A new dawn beckons: Lessons from the past that Netumbo must avoid
Netumbo urged to avoid mistakes of predecessors
On Friday, Nandi-Ndaitwah would have completed a stunning political comeback – having originally missed out on a place in parliament at the 2009 Swapo electoral college until the last-minute intervention of then President Hifikepunye Pohamba.
Namibia stands on the cusp of history as Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah prepares to be sworn in on Friday as the country's first female president – only the fifth woman in Africa to rise to power through a direct election.
In this regard, she joins an exclusive club of female African presidents, including Sahle-Work Zewde (Ethiopia), Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (Mauritius), Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia), and Joyce Banda (Malawi).
However, Nandi-Ndaitwah’s journey to the top has been anything but smooth. In 2009, amid deep suspicions within Swapo regarding her friendship with Hidipo Hamutenya, the ideological founder of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), she failed to secure a favourable place on the ruling party’s electoral college list.
It took the intervention of then-president Hifikepunye Pohamba, who exercised powers vested in him by the Swapo constitution, to reinstate her on the party list, allowing her career in parliament and Cabinet to continue. That moment of political survival has now culminated in her historic rise to the highest office.
A fortnight ago she was endorsed as president of Swapo, the very party that almost elbowed her into obscurity in 2009. She will be the second Namibian president, after late founding president Sam Nujoma in 1990, to assume the highest office in the land while in control of the party – thus avoiding the much maligned scenario of two centres of power.
But after the fanfare of Friday’s inauguration fades, Nandi-Ndaitwah will be faced with a nation struggling under crippling poverty, a high unemployment rate, deep inequality and a broken public sector.
A tough task
She takes office at a time when unemployment stands at 37% – or 55%, depending on whether one relies on government figures or independent economists.
The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) estimates that 320 450 Namibians are unemployed, with 61.4% of youth either unemployed or underemployed.
Meanwhile, public debt has soared to 63% of GDP, about N$159 billion according to the Bank of Namibia, putting further strain on economic recovery efforts. At the same time, the healthcare system is in distress, and the education sector is producing some of the highest failure rates in the region.
Corruption remains one of the country's most pressing challenges, with the Fishrot scandal – the nation’s largest corruption case – still unresolved. This case continues to erode public trust in government institutions, and Nandi-Ndaitwah will have to work significantly harder than her predecessors to instil confidence in leadership.
Executive director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Graham Hopwood, says Nandi-Ndaitwah must hit the ground running if she is to reverse Namibia’s decline.
“Her biggest challenge will be job creation, particularly for young people. As her predecessors have learned, there’s no magic bullet for this. Simply spending government money without a clear plan won’t work – as TIPEEG demonstrated,” he told Namibian Sun.
“If she can root out the dysfunction and corruption in the fishing industry, the benefits could be substantial. Her anti-corruption rhetoric must translate into action – through systems and procedures her predecessors avoided, such as an effective access-to-information framework and strong whistleblower protections.”
Hopwood added: “She also needs to confront the complacency and corruption embedded in the political establishment, which has stalled the delivery of public goods. Her Cabinet appointments and the tone of her Independence Day speech will be telling indicators of her intent.”
Trimming the fat
University of Namibia (Unam) academic Rui Tyitende also weighed in, saying: “For her to steer the Namibian ship in the right direction, she will need to pursue radical reforms in the areas of housing, healthcare, agriculture, and appoint competent people.
“No prosperity for the masses can occur if there are no consequences for political office bearers and public managers tasked with executing public projects and policies. The sickening culture of entitlement and inertia needs to stop for any meaningful change to take root.”
He urged the incoming president to drive amendments to the Marine Resources Act of 2015 and to eliminate fishing quota allocations to individuals or so-called 'forced marriages'.
"The Act gives all powers to the minister of fisheries to allocate fishing quotas as he or she deems fit," he pointed out.
He added: “The question is, how will she deal with a society that is divided along ethnic and racial lines? How will she trim the fat across the public sector? She will need to start at the top by stopping all benefits such as free electricity, water and entertainment allowances for politicians.”
Leader of the Affirmative Repositioning movement, Job Amupanda, who will be sworn in today as a member of parliament – and who stood against Nandi-Ndaitwah in the November presidential race – said his party will “give the incoming president a run for her money.”
“We will hold every institution and every public official accountable on behalf of the masses of our people,” he vowed.
