Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah (born 29 October 1952) is a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n politician who is the Deputy Prime Minister of Namibia since March 2015. She has also been serving as Namibia's

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation The Minister of International Relations and Cooperation is the foreign minister of the South African government, with political responsibility for South Africa's foreign relations and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. Th ...

since December 2012. From March 2010 to December 2012, she was Minister of Environment and Tourism. Nandi-Ndaitwah is a member of

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

, Namibia's ruling party, and a long-time member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...

. In 2017, Nandi-Ndaitwah was elected vice-president of the

Swapo Party The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

at the party's 6th Congress. She is the first woman to serve in that position.

Early life and education

Born Netumbo Nandi on 29 October 1952 at Onamutai in the

Oshana Region Oshana is one of the fourteen regions of Namibia, its capital is Oshakati. The towns of Oshakati, Ongwediva and Ondangwa, all situated with this region, form an urban cluster with the second largest population concentration in Namibia after the ...

Ovamboland Ovamboland, also referred to as Owamboland, was a Bantustan in South West Africa (present-day Namibia), intended by the apartheid government to be a self-governing homeland for the Ovambo people. The term originally referred to the parts of ...

, Ndaitwah was educated at St. Mary's Mission in

Odibo Odibo is a village in the north of Namibia close to the Angolan border known for its Anglican mission ''St Mary''. It belongs to the Oshikango electoral constituency in the Ohangwena Region. Odibo is also an Archdeaconry in the Diocese of Nam ...

. Nandi-Ndaitwah went into exile in 1974 and joined SWAPO members in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are t ...

. She worked at the

headquarters in

Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was about 3.3 millio ...

from 1974 to 1975 and attended a course at the Lenin Higher

Komsomol The All-Union Leninist Young Communist League (russian: link=no, Всесоюзный ленинский коммунистический союз молодёжи (ВЛКСМ), ), usually known as Komsomol (; russian: Комсомол, links=n ...

School in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

from 1975 to 1976. She graduated with a diploma in work and practice of communist youth movement. In 1987 she obtained a post-graduate diploma in public administration and management from the Glasgow College of Technology, UK, and in 1988 a further post-graduate diploma, in international relations, from

Keele University Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...

, UK. In 1989 Nandi-Ndaitwah obtained a master's degree in diplomatic studies, also from Keele University.

Political career

Nandi-Ndaitwah became the SWAPO deputy representative in

from 1976 until 1978 and the chief representative in Zambia from 1978 to 1980. From 1980 until 1986, she was the SWAPO chief representative in East Africa, based at

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over ...

. She was a member of the SWAPO

central committee Central committee is the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, of both ruling and nonruling parties of former and existing socialist states. In such party organizations, the c ...

from 1976 to 1986 and president of the Namibian National Women's Organisation (NANAWO) from 1991 to 1994. She has been a member of the

National Assembly of Namibia The National Assembly is the lower chamber of Namibia's bicameral Parliament. Its laws must be approved by the National Council, the upper house. Since 2014, it has a total of 104 members. 96 members are directly elected through a system of clos ...

since 1990. She was deputy

from 1990 to 1996 and first gained ministerial status in 1996 as director-general of Women Affairs in the Office of the President, where she served until 2000. In 2000 she was promoted to minister, and given the Women Affairs and Child Welfare portfolio. From 2005 to 2010, she was the

Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (Ministry of I&B) is a ministerial level agency of the Government of India responsible for the formulation and administration of rules, regulations and laws in the areas of information, broadcasting, the ...

in Namibia's cabinet. She subsequently served as Minister of Environment and Tourism until a major cabinet reshuffle in December 2012, in which she was appointed Minister of Minister of Foreign Affairs, a portfolio since renamed to International Relations and Cooperation. Under President

Hage Geingob Hage Gottfried Geingob (born 3 August 1941) is a Namibian politician, serving as the third president of Namibia since 21 March 2015. Geingob was the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 ...

, Nandi-Ndaitwah was appointed as Deputy

Prime Minister of Namibia The prime minister of the Republic of Namibia is the leader of the Government of Namibia. The prime minister is appointed by the President of Namibia and co-ordinates the work of the Cabinet. They also advise and assist the president in the e ...

in March 2015, while serving in parallel as Minister of International Relations and Cooperation. Nandi-Ndaitwah sits both on SWAPO's central committee and the

politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the executive committee for communist parties. It is present in most former and existing communist states. Names The term "politburo" in English comes from the Russian ''Politbyuro'' (), itself a contraction ...

. She also is the party's secretary for information and mobilisation and as such, is one of SWAPO's main spokespeople.

Personal life

Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah is married to Epaphras Denga Ndaitwah, former Chief of the

Namibian Defence Force The Namibian Defence Force (NDF) comprises the national military forces of Namibia. It was created when the country, then known as South West Africa, gained independence from South Africa in 1990. Chapter 15 of the Constitution of Namibia establ ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nandi-Ndaitwah, Netumbo 1952 births Living people Members of the National Assembly (Namibia) People from Oshana Region SWAPO politicians Alumni of Keele University 20th-century Namibian women politicians 20th-century Namibian politicians 21st-century Namibian women politicians 21st-century Namibian politicians Deputy Prime Ministers of Namibia Foreign ministers of Namibia Female foreign ministers Women government ministers of Namibia Environment and tourism ministers of Namibia Information ministers of Namibia Gender equality and social welfare ministers of Namibia Women members of the National Assembly (Namibia)

Early life and education

Political career

Personal life

See also

References