President-elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah reflects on challenging yet rewarding journey to Presidency

President-elect Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah says her journey to the Presidency was challenging but rewarding.

Speaking at Swapo’s central committee planning meeting on Friday, she said the 2024 presidential and National Assembly elections were highly contested.

“From the beginning of the campaign we were fully aware that the election would be highly contested,” she said.

Nandi-Ndaitwah won 57% of the vote, while Swapo managed to get a parliamentary majority, with 51% of the vote.

“We have taken a decision at the central committee to stage a strong and well-calculated election campaign, and that is what brought us where we are.

Swapo has emerged as the single largest political party with an overwhelming majority of the 121 constituencies of our country, and if we do a deep analysis, we realise we have made inroads in some of the areas where we have been weak in the past,” she said.

Nandi-Ndaitwah said the party’s election manifesto, centred on unity, resource beneficiation, youth empowerment, and sustainable development, played a crucial role in the party’s success.

“The elections we have concluded provided a president-elect and the Swapo party with the constitutional and moral legitimacy to govern. “However, we should not forget that the key which the majority of Namibians have given to the president-elect and the Swapo party is to deliver on the promises and the commitments we have made in our 2025 to 2030 election manifesto,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.

She paid tribute to Namibia’s youth at the meeting.

“The youth of Namibia have played a pivotal role in giving the Swapo party a mandate to govern the country over the next five years.

I want to assure our youth that your faith in the Swapo party will not go in vain.

The Swapo party government that I shall constitute shall not forsake your trust and your aspirations,” she said.

Nandi-Ndaitwah highlighted the importance of fulfilling promises made in the party’s manifesto and building on the legacy of Namibia’s past presidents.

“We must be at the forefront to ensure that what we promised the people of this country we have implemented. The strength of the Swapo party lies in services delivered.

“Service delivered, comrades, should be our password, and we should work harder to build on the strong foundation and the legacies of our founding president, Sam Shafiishuna Nuyoma, our second president, and our late president, may he rest in eternal peace, and of course our fourth president,” she said.