“When all the celebrations are done, she will come to a realisation that Namibia is at the crossroads. The future of our country is not in sentimentalism but in real action. Anything short of a capable developmental state will only deepen the crisis.”
In this regard, she joins an exclusive club of female African presidents, including Sahle-Work Zewde (Ethiopia), Ameenah Gurib-Fakim (Mauritius), Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (Liberia), and Joyce Banda (Malawi).
However, Nandi-Ndaitwah’s journey to the top has been anything but smooth. In 2009, amid deep suspicions within Swapo regarding her friendship with Hidipo Hamutenya, the ideological founder of the Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP), she failed to secure a favourable place on the ruling party’s electoral college list.
It took the intervention of then-president Hifikepunye Pohamba, who exercised powers vested in him by the Swapo constitution, to reinstate her on the party list, allowing her career in parliament and Cabinet to continue. That moment of political survival has now culminated in her historic rise to the highest office.
A fortnight ago she was endorsed as president of Swapo, the very party that almost elbowed her into obscurity in 2009. She will be the second Namibian president, after late founding president Sam Nujoma in 1990, to assume the highest office in the land while in control of the party – thus avoiding the much maligned scenario of two centres of power.
But after the fanfare of Friday’s inauguration fades, Nandi-Ndaitwah will be faced with a nation struggling under crippling poverty, a high unemployment rate, deep inequality and a broken public sector.
A tough task
She takes office at a time when unemployment stands at 37% – or 55%, depending on whether one relies on government figures or independent economists.
The Namibia Statistics Agency (NSA) estimates that 320 450 Namibians are unemployed, with 61.4% of youth either unemployed or underemployed.
Meanwhile, public debt has soared to 63% of GDP, about N$159 billion according to the Bank of Namibia, putting further strain on economic recovery efforts. At the same time, the healthcare system is in distress, and the education sector is producing some of the highest failure rates in the region.
Corruption remains one of the country's most pressing challenges, with the Fishrot scandal – the nation’s largest corruption case – still unresolved. This case continues to erode public trust in government institutions, and Nandi-Ndaitwah will have to work significantly harder than her predecessors to instil confidence in leadership.
Executive director of the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), Graham Hopwood, says Nandi-Ndaitwah must hit the ground running if she is to reverse Namibia’s decline.
“Her biggest challenge will be job creation, particularly for young people. As her predecessors have learned, there’s no magic bullet for this. Simply spending government money without a clear plan won’t work – as TIPEEG demonstrated,” he told Namibian Sun.
“If she can root out the dysfunction and corruption in the fishing industry, the benefits could be substantial. Her anti-corruption rhetoric must translate into action – through systems and procedures her predecessors avoided, such as an effective access-to-information framework and strong whistleblower protections.”
Hopwood added: “She also needs to confront the complacency and corruption embedded in the political establishment, which has stalled the delivery of public goods. Her Cabinet appointments and the tone of her Independence Day speech will be telling indicators of her intent.”
Trimming the fat
University of Namibia (Unam) academic Rui Tyitende also weighed in, saying: “For her to steer the Namibian ship in the right direction, she will need to pursue radical reforms in the areas of housing, healthcare, agriculture, and appoint competent people.
“No prosperity for the masses can occur if there are no consequences for political office bearers and public managers tasked with executing public projects and policies. The sickening culture of entitlement and inertia needs to stop for any meaningful change to take root.”
He urged the incoming president to drive amendments to the Marine Resources Act of 2015 and to eliminate fishing quota allocations to individuals or so-called 'forced marriages'.
"The Act gives all powers to the minister of fisheries to allocate fishing quotas as he or she deems fit," he pointed out.
He added: “The question is, how will she deal with a society that is divided along ethnic and racial lines? How will she trim the fat across the public sector? She will need to start at the top by stopping all benefits such as free electricity, water and entertainment allowances for politicians.”
Leader of the Affirmative Repositioning movement, Job Amupanda, who will be sworn in today as a member of parliament – and who stood against Nandi-Ndaitwah in the November presidential race – said his party will “give the incoming president a run for her money.”
“We will hold every institution and every public official accountable on behalf of the masses of our people,” he vowed.
“When all the celebrations are done, she will come to a realisation that Namibia is at the crossroads. The future of our country is not in sentimentalism but in real action. Anything short of a capable developmental state will only deepen the crisis.”
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