Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has become Namibia’s first female president, winning the country’s November 2024 C.E. presidential election with 57% of the vote — a margin wide enough to avoid a runoff. At 72 years old, the former vice-president and longtime diplomat now leads a nation she once helped liberate from apartheid-era rule.
At a glance
- Female president: Nandi-Ndaitwah’s election makes Namibia one of a small group of African nations to have elected a woman as head of state through a direct popular vote.
- Historic vote margin: Her 57% first-round share exceeded polling predictions and outpaced her party, Swapo, which won 53% of the parliamentary vote — down from 65% five years earlier.
- Independence movement roots: Nandi-Ndaitwah was a member of Namibia’s underground liberation movement in the 1970s, decades before she rose to serve as foreign minister and then vice-president.
A life in service
Nandi-Ndaitwah’s path to the presidency spans half a century of political life. She was active in Namibia’s independence struggle when the country was still under the control of apartheid South Africa, and she remained in public service after Namibia gained independence in 1990 C.E.
She was elevated to vice-president in February 2024 C.E. following the death of President Hage Geingob while in office. In the months that followed, she was widely seen as a composed and experienced figure — a seasoned diplomat largely untouched by the corruption scandals that had damaged other senior members of the ruling South West Africa People’s Organization, known as Swapo.
Her win extends Swapo’s 34-year hold on power since independence. But the result was also personal — a validation of a career built on diplomacy, quiet persistence, and deep roots in the country’s founding struggle.
What the result means for Africa
Nandi-Ndaitwah’s election arrives at a turbulent moment for southern Africa’s liberation-movement governments. South Africa’s African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority in 2024 C.E. for the first time since the end of apartheid. Botswana voted out its independence-era ruling party. Mozambique has faced weeks of protests following a disputed election.
Against that backdrop, Namibia’s result stands apart. Voters there chose continuity — though not without scrutiny. Nandi-Ndaitwah’s victory also signals something rarer: a woman ascending to the top of government in a region where female heads of state remain the exception.
Women now lead or have recently led several African nations, including Tanzania and Ethiopia, but the list remains short. Nandi-Ndaitwah joins it through a direct election, which carries its own symbolic weight.
A disputed process, an undisputed milestone
The election was not without problems. Technical difficulties — including ballot paper shortages — forced officials to extend voting through Saturday. Opposition parties, including the second-place Independent Patriots for Change led by Panduleni Itula, who received 25.5% of the vote, have rejected the results as illegitimate and plan to challenge them in court.
Those concerns deserve to be taken seriously. Electoral integrity matters in any democracy, and the logistical failures during voting raised real questions that Namibia’s courts will now need to address. The historic nature of Nandi-Ndaitwah’s win does not resolve those concerns, and a credible legal process will be important for the legitimacy of her presidency going forward.
What is not in dispute is what her election represents: a woman who spent decades working for her country’s freedom has now become its leader. “The Namibian nation has voted for peace and stability,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said after the final results were announced.
For a country that has only been independent for 34 years, and that continues to reckon with the economic inequalities left by apartheid, the moment carries weight far beyond the electoral tallies. It is a reminder that the work of building a country — like the work of earning leadership — is rarely finished, but sometimes produces something worth marking.
Read more
For more on this story, see: The Guardian
For more from Good News for Humankind, see:
- Renewables now make up at least 49% of global power capacity
- U.K. cancer death rates down to their lowest level on record
- The Good News for Humankind archive on Namibia
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