In his farewell speech on 16 March 2010 for the National assembly, Ngarikutuke urged his successors to deal with the land question, in particular the access to grave sites of ancestors.
After his resignation, Tjiriange presented himself as a prominent advocate against legislation for equal rights of homosexuals in Africa.[9] His prominent presence in the media has earned him a re-entry into politics as of April 2012 when he was appointed special adviser to Home Affairs and Immigration Minister Rosalia Nghidinwa to bring about all-round improvement at the Ministry.
