Featured
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, was declared the winner in Namibia’s general election Dec. 3. Her party, the Southwest Africa People’s Organisation, has governed since Namibia won independence from South Africa in 1990.
Namibia’s election last week of its first woman president tracks with the ruling party’s historic priority on gender equality, a Northeastern University professor says.
Associate professor of political science Martha Johnson, who specializes in African politics, points out that President-elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s party led the way to put gender parity quotas into the country’s constitution, making Namibia one of a few Southern African nations that fosters female political leaders.
“If any country was going to have a woman presidential candidate with the backing of the party, it would be Namibia,” says Johnson, who is co-editor-in-chief of the African studies journal Africa Spectrum. “She was also a very good choice as a candidate. She is seen as well-respected for being pragmatic and plain-spoken and came across as a trustworthy, well-known candidate.”
Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, was declared the winner in Namibia’s general election Dec. 3, after winning 57% of the vote. Her party, the Southwest Africa People’s Organisation, or SWAPO, has been the governing party since Namibia won independence from South Africa in 1990. In addition to winning the presidential election, SWAPO held on to a slim majority in Parliament.
Nandi-Ndaitwah has been active in political life since she was very young, having joined the resistance to white-minority rule when she was 14. Johnson, whose research has focused on women in African politics, says that Nandi-Ndaitwah’s gender and long career in SWAPO’s leadership were both likely factors in her success.
“Africa has, on average, the highest rates of women in parliament. People are more open to the idea of women leaders,” Johnson says “[Nandi-Ndaitwah] was able to remain clean and unassociated with corruption and she had name recognition.”
Unlike many Western nations, African governments have more quotas for gender proportionately than any other region in the world, Johnson says, which means that as a result many African parliaments have a high proportion of women. SWAPO’s quota is even more notable, she says, because it requires an even proportion of men and women on the ballot and in party leadership.
Nandi-Ndaitwah has been Namibia’s vice president since February and has served as deputy prime minister, minister of international relations and cooperation and minister of environment and tourism. She was SWAPO’s first female candidate for president.
Tanzania, in east Africa, is also led by a female president. Samia Suluhu Hassan, who was vice president, inherited the role in 2021 after Tanzania’s president died. Unlike Tanzania, which gained independence from the U.K. in the 1960s, Namibia became independent more recently, which is significant, Johnson says.
“In the 1960s nobody was thinking about gender quotas,” she says. “But in the 1990s women were part of writing SWAPO’s party rules. Women were really important in the anti-apartheid fight. That’s a moment when women were well-placed to push for change and internationally there was an expectation that you’re going to start including women.”
Like many African nations Namibia has high unemployment, especially among its large youth population. For that reason, Johnson says, it is likely that SWAPO — whose founders are getting older — will lose its majority in parliament and possibly the presidency during the next election in five years.
“The fact she won outright in the first round is actually somewhat surprising,” Johnson says. “There has been a pattern of decreasing support for SWAPO. I would not be surprised if her party didn’t win the next election. She would have to do some pretty amazing things to win again.”