PRESIDENT Hifikepunye Pohamba



Pohamba was born on August 18, 1935, at Okanghudhi-Pohamba village, Ondobe constituency in the Ohangwena Region.

He did his primary education in Namibia at the Holy Cross Mission, Onamunama village.

Pohamba became the second President of the Republic of Namibia on March 21, 2005 after taking over the reins from the Founding President, Dr Sam Nujoma. Together with the likes of Andimba Toivo ya Toivo, Mzee Simon Kaukungua and Nujoma, they were the founders of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (Swapo).

During 1956 to 1960, he was employed as a clerk at Tsumeb Corporation Limited (TCL). He was arrested in 1961, chained for several days and flogged publicly at Ohangwena Traditional Court due to his political activism.

That same year, he left Namibia for Tanganyika (now Tanzania) and returned to Namibia in 1962. Upon his return, he was arrested and imprisoned for five months and thereafter was placed under house arrest at Okanghudi village.

He again left the country for Tanzania, only to return to Namibia in 1963 to operate as an underground Swapo mobiliser. In 1964, he left Namibia for Tanzania to participate in the organisation of the national liberation struggle. But two years later, he returned to Windhoek with Nujoma to challenge the South African colonial administration over claims that Swapo leaders in exile were welcome to come back. Upon landing in Windhoek in 1966, the duo were detained and deported back to Zambia the following day.

He was posted to serve as Swapo Party Deputy Chief Representative for Central and North Africa, in Algiers, Algeria, from 1964 to 1969. From 1973 to 1977 he served as Swapo Chief Representative in East Africa, based in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. While in Tanzania he underwent military training in 1974 then in Zambia in 1978. In 1978, he was elected as a member of the political bureau of Swapo. Pohamba proved to be a shrewd administrator when he became the party’s finance secretary from 1978 to 1989.

A year before the 1989 election, he was appointed head of administration of the party’s elections directorate. He became the country’s first Minister of Home Affairs from 1990 until 1995.

Pohamba served as minister in various ministries before becoming Namibia’s second President.

In 1997 at the second Swapo Party congress, he was elected secretary general, and five years later he became the vice president of the party at its third congress held in Windhoek. In 2007, he took over the presidency of the party.

Dr Hage Geingob (Vice President)



Hage Geingob was born on August 3, 1941, in the Grootfontein district. He was the first Prime Minister of Namibia following independence from 1990 to 2002. He has been the Vice President of the ruling Swapo Party since 2007 and is currently the Minister of Trade and Industry.

A teacher by training, Geingob is as passionate about sports as he is about politics. He received his early education at Otavi in Namibia before joining the Augustineum Training College in 1958. In 1960, he was expelled from Augustineum for participating in a protest march against the poor quality of education. He was, however, re-admitted and was able to finish the teacher training course in 1961.

In 1961 he hitch-hiked with three friends to Botswana to escape the Bantu education system. The plane scheduled to take him to Dar-es-Salaam was blown up so he stayed in Botswana where he was appointed assistant Swapo representative from 1963 until 1964.

In 1964, Geingob left for the United States after he was granted a scholarship. He obtained a BA degree in 1970 and a MA degree in International Relations in 1974.

He was appointed Swapo’s representative to the United Nations and to the Americas. He served in this position until 1971. Together with the likes of Hidipo Hamutenya, the late Moses Garoëb, the late Reverend Markus Cooper, Theo-Ben Gurirab and Nahas Angula, he served as part of Swapo’s diplomatic force, selling and marketing the cause for an independent Namibia. In 1972, he was appointed to the United Nations Secretariat as Political Affairs Officer until 1975 when he was appointed Director of the United Nations Institute for Namibia. He held this position until 1989. At the same time, he continued to be a member of both the central committee and the politburo of Swapo.

In 1989, he was elected by the politburo of Swapo to spearhead its election campaign in Namibia and he returned home on June 18, 1989, after 27 years absence. They established Swapo’s election centres throughout the country.

On November 21, 1989 he was elected Chairman of the Constituent Assembly that was responsible for formulating the Namibian Constitution. Under his chairmanship, the Constituent Assembly unanimously adopted the Namibian Constitution on February 9, 1990.

On March 21, 1990, Geingob was sworn in as the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Namibia. He served in this capacity for 12 years.

Geingob was replaced as Prime Minister by Theo-Ben Gurirab in a Cabinet reshuffle on August 27, 2002, and was instead appointed Minister of Regional and Local Government, Housing and Rural Development, a position he declined. Geingob failed to make it into the Swapo politburo in the party’s 2002 congress.

In 2003, Geingob was invited to be the Executive Secretary of the Global Coalition for Africa based in Washington DC, US. In the nomination of Swapo parliamentary candidates by party delegates on October 2, 2004, Geingob, still in Washington, came 28th out of 60. He then returned to Namibia to participate in the November 2004 parliamentary elections. He returned to the National Assembly after the elections and became the Chief Whip of Swapo Party in 2007. He was the sole candidate for the position of vice president and was elected without opposition at the party congress in November 2007.

Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana (Secretary General)



Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana was born on October 11, 1952 and is the first women in Swapo’s 40-year history to be elected to this position. She has come to be known as the Iron Lady of Swapo, because of her boldness, assertiveness and strong mind.

Iivula-Ithana was born in Uukwandongo, Omusati Region. She was active in the Swapo Party Youth League and was in exile from 1974 to 1989. She became Secretary of the Women’s Council in 1980. Immediately prior to independence, she was a member of the Constituent Assembly, which was in place from November 1989 to March 1990. Since independence in March 1990, she has been a member of the National Assembly of Namibia.

She has held several ministerial posts since independence and is the current Minister of Justice.

Iivula-Ithana was elected Secretary General of Swapo at the party’s November 2007 congress.

Nangolo Mbumba (Vice Secretary General)



Nangolo Mbumba was born on August 15, 1941, in Olukonda, Oshikoto Region and is a trained educator. Mbumba has been the Minister of Education under President Hifikepunye Pohamba since his appointment in March 2005.

Mbumba graduated from Southern Connecticut State University in the United States with a Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) in 1971. Two years later, he graduated from the University of Connecticut with a Master of Science degree (MSc) in Biology.

After graduating, Mbumba taught at Harlem Preparatory School in New York City. He returned to Africa in 1978 and began work as Head of the Science Department at the Namibia Education Centre in Cuanza Sul, Angola. In 1980 he was promoted to Principal of the Centre, lasting in that position until 1985.

In 1985, he became Deputy Secretary for Education and Culture and in 1987 became Personal Secretary to the Swapo President then, Sam Nujoma. Continuing in inter-party positions, including as joint administrator of Walvis Bay during its handover to Namibia in 1994.

Mbumba gradually worked his way up the party ladder. Since 1993, he has been a member of the National Assembly. He has held various ministerial positions and has been Minister of Education since 2005.

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