20/10/2025
OPINION | Nandi-Ndaitwah shifts gears in Namibia’s women-in-power journey
By Wonder Guchu
Namibia’s cabinet had only two women — barely 5.5% — at independence in 1990. Dr Libertina Amathila and Dr Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana stood alone among a sea of male ministers, symbols of a liberation struggle that had empowered women to fight but not yet to govern.
In the first parliament, only four of 72 members were women — Amathila, Iivula-Ithana, Loide Shinavene and Elisabeth Amukugo — and politics remained a man’s arena, its language of power still bearing the weight of the bush, the barracks and the underground.
Although historical records often cite four, archival data from the National Assembly indicates that six women served during Namibia’s first parliamentary term between 1990 and 1995.
They were Amathila, Iivula-Ithana, Dr Becky Ndjoze-Ojo, who entered later in the term as a backbencher and educationist; Kawana Kauna (née Katiti), who later joined the diplomatic service; Elda Maria Simao of Swapo and Ida Jimmy-Maamberua, who represented the opposition National Patriotic Front.
Their presence, though small, marked the first step towards the gradual reshaping of Namibia’s political landscape.
Thirty-five years later, that gender equation has been rewritten. Under President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Namibia has become a country where women do not merely occupy political space — they define it.
Her 2025 administration, with 57% of ministers being women and the nation’s first female vice president, represents the most profound transformation of political power since independence.
In the years after independence, women’s inclusion in leadership was largely symbolic. Representation in parliament crept forward only slowly and the cabinet remained dominated by men.
By the late 1990s, only 14 women — about 19% — sat in the National Assembly and most held junior or socially oriented portfolios. The dream of equal political power seemed distant.
That began to change under President Hifikepunye Pohamba, who governed from 2005 to 2015. Unlike his predecessors, Pohamba approached gender representation as a matter of democratic completeness rather than concession.
His cabinet reached roughly 20% female representation and more women were appointed as deputy ministers, regional governors and permanent secretaries.
Under his watch, the presence of women in decision-making bodies became visible and credible. He laid the groundwork for what would follow — not through declarations, but through deliberate appointments that normalised women in leadership.
Then came President Hage Geingob, who turned gradualism into policy. In 2015, he introduced the now-celebrated “zebra system”, requiring gender alternation across Swapo’s electoral lists and in ministerial appointments.
The impact was immediate — women’s representation in the National Assembly surged to 41% and women held 36% of cabinet posts — making Namibia one of the top 20 countries globally for gender balance in politics.
For the first time, the political architecture itself — not just the president’s discretion — guaranteed space for women.
Still, the ultimate levers of power remained in the hands of men. The presidency, vice presidency, finance, defence and energy portfolios continued to be run by men. The political glass ceiling had cracked, but not shattered.
That changed with Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. When she took the oath of office on 21 March, she did not just become Namibia’s first female president — she recalibrated the country’s idea of who belongs at the top.
Within 48 hours, she had appointed Lucia Witbooi as Namibia’s first female vice president and unveiled a 14-member cabinet dominated by women, comprising eight ministers, or 57%, a record-breaking achievement since independence.
Unlike earlier decades when women were clustered in “soft” ministries, Nandi-Ndaitwah’s team entrusted them with the country’s core portfolios — finance, foreign affairs, mining, education and health.
Parliament completed the picture when it elected Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila as speaker, creating a historic alignment: women leading the executive, legislature and deputy presidency simultaneously.
Among the new faces are some of Namibia’s youngest ever cabinet members, signalling not just a gender shift but a generational one.
Dr Esperance Luvindao, 31, a medical doctor with no prior political experience and not drawn from Swapo’s top structures, was appointed as minister of health and social services — a surprise choice that underscored Nandi-Ndaitwah’s readiness to disrupt convention. Luvindao has since made her mark by tackling corruption in the health sector, notably removing costly middlemen from the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Emma Theofelus, 29, who continues as the minister of information, communication and technology, also represents this new generation — young, policy-driven and globally engaged.
Their inclusion reflects Nandi-Ndaitwah’s conviction that competence and integrity, not seniority, should shape public service.
The election of Kuugongelwa-Amadhila as Speaker of the National Assembly marked another milestone in Namibia’s democratic evolution.
The speaker presides over debates, ensures parliamentary order and safeguards legislative independence — functions that shape the tone of governance and accountability.
Having a woman in this position carries immense symbolic and institutional weight — it means the voice moderating Namibia’s political discourse, balancing fiery partisanship with constitutional decorum, now comes from a woman who herself broke barriers as the country’s first female prime minister.
Her elevation to speaker completes the architecture of inclusive leadership — a presidency, deputy presidency and legislature now all guided by women.
The office of the vice president, established in 2014 during Geingob’s tenure, was intended to serve as a bridge between the presidency and key state institutions — a stabilising role with oversight of national unity, reconciliation and administrative coordination. By appointing Witbooi to the position, Nandi-Ndaitwah gave it new purpose and new symbolism.
Witbooi, a seasoned educator and legislator from the //Kharas Region, became the first woman — and the first southerner — to hold the role. Her appointment signalled both generational renewal and geographic balance, underscoring Nandi-Ndaitwah’s commitment to inclusivity beyond gender.
With a portfolio that encompasses governance, social development and community cohesion, the vice presidency under Witbooi embodies a quieter, but equally powerful, revolution — women not only making policy but also ensuring the state’s moral and social equilibrium.
In that single formation, Namibia redefined the architecture of power — not as a male inheritance, but as a shared national mandate.
From independence to this year, women’s share in cabinet has risen tenfold — from under 10% to over 57%, marking a complete recalibration of gender power in the state.
Nandi-Ndaitwah insists her administration is not a gender experiment but a statement of trust in competence: “I am not here because I am a woman. I am here because Namibians, women and men, believe I can serve,” she told the nation at her inauguration.
Her rise, however, is inseparable from the foundations laid by those before her. Pohamba opened the door, Geingob institutionalised the path and Nandi-Ndaitwah stepped through it with full authority.
Together, their tenures trace Namibia’s most remarkable political evolution — one that has turned the rhetoric of inclusion into the architecture of governance.
Today, more than half of Namibia’s permanent secretaries and deputy executive directors are women, compared to only 15% two decades ago.
Female diplomats represent Namibia in world capitals, from Washington to Berlin and from Addis Ababa to Pretoria.
Gender parity has become the default expectation, not the exception.
For generations, leadership in Namibia was measured by liberation credentials, seniority and gender. That hierarchy is now dissolving. Under Nandi-Ndaitwah, the vocabulary of politics has shifted — from dominance to delivery; from who commands to who serves.
In classrooms, boardrooms and rural councils, girls and young women are growing up knowing that their president, vice president and speaker are all women — not anomalies, but precedents.
The challenge that remains is to ensure that representation translates into reform — from tackling gender-based violence and pay inequality to ensuring women’s participation in the green economy and resource governance. But one fact is beyond dispute — Namibia’s democracy, once born male, now speaks with a woman’s voice.
From Dr Libertina Amathila and Dr Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana to Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the story of women in Namibian politics has evolved from isolation to leadership, from token presence to full participation.
In 1990, two women were appointed to the cabinet. This year, they are leading the nation.
Wonder Guchu has more than 30 years’ experience in media, print and broadcast, covering politics, arts and culture and mining and teaches part time at the Namibia University of Science and Technology.
https://mg.co.za/thought-leader/opinion/2025-10-17-nandi-ndaitwah-shifts-gears-in-namibias-women-in-power-journey/
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