Ndemupelila Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (born 29October 1952), nicknamed NNN,[1][2] is a Namibian politician who became president-elect of Namibia after winning the presidential election on 3 December 2024.[3] She is scheduled to be Namibia's fifth president and the first woman to hold this position.[4] She is serving as the third vice-president of Namibia since February 2024. She was also SWAPO's first female presidential candidate for the 2024 Namibian general election. In 2017, Nandi-Ndaitwah was elected vice-president of SWAPO, the first woman to serve in that position.
Netumbo Nandi was born on 29October 1952 to Justina Nekoto Shaduka-Nandi and Petrus Nandi in Onamutai, South West Africa, today near the border of Ohangwena Region and Oshana Region, Namibia.[5] Her father was an Anglican clergyman. She was the ninth of 13 children.[6] Ndaitwah was educated at St. Mary's Mission in Odibo.[7]
Nandi-Ndaitwah became politically active as a teenager, joing SWAPO's ranks at the age of 14. She soon became the leader of SWAPO's Youth Movement organisation, fighting to end South Africa's occupation. Nandi-Ndaitwah soon became a target for the opposition, forcing her to go into hiding.[8]
Nandi-Ndaitwah went into exile in 1973 and joined SWAPO members in Zambia. She worked at the SWAPO headquarters in Lusaka from 1973 to 1975 and attended a course at the Lenin Higher Komsomol School in the Soviet Union from 1975 until 1976. She graduated with a diploma in the work and practice of the communist youth movement. In 1987 she obtained a post-graduate diploma in public administration and management from the Glasgow College of Technology, in the United Kingdom, and in 1988 a further post-graduate diploma, in international relations, from Keele University, also in the UK. In 1989 Nandi-Ndaitwah obtained a master's degree in diplomatic studies, also from Keele University.[9]
Political career
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah in 2015
Nandi-Ndaitwah became the SWAPO deputy representative in Zambia from 1976 until 1978 and the chief representative in Zambia from 1978 to 1980. From 1980 until 1986, she was the SWAPO chief representative in East Africa, based at Dar es Salaam. She was a member of the SWAPO central committee from 1976 to 1986 and the Namibian National Women's Organisation (NANAWO) president from 1991 to 1994.[9]
Under President Hage Geingob, Nandi-Ndaitwah was appointed as deputy prime minister in March 2015, while serving in parallel as the minister of international relations and cooperation.[12] Nandi-Ndaitwah sits both on SWAPO's central committee and the politburo. She is also the party's secretary for information and mobilisation and as such, is one of SWAPO's main spokespeople.[9][13]
In March 2023, President Geingob named Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as SWAPO's presidential candidate in the 2024 Namibian general election.[14] Following Geingob's death in February 2024, Nandi-Ndaitwah was appointed as vice president, succeeding Nangolo Mbumba, who became president. She is the first woman serving in that role.[15][16]
On 3December 2024, she was officially declared the president-elect of the Republic of Namibia, making her the first woman to hold the position.[17] Nandi-Ndaitwah received 683,560, or 58.7% of the vote, defeating Panduleni Itula and McHenry Venaani.[18] She will be inaugurated on 21 March 2025. [19]
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was awarded the 'thought leadership' at the Namibia Sustainable Development Awards.[20] Nandi-Ndaitwah was recognized with an Inter-Generational Leadership Award at the 2024 Nala Feminist (Nalafem) Summit.[21] She further holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.[22]
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