Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, nicknamed NNN, has made history by being elected Namibia’s first female president.
The 72-year-old won more than 57% of the votes, while her closest rival, Panduleni Itula, received 26%, according to the electoral commission.
It is just the latest episode in a life of remarkable events: Nandi-Ndaitwah has fought against occupying forces, fled into exile and established herself as one of the most prominent women in Namibian politics.
However, Itula has dismissed her victory. He said the election was “deeply flawed”, due to logistical problems and an extension of polling stations by three days in some parts of the country.
His Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) party said it would challenge the result in court.
A loyal member of the ruling Swapo party since her teenage years, Nandi-Ndaitwah promises to lead Namibia’s economic transformation.
Nandi-Ndaitwah was born in 1952 in the northern village of Onamutai. She was the ninth of thirteen children and her father was an Anglican minister.
At the time, Namibia was known as South West Africa and the population was occupied from South Africa.
At the age of 14, Nandi-Ndaitwah joined Swapo, then a liberation movement opposing the white minority government in South Africa.
A passionate activist, Nandi-Ndaitwah became leader of Swapo’s Youth League.
The role prepared her for a successful political career, but at the time Nandi-Ndaitwah was simply interested in liberating South West Africa.
“Politics intervened because of the circumstances. Maybe I should have become a scientist,” she said in an interview this year.
When Nandi-Ndaitwah was still a high school student, he was arrested and detained during a crackdown on Swapo activists.
As a result of this persecution, she decided that she could not stay in the country and joined a number of other Swapo members in exile.
She continued organizing with the movement while in Zambia and Tanzania, before moving to Britain to pursue a degree in International Relations.
In 1988 – fourteen years after Nandi-Ndaitwah fled her country – South Africa finally agreed to Namibia’s independence.
Nandi-Ndaitwah returned home and subsequently joined the post-independence Swapo-led government.
In the years since, she has held various positions, including ministerial positions in foreign affairs, tourism, child welfare and information.
Nandi-Ndaitwah became known as an advocate for women’s rights. One of her most significant achievements was pushing the Combating Domestic Violence Act through the National Assembly in 2002.
According to Namibian media, Nandi-Ndaitwah criticized her male colleagues for trying to ridicule the bill, sternly reminding them that the Swapo Constitution condemns sexism.
She continued to rise despite Namibia’s traditional male-dominated political culture, becoming vice-president in February this year.
She succeeded Nangolo Mbumba, who resigned after the death of then president Hage Geingob.
In her personal life, Nandi-Ndaitwah is married to Epaphras Denga Ndaitwah, the former head of Namibia’s armed forces. The couple has three sons.
Throughout her career, Nandi-Ndaitwah has demonstrated a practical, pragmatic leadership style.
She once declared in a speech, “I am a performer, not a storyteller.”
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