Namibian President Hage Geingob died on Sunday at the age of 82 in a hospital in the capital Windhoek. Last month it was announced that he had cancer, international news agencies reported. Geingob has been president of Namibia since 2015. From 1990 to 2002, he was also the country’s first Prime Minister, following Namibian independence from South Africa.
Vice President Nangolo Mbumba has now taken over presidential duties. He calls on the Namibian people via X to stay calm “while the government implements all necessary arrangements, preparations and other protocols.” New elections were already scheduled for November this year.
Anti apartheid
Geingob was born in 1941 in northern Namibia, which was then still under the administration of South Africa, and was involved in the anti-apartheid movement in that country at a young age. Geingob studied in the US and later joined the SWAPO (Southwest African People’s Organization) party. In 1989 he returned to Namibia, where he became chairman of the organization that wrote the new constitution. A year later, Geingob became the first Namibian Prime Minister.
Since independence, Namibia, although a democratic system, never had a ruling party other than Geingob’s SWAPO. Since 2002, Geingob became minister and later prime minister again, and has been president since 2015. In 2019, his government was accused of corruption, leading to the resignation of two ministers.
Geingob died at Lady Pohamaba Hospital in Windhoek, surrounded by his wife and children.