# Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah

Ndemupelila Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (born 29 October 1952), nicknamed NNN, is a Namibian politician who became president-elect of Namibia after winning the presidential election on 3 December 2024. She is scheduled to be Namibia's fifth president and the first woman to hold this position. 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.
Nandi-Ndaitwah previously served as the deputy prime minister of Namibia from 2015 to 2024, minister of International Relations and Cooperation from December 2012 to 2015, and as minister of Environment and Tourism from March 2010 to December 2012. She is a long-time member of the National Assembly.

## Early life and education

Netumbo Nandi was born on 29 October 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. Her father was an Anglican clergyman. She was the ninth of 13 children. Ndaitwah was educated at St. Mary's Mission in Odibo.
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.
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.
After the 2024 November election, she was given a honorary Doctorate in diplomatic and public work done.

## Political career

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.
She has been a member of the National Assembly of Namibia since 1990. She was deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation from 1990 to 1996 and first gained ministerial status in 1996 as director-general of Women's Affairs in the Office of the President, where she served until 2000. In 2000 she was promoted to minister and given the Women Affairs and Child Welfare portfolio.
From 2005 to 2010, she was the minister of information and broadcasting in Namibia's cabinet. She subsequently served as the minister of environment and tourism until a major cabinet reshuffle in December 2012, in which she was appointed minister of foreign affairs, a portfolio since renamed to International Relations and Cooperation.
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. 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.
In March 2023, President Geingob named Nandi-Ndaitwah as SWAPO's presidential candidate in the 2024 Namibian general election. 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.
On 3 December 2024, she was officially declared the president-elect of the Republic of Namibia, making her the first woman to hold the position. Nandi-Ndaitwah received 683,560, or 58.7% of the vote, defeating Panduleni Itula and McHenry Venaani. She will be inaugurated on 21 March 2025. Nandi-Ndaitwah made the announcement over the past weekend at the launch of the party’s 2025-2030 election manifesto. She said the manifesto has prioritised projects that would create employment opportunities leading to the absorption into the job market of unemployed graduates and other Namibians seeking employment.

## Personal life

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is married to Epaphras Denga Ndaitwah, former Chief of the Namibian Defence Force. She is interested in children's community work and reading.

## Awards

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was awarded the 'thought leadership' at the Namibia Sustainable Development Awards. Nandi-Ndaitwah was recognized with an Inter-Generational Leadership Award at the 2024 Nala Feminist (Nalafem) Summit. She further holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

## Gallery

* Nandi-Ndaitwah meeting WIPO Director General Daren Tang in 2022. The two discussed IP's role in helping drive economic, youth music industry, women innovators, and social development under the "Namibia Vision 2030" plan.
* Meeting with the Estonian foreign ministry, 2019.
* Nandi-Ndaitwah meets with First Lady Jill Biden in 2023, at the State House in Windhoek, Namibia.