Namibia swears in first female president

Namibia has sworn in its first female head of state on March 21st to lead a country facing high rates of unemployment, inequality, and poverty, reports BBC News.

She will be tackling the country’s problems while also overcoming the challenge of being only Africa’s second-ever directly elected female president.

“If things go well, then it will be seen as a good example,” Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah told BBC’s Africa Daily podcast.

“But if anything goes wrong, as can happen in any administration under men, there are those who would rather say: ‘Look at women.’”

The 72-year-old won November’s election with a 58% share of the vote.

Nandi-Ndaitwah has been a long-term loyalist of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), which has been in power since the country gained independence in 1990 after the struggle against apartheid South Africa.

While the party has made changes and improved the lives of the black majority, the legacy of apartheid looms over patterns of wealth and land ownership.

“Truly, land is a serious problem in this country,” she told the BBC ahead of her inauguration.

“We still have some white citizens, and more particularly the absent landowners who are occupying the land.”

She is committed to the “willing-buyer, willing-seller” principle, which means no one is forced to sell up.

Namibia’s economy, reliant on mineral exports, needs to diversify by adding value to resources and boosting creative industries, according to Nandi-Ndaitwah.

With a Gini coefficient of 59.1 in 2015, Namibia remains one of the world’s most unequal countries, and the unemployment rate rose to 36.9% in 2023.

Nandi-Ndaitwah aims to be judged on her abilities and highlights the importance of women in leadership roles.

She follows Liberia’s Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as only the second directly elected female president in Africa.

After Namibia sworn in their first elected female head of state, Nandi-Ndaitwah states how she wishes to be judged on her merits but has stated that it is “a good thing that we as countries are realising that just as men can, women can also hold positions of authority.”

BBC News.