• After assuming power in March 2025, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has prioritised solving Namibia’s socioeconomic constraints.
• Her political agenda indicates a desire for reform in employment, education, poverty and income inequality.
• To tackle them, internal reform in government efficiency and external cooperation in resource extraction are being pushed forward.

Why is Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah HOT?

Answer: Her agenda seeks to restructure Namibia’s economic and governance model

After becoming the first female president of Namibia in March 2025, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (NNN) has launched a reform agenda targeting structural inequality. Her plans extend to March 2030, when her current mandate officially ends unless she is reelected in the next elections. NNN has expressed since day one that her top priority is addressing the most pressing problems of Namibia: one of the highest levels of income inequality in the world (GINI 59.1), widespread poverty (23% live with less than $3 a day) and high unemployment (19%), especially among the youth (37%).

She intends to solve them with a multi-polar approach. On the one hand, she plans to create more jobs — up to 500,000 by 2030, according to her statements. On the other hand, she wants to diversify the country’s economy (highly reliant on mining, agriculture and fishing until now) by taking advantage of the new opportunities, such as green hydrogen and newly discovered oil and gas reserves. Nevertheless, low fiscal capacity and lack of short-term revenue for these new energy schemes constrain the speed and scope of NNN’s policy implementation. 

In her inaugural speech, NNN also made clear what were going to be the central tenets of her five-year mandate. She wants “No more business as usual”, appealing to her party, the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), which has governed since independence in 1990, to move beyond past inaction and corruption scandals.

Under this view, two ministers have been dismissed over allegations of inappropriate conduct, signalling internal discipline within the executive and reinforcing her pledge of “no more business as usual”. Mac-Albert Hengari was sacked in April 2025 from the Ministry of Agriculture amid allegations of misconduct and Natangwe Ithete, Minister of Industries, Mines and Energy, and also deputy prime minister, was removed from office in October 2025 after a disagreement with NNN over an alleged unauthorised renewal of an oil license.

After Ithete’s removal, NNN appointed a close political associate, Frans Kapofi, and also vowed to take control over the oil sector herself, assuming oversight of the ministry’s competencies. This has raised constitutional concerns and has been denounced by the opposition. It is too soon to know whether the judiciary will intervene.

NNN has also made her government leaner and more gender-balanced, compared to past legislatures. Ministries were merged or eliminated, reducing their number from 21 to 14, and her cabinet is now 57% female. The merger of ministries arose doubts among some experts such as Graham Hopwood, executive director of the Institute for Public Policy Research. He praises institutional streamlining but at the same time fears that merging ministries will result in a work overload that will make bureaucracy slower, not more efficient.

What is changing NNN’s heat level?

Answer: With limited effective veto players for her policies, she is able to advance them with limited short-term constraints.

After winning the elections with an outright majority (51 seats out of 96 in total), Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is free to promote her agenda with limited effective resistance from domestic veto players. Nonetheless, the share of seats obtained by SWAPO (NNN’s party) has decreased over time since they first reached power in the 1990s, after independence. In the 2014 elections, SWAPO had 77 seats, therefore in a ten-year span they lost a third of the 2014 seats.

Moreover, the main opposition parties in the National Assembly (parliament) are not lenient with the government, but rather critical, as they consider NNN’s political moves not to be in line with the country’s interests or their political agenda.

Besides accusations picked up by the media and campaigning against SWAPO, in practice these opposition parties –which are Independent Patriots for Change, Affirmative Repositioning, Landless People’s Movement and the Popular Democratic Movement– cannot veto NNN due to lacking the required parliamentary majority. They can only slow her plans sometimes, for example with the postponement of the Oil bill that sought to transfer the legal control over the industry from the Ministry to the Presidency after the Ithete scandal previously mentioned, deeming it unconstitutional.

Beyond politics and the National Assembly, the judicial branch of Namibia holds veto power against NNN, but would only use it in the event that the executive’s actions go against the Constitution, which so far has not been the case. It is important to state that the Supreme Court ruled that the 2024 elections were legal and non-fraudulent after claims by the main opposition party –IPC. But such recognition of SWAPO’s legitimacy does not imply compliance with the party or the current administration, given that the Namibian justice is also currently investigating former SWAPO officials over the Fishrot corruption scandal. 

According to external organisations such as the World Justice Project—founded in 2006 by members of the American Bar Association—Namibia ranks as the 45th least judicially compromised country in the world.Namibia ranks as the 45th least judicially compromised country in the world, out of the total 143. The report gives Namibian justice credibility and indicates no signs of having been compromised.

