Nandi-Ndaitwah Needs Time to Finish What She Started

By Josephat Inambao Sinvula

Namibia’s first woman president has spent more than eighteen months building consensus rather than chasing populism. Her transformation agenda is far from finished, and it cannot be completed in a single five-year term.

A Historic Mandate

On 21 March 2025, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was sworn in as Namibia’s fifth president and its first woman head of state. She won the 27 November 2024 election with roughly 57 percent of valid votes, and the Electoral Commission declared the result on 3 December. Her victory reached beyond SWAPO’s traditional base, drawing support from young voters, women and the rural majority.

Shortly after the result was declared, she said: “The Namibian nation has voted for peace and stability.”

Consensus Over Populism

Her early appointments set the tone. Lucia Witbooi became Vice President and Elijah Ngurare Prime Minister, and the Cabinet was cut from 21 ministers to 14. The approach has been one of calculated consensus-building rather than populism, and it has steadied the party’s internal factions.

The governing blueprint is the SWAPO Party Manifesto 2025–2030, anchored on unity in diversity, natural resource beneficiation and youth empowerment. These themes have been carried into the National Development Plan 6 (NDP6). In her inaugural address, she called for the “unfinished agenda of economic and social advancement” to be carried forward.

Early Results

The government met a scheduled US$750 million Eurobond maturity on 29 October 2025, the largest single debt repayment in Namibia’s history. Most of it was paid from a sinking fund built up over years, with the balance raised from local commercial banks. International reserves have since recovered to N$51.9 billion, according to the central bank. Economic growth reached about 3.7 percent in 2024 and is projected at 3.9 percent for 2026, according to the Bank of Namibia.

Other results point the same way. The National Youth Development Fund has backed 108 youth enterprises and created 719 jobs, and N$257 million has gone into SME and youth loans. Thirteen beneficiation projects worth N$4.3 billion have created 1,503 jobs, and fifteen more projects worth N$63.5 billion are underway, including Osino Gold and Bannerman’s Etango uranium project. Free tuition at public universities and vocational colleges is scheduled to begin in 2026.

The Ballot Test

In the 26 November 2025 regional and local elections, SWAPO won 52.4 percent of local authority seats nationwide and led in 12 of 14 regions in preliminary results. Turnout was low, at roughly 36 to 41 percent, and independent candidates made gains in the Kavango regions and parts of Zambezi. The party’s dominance is clear, but the rise of independents shows that loyalty can no longer be taken for granted.

Critics Have a Point

The opposition has rejected the 2024 result. The Independent Patriots for Change, led by Panduleni Itula, challenged the outcome in court, citing ballot shortages and a voting extension it considers unlawful. Those concerns deserve clear answers, and a transparent process will strengthen any mandate.

The Case for a Second Term

Youth unemployment, which I put above 40 percent, remains the defining challenge. Tackling it, along with housing and the fairer sharing of resource wealth through value addition, requires long-term planning. The NDP6, free tertiary education, the proposed Welwitschia Sovereign Wealth Fund and industrialisation cannot be delivered in five years.

The government has laid the foundations. A second term would give it the time to finish the job.

Josephat Inambao Sinvula is a public policy and development analyst and managing partner of JIS Management Consultancy in Ongwediva.

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