• Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah becomes Namibia's first woman president after winning the November elections with 58% of the vote.
  • She pledges to create 500,000 jobs and invest $4.67 billion to address the country's 44% youth unemployment rate.
  • As a veteran SWAPO party member, she extends the liberation movement's 35-year grip on power despite growing opposition.

Namibia marks a historic milestone today as Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is sworn in as the country's first woman president, extending the ruling party's 35-year control of the southern African nation.

The 72-year-old veteran politician, known by her initials NNN, won November's elections with 58% of the vote despite a strong challenge from the youthful opposition Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), which secured 25.5%.

The elections were marred by logistical failures that caused significant delays and later faced unsuccessful legal challenges from the opposition.

Heads of state from neighboring countries, including Angola and South Africa, attended the inauguration ceremony in Windhoek.

A longstanding member of the South West Africa People's Organisation (SWAPO), which led Namibia to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990, Nandi-Ndaitwah served as Vice President before her election victory.

On the eve of her inauguration, she identified unemployment as her administration's top priority.

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

The president-elect highlighted agriculture, fishing, and creative industries as key sectors for job creation in the uranium-rich country of three million people, where youth unemployment reached 44% in 2023.

Acknowledging her historic role, Nandi-Ndaitwah said, "Of course, it's a good thing that we are breaking the ceiling, we are breaking the walls."

However, the conservative daughter of an Anglican pastor has maintained strict stances against abortion and same-sex marriage, both currently illegal in Namibia.

A SWAPO member since her teens, the new president was exiled in Moscow during the liberation struggle and later served as foreign minister for over a decade, during which she praised Namibia's "good historical relations" with North Korea.

Edited By Annette George