Namibia's historic inauguration: First woman president takes office

Southern Africa's desert nation of Namibia swears in its first woman president on Friday after Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah won elections last year that extended the ruling party's 35-year grip on power.

Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, will become one of the few women leaders in the region when she is inaugurated at a ceremony to be attended by heads of state of neighboring countries including Angola and South Africa.

Previously the vice president, she is a stalwart of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO) that led the sparsely populated and uranium-rich country to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.

Popularly known by her initials NNN, Nandi-Ndaitwah secured 58 percent of the vote in the chaotic November elections, which were extended several times after logistical failures led to major delays.

The youthful opposition Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) mounted a strong challenge but took only 25.5 percent of the vote, underscoring continued loyalty to SWAPO even as the popularity of other southern African liberation parties has waned.

A key issue at the polls was massive unemployment among the young population, with 44 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds without work in 2023 in a country of just three million people.

On the eve of her inauguration, NNN said tackling unemployment was a priority.

"In the next five years we must produce at least 500,000 jobs," she told South Africa's national broadcaster SABC, adding it would require an investment of 85 billion Namibian dollars ($4.67 billion, 4.3 billion euros).

Key sectors for job creation are agriculture, fishing, and the creative and sports industries, she said.

She appealed for unity after political divisions surfaced during the elections, which the IPC sought to annul in a failed court action.

"We can make our politics during the campaign and so on but once it's over, we must build Namibia together," she said.

On her election as Namibia's first woman president, she told SABC: "Of course, it's a good thing that we are breaking the ceiling, we are breaking the walls."

NNN, a conservative daughter of an Anglican pastor, has taken a strict stance against abortion, which is banned in Namibia except in exceptional circumstances. Gay marriage is also illegal.

A member of SWAPO since her early teens, she was exiled in Moscow during the liberation struggle. As foreign minister between 2012 and 2024, she praised her country's "good historical relations" with North Korea.

Namibia is the world's third or fourth biggest natural uranium producer, depending on the year, and supplies the radioactive metal to countries producing nuclear power, including France.

The sun-baked and dry Atlantic Ocean country is also rich in diamonds and hopes to exploit its natural gas and oil deposits.

It has enormous potential to produce solar and wind energy, although media reports say Nandi-Ndaitwah has expressed doubts about the viability of the sector.

AFP