It’s official! Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is Namibia’s first female president after being sworn in last Friday, 21 March 2025, coinciding with the country’s 35th Independence anniversary celebration.
We told you last year about the Namibian elections. Unlike in South Africa and Botswana, where ruling parties lost the popular vote, the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) party won with 57% of the votes. “The Namibian nation has voted for peace and stability,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said after being declared president-elect. Her main challenger in this election was Panduleni Itula from the Independent Patriots for Change party, who came second with roughly 26% of votes.
The recently deceased founding father, Sam Nujoma, served as the first president for 15 years. Three presidents since have come and gone, and now, with Nandi-Ndaitwah sitting at the helm, she’s already enacted some key changes in her cabinet makeup and governmental structures. And we’re here to explain them to you.
Who is Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah?
Born in October 1952, the 72-year-old is often referred to as NNN. She was born in the northern village of Onamutai and is the ninth of 13 children. At the time, Namibia was known as South West Africa, and its people were under occupation from South Africa. Nandi-Ndaitwah then joined SWAPO, then a liberation movement resisting South Africa’s white-minority rule, when she was only 14.
Before becoming president, she was Namibia’s foreign minister from 2012 to 2024.
She has conservative views, namely voting against gay marriage in 2023 and opposing abortion.
She’s the second woman in Africa to be directly elected to the presidential office
The first was Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, who was elected as the 24th President of Liberia in 2005.
Nandi-Ndaitwah joins Samia Suluhu Hassan as the only two current women presidents in Africa as Hassan is the first female and current president of Tanzania. She previously served as vice-president of Tanzania from 2015 to 2021, from which she ascended to the presidency following the death of her predecessor, John Magufuli. This means she was not directly elected to office as Sirleaf and Nandi-Ndaitwah were.
Africa has seen other female presidents and prime ministers in the past. Nandi-Ndaitwah’s appointment brings this number to a total of 23 female Heads of State overall.
These worrying numbers don’t stop here. Africa, like most of the world, does not have the best track record of electing women to positions of power, let alone Heads of State. In 2024, a substantial 31 direct presidential elections were held worldwide, including in South Africa. Only five of them resulted in women winning.
Globally, men continue to dominate political power, with only 87 out of 195 countries ever having been led by a woman.
Her actions since taking office
Four days in as president, Nandi-Ndaitwah has hit the ground running.
“It’s not going to be business as usual. We must have a radical shift in addressing the plight of our people, especially the downtrodden and the vulnerable communities,” she has promised in the past.
First up, she appointed Lucia Witbooi as the nation’s first-ever female Vice President. This makes Namibia the only African country with both a female president and vice president!
Then, she reduced her cabinet significantly. In a televised speech, she announced a reduction to 14 ministers and seven deputies from 21 ministers and 21 deputies by merging some offices and transferring some mandates to the ministers.
This was done to “eradicate duplications, cutting on expenditures and to ensure smooth and effective implementation of [their] development programmes”, she said in her speech.
In keeping with women’s empowerment, her 14-member cabinet comprises of eight women. With Witbooi as second in command, this brings it to nine.
Namibia’s new Cabinet is a bold statement on gender balance in leadership. Led by H.E. Dr. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah — the country’s first female President. The representation of women across key ministries is inspiring. This is what inclusive governance looks like.#GenderEquality pic.twitter.com/CFICBjuXv5
— Achieng’ Nyambaso (@mercelineodhiss) March 23, 2025
“I have also merged some ministries and transferred some mandates to the ministries where we can maximise outcomes,” she added namely, the management of new emerging industries of oil and gas will now fall under the president’s office; social grants, which resorted under the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare, will now fall under the Ministry of Finance and Public Enterprises; and the Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation has been integrated into the Ministry of Education, Arts, Sport and Culture.
She’s redrawing the blueprint of her government – a drastic change for the country.
What now?
A woman leads Namibia. It’s a change for the country, but one voted for and welcomed by its people. She has a five-year term to see out as Namibia’s first female president. With the eyes of all Namibians on her, Nandi-Ndaitwah, like all women, has to work twice as hard to prove herself and set the way for the women to follow.
Kajal holds an MA in Journalism, Media, and Globalisation from the Ludwig Maximillian University of Munich. She has previous experience in African-focused humanitarian media and transnational newsrooms. The enduring power of words in shaping the narrative of tomorrow remains the foundation upon which she builds her career.
