Namibia Elects Freedom Fighter as First Female President

“I am an implementer, not a storyteller.” - Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah

Namibia’s Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah won the country’s presidential election this week, taking home 57% of the vote. She will become Namibia’s first female president.

Nandi-Ndaitwah is a member of Namibia’s ruling SWAPO party, which also maintained its parliamentary majority after this week’s election. The party has held power in the country since it gained independence from South Africa and apartheid in 1990.

In the 1970s, now 72-year-old Nandi-Ndaitwah was a member of Namibia’s underground independence movement. She is an activist known for fighting against occupying powers since she joined the SWAPO party at just 14-years-old.

One of the president-elect’s most notable accomplishments was pushing the Combating of Domestic Violence Act to pass in the National Assembly, which she did in 2002.

Nandi-Ndaitwah promises “radical shifts” to overcome poverty and unemployment in Namibia while she’s in office.