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President Hage G. Geingob of Namibia, a distinguished determine in a battle for independence from apartheid-era South Africa who later grew to become the nation’s first prime minister and a long-serving head of state, died early Sunday. He was 82.
Vice President Nangolo Mbumba, now the performing president, introduced the loss of life in a televised deal with on Sunday morning. Mr. Geingob had mentioned final month that he had been recognized with most cancers. He traveled to the USA to hunt remedy in late January earlier than returning to Namibia, in southern Africa, the place he died at a hospital in Windhoek, Mr. Mbumba mentioned.
The nation, Mr. Mbumba mentioned, had “misplaced a distinguished servant of the individuals, a liberation battle icon, the chief architect of our Structure.”
Mr. Geingob, who was elected president in 2014 with 87 % of the vote on a wave of hope that he would battle authorities corruption and deal with Namibia’s extreme financial hardship, leaves behind a blended legacy because the nation’s chief.
Whereas he delivered on social grants for the aged and received worldwide reward for his push to develop renewable power, he largely did not uplift Namibia, a deeply impoverished nation of two.5 million. A couple of third of the work drive is unemployed and, based on a United Nations calculation, 40 % of the inhabitants lives in poverty. From 2008 to 2018, the variety of Namibians dwelling in shacks doubled to about 1,000,000, based on the Shack Dwellers Federation of Namibia.
Voters’ disappointment was evident in his re-election bid in 2019 — though he received, his vote share plummeted to 56 %.
An enormous corruption scandal, referred to as “fishrot” and nonetheless taking part in out in court docket, unfolded below Mr. Geingob’s watch. Distinguished politicians and enterprise leaders have been accused of participating in a kickback scheme involving profitable fishing quotas.
“He ended up changing into a politician,” mentioned Nduma Kamwanyah, a lecturer in public coverage on the College of Namibia. As prime minister, Mr. Geingob was referred to as an environment friendly technocrat who might get issues executed, Dr. Kamwanyah mentioned, and plenty of Namibians had hoped once they elected him that he would proceed that legacy.
However as president, “he didn’t actually ship a lot by way of authorities and all these sorts of issues,” Dr. Kamwanyah mentioned.
Mr. Geingob’s loss of life could set off an influence battle inside his get together, the South West Africa Individuals’s Group, or SWAPO, forward of nationwide elections scheduled for November, analysts mentioned.
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, the vp of SWAPO, which has ruled Namibia because it gained independence in 1990, is in line to be the presidential candidate, although some throughout the group have challenged her. SWAPO is closely favored to win the election, and Ms. Nandi-Ndaitwah could be the nation’s first feminine president if elected.
Mr. Geingob was born on Aug. 3, 1941, within the metropolis of Otjiwarongo, in what was then the South African territory of South-West Africa.
Beginning in his 20s, from exile first in Botswana after which in the USA, he was a SWAPO chief who returned to the nation in 1989 to handle the previous guerrilla motion’s marketing campaign in Namibia’s first free elections. He earned a level in political science from Fordham College in New York and a doctorate from the College of Leeds in England.
After independence, Mr. Geingob helped steer the nation out of the apartheid period. Amongst different duties, he oversaw the drafting of Namibia’s new Structure because the chairman of the Constituent Meeting.
“I knew properly, as did the remainder of the SWAPO management, that the Namibian society was divided due to years of apartheid and racial stratification within the provision of providers and alternatives,” he later wrote of the drafting course of. Due to this fact, he added, “the primary job for me was to advertise a spirit of session, mutual respect and reconciliation.”
After serving as prime minister twice — from 1990 to 2002, and once more in 2012 — Mr. Geingob took up the presidency in 2015. He was in the midst of his second time period, with elections scheduled for November, though a particular date has not been set.
Like different liberation actions throughout southern Africa, SWAPO’s common help has waned as an more and more younger inhabitants grows disenchanted with the nation’s lack of fabric progress, analysts mentioned. Though prone to preserve management of the nation nationally, SWAPO has misplaced energy in a number of city facilities, together with Windhoek, and it depends closely on rural constituents to remain afloat.
Although as president he did not tremendously enhance the fabric situations of Namibians, Mr. Geingob was a singular, charismatic chief, mentioned Rui Tyitende, a lecturer in political science on the College of Namibia. In distinction along with his two predecessors, he was easygoing and welcoming, and sometimes opened as much as individuals, Mr. Tyitende mentioned.
He held neighborhood conferences throughout the nation to hearken to the general public’s issues, and invited opposition politicians to satisfy with him on the State Home. He would dance at political rallies and attend soccer matches.
“As a person, I feel there’s no equal to Geingob by way of his character, by way of his persona, by way of his beliefs — that zest of life inside him,” Mr. Tyitende mentioned.
Just lately, Mr. Geingob blasted the German authorities for backing Israel in its protection towards genocide expenses on the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice. Germany colonized Namibia within the late 1800s and was answerable for the genocide of tens of 1000’s of individuals from the Nama and Herero ethnic teams from 1904 to 1908.
“The German authorities is but to totally atone for the genocide it dedicated on Namibian soil,” based on an announcement launched by Mr. Geingob’s workplace final month. It added that Mr. Geingob “expresses deep concern with the surprising resolution” to reject “the morally upright indictment” introduced towards Israel within the court docket.
Mr. Geingob is survived by his spouse and kids, the presidential workplace mentioned in its assertion.
Tileni Mongudhi contributed reporting from Windhoek, Namibia.
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