Another important element that is relevant to understand NNN’s heat level is Namibian public opinion of the government, which is difficult to measure precisely, as well as NNN’s personal popularity. Public opinion data remain limited. The 2024 general elections results showed that half of the voters supported her candidacy, while turnout was just 75%. This means that SWAPO was voted by 40% of the total registered voters. A year later, in November 2025, Namibia’s regional and local elections took place, with SWAPO’s results improving. The party won half of all regional/local seats nationwide, an improvement since last time in 2020. Taking into account that NNN has been in office since March 2025, the elections’ results could reflect early consolidation.

The last internal factor that could threaten NNN’s government is the military. Their role in Namibian politics is rather passive. Also, the military spending has decreased during the last decade due to financial hardship, an indicator that defence spending is not a priority given the country’s peaceful stage. Nonetheless, there is an ongoing investigation regarding gun trafficking to South Africa by Namibian soldiers.

What is driving NNN?

Answer: She is driven by SWAPO’s survival, her reformist political legacy and Namibia’s political and economic needs.

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has been a member of SWAPO since the 1970s, when the party was still a guerrilla movement based in Zambia. From then on, she has held multiple party and government positions, consolidating her status as a long-standing SWAPO insider. She has held multiple party and government positions, consolidating her status as a long-standing SWAPO insider. Nevertheless, this life-long commitment to SWAPO has also made her an insider of the political system. 

Regarding her personal goals, these are difficult to clearly be stated, but it is reasonable to affirm that one of them is to ensure the continuity in power of her political party, which before her arrival was struggling with low voting share from 2014 to 2019 elections, SWAPO lost 180,000 voters–, which also led to poor results in the legislative branch –from 2014 to 2019, SWAPO lost 14 seats–, and corruption scandals (such as the previously mentioned Fishrot scandal).

In 2024, although SWAPO received a similar amount of votes compared to 2019 –536,000 to 580,000 approximately– the party’s seats in the National Assembly went from 63 to 51, which reinforces the idea that the party has been declining in Namibian politics since 2014.

NNN has acknowledged the situation, promising internal reform in SWAPO (“no more business as usual”) and external policy-making that solves Namibia’s main issues –inequality, unemployment, poverty: If she manages to steer both her country and party in the right direction, she could be viewed as the leader who did so, which would mean reelection in the 2029 general elections and a possible improvement of SWAPO popularity among Namibians.

Beyond politics, her political incentives align with stabilising inequality while restoring SWAPO’s electoral position. Her positive reputation as honourable, pragmatic and efficient, paired with her electoral promises of reform and with the already announced socioeconomic development programs could be what has caused SWAPO to regain lost seats and voters in the local and regional elections of November 2025, although this remains difficult to verify empirically.

Apart from fixing Namibia’s economic problems, NNN is also devoted to improving women’s position in the country’s political and social landscape. Not only is she the first female president of the country, her cabinet is also composed of women up to 57% of the total, and in the National Assembly, women are 38.5% of the total MPs. Additionally, SWAPO’s past policies regarding gender equality –in which she has had influence– have made the country rank 8th in the world in this field and first in Africa. Lastly, NNN believes there is still progress to be made, hence why she pushed forward the National Gender Equality and Equity Policy 2025-2035.

What does this mean for you?

Answer: With NNN reforms, Namibia could attract investment and accelerate energy-sector growth, but also raise governance and inequality risks.

The plans Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has for Namibia during her five-year mandate (2025-2030) are so far being pushed forward with limited restraint by domestic veto players –neither by the opposition nor by justice, the military or the people– or external ones –either regional or global. This reduces immediate institutional friction and allows fast and secure policy-making regarding NNN’s main interests, which are focusing on reducing Namibia’s poverty and inequality. 

Her mandate also boosts investor confidence in the country’s economy, especially in key sectors such as energy. As a result, regarding NNN policies, international actors have expressed support for energy-sector cooperation, both at the regional and global level. 

On the global stage, recent oil discoveries are attracting several foreign companies which could play an important role in developing the Namibian economy. Namibia’s emerging green hydrogen industry has also caught the attention of major players such as the European Union, which has already struck a deal with the country to invest in it. 

The promotion of women rights and equality in Namibia by NNN has also been commended at the United Nations in October 2025. Nevertheless, the country has also been caught up in the US-China trade war as a strategic asset due to its resources, but this has not yet translated into direct domestic policy constraints. On the other hand, at the regional level, NNN has a positive approach when it comes to Namibia’s neighbouring countries. She has offered cooperation and common growth both within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and in the Southern Africa Customs Union (SACU), with cases such as the proposals for a joint oil venture with Angola.