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Marked as a historic moment and a call for celebration, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Namibia’s first female president was officially sworn-in today, Friday, March 21st, 2025, during the nation’s 35th independence Day celebration at the state House.
Securing 58% of the presidential votes last year, Nandi-Ndaitwah also nicknamed NNN won the election against her opposition, Panduleni Itula, who had 26% of the votes.
At age 14, Nandi-Ndaitwah joined the South West African People Organisation (SWAPO), a liberation party which resisted the Apartheid rule thus, setting her career in the political realm. She was arrested and detained during her high school years. Subsequently, she fled the country and continued her campaign against apartheid in exile.
The 72-year-old leader had held various ministerial roles including in foreign affairs, tourism, child welfare and information, as well as deputy minister. In 2024, she was appointed Namibia’s Vice President, the first woman to ever hold such a position.
Nandi-Ndaitwah is also the second African woman to be directly elected as president, after Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
