Commentary
By Mark-Anthony Johnson, CEO at JC Holdings
Africa could soon have another female President: Namibia’s Swapo vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (photo) was endorsed on Saturday by the central committee as the party’s presidential candidate for the national election in November.
“I stand with pride today and tell you that the central committee of Swapo today has decided we only have one single candidate. That is Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. She is our vice president and our presidential candidate for 2024. Come 27 November, we are going to rally behind that candidate. That is the happiness as a secretary general I am enjoying this afternoon,” Swapo secretary general Sophia Swaningwa said.
Here’s what to know about Namibia’s FIRST female vice president and soon-to-be president.
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah spent her 21st birthday in prison. Her crime was protesting a spate of arrests of Swapo leaders. From August to December 1973, she and her comrades were imprisoned. When they were released, many were sentenced to public flogging. She didn’t face the whip herself, but she soon fled the country to join the struggle in exile. When forced to witness such cruelty, some people get hardened and vengeful. But Nandi-Ndaitwah took a different path, joining Swapo’s diplomatic efforts.
Nandi-Ndaitwah was born on 29 October 1952 to Justina Nekoto Shaduka-Nandi and Petrus Nandi at Onamutai in northern #Namibia. She was the ninth of 13 children. Her father was an Anglican clergyman, and she attended the famous St Mary’s Mission School at Odibo. She later taught at the school, just before going into exile. “Growing up, political activities were also not very far from me,” she told the Swapo Today newsletter last year. Barely a teenager, she formally joined Swapo in 1966. Swapo’s formation of its Youth League in 1970 allowed her to join the leadership ranks. She helped lead protesters to the Ondangwa airport for the visit of then-United Nations secretary general Kurt Waldheim, to show him that Namibians have had enough of apartheid.
Read her Full story: https://lnkd.in/eAHKbJQs
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