AFPIf issues go as Namibia’s long-ruling celebration hopes, the nation will elect its first feminine head of state this week.
But a local weather of disillusionment with liberation actions in southern Africa, mixed with anti-incumbency sentiment in lots of components of the world, might pose a menace to what could be a historic achievement.
Vice President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, is the standard-bearer of Swapo, which has led the nation since South Africa’s independence from apartheid in 1990.
Tanzania’s Samia Suluhu Hassan is at the moment Africa’s solely feminine president, so Nandi-Ndaitwah would be part of an unique membership if she wins.
His celebration, completely dominant for 3 many years, noticed a pointy decline in its assist within the final basic election. We come to Wednesday’s vote in opposition to a backdrop of a 19% unemployment fee – nearly the identical as 30 years in the past – struggling public funds, questions on corruption and excessive ranges of inequality.
Standing in Nandi-Ndaitwah’s means is her foremost challenger amongst 14 different candidates: Panduleni Itula of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) celebration.
It additionally clashes with a conventional, male-dominated political tradition within the nation.
But she is a trusted chief of this peaceable, sparsely populated nation, having held excessive authorities positions for 1 / 4 of a century.
“I’ve at all times believed in teamwork, that’s what has allowed me to attain what I’ve achieved,” he stated.
Known for her sensible and pragmatic management fashion, the vp can also be fiercely loyal to the celebration, which she joined as an adolescent.
At 14 he joined the resistance motion to the rule of South Africa, which had dominated the nation – then referred to as South West Africa – because the finish of the First World War and later launched the racist system of apartheid.
AFPShe was acknowledged for her tenacity and organizational expertise as a pacesetter of the Swapo Youth League, which grew to become a springboard for her political profession, which included ministerial roles in international affairs, tourism, childcare and in info.
She has accrued a wealth of data and expertise that would turn out to be useful if she have been to take the driving seat.
“She appears so sensible and candy and type, even in the way in which she tries to say every little thing in order that even like me they perceive,” Laimi, a possible voter, advised the BBC within the capital, Windhoek.
“Itula is sort of a new jewel along with her glasses, her elegant costume and her assured stroll, however maybe she blinds you along with her shine,” stated her good friend Maria.
Both are younger adults who’ve been unable to seek out work.
A educated dentist, Itula, 67, was as soon as a Swapo supporter himself however was expelled from the celebration in 2020 after working as an unbiased candidate in opposition to President Hage Geingob within the 2019 ballot.
He had additionally been a youth chief and spent a while in jail earlier than going into exile within the UK within the early Eighties. He returned to Namibia in 2013.
Six years later, he charismatically got here to the forefront of Namibian politics, difficult Geingob within the presidential election after claiming that the Swapo course of for selecting his candidate was flawed.
Itula’s intervention in these elections led to Swapo acquiring its lowest ever share – 56% – within the presidential elections and likewise shedding its two-thirds majority in parliament.
Having had knowledgeable life outdoors of politics, he appeals to 50% of the 1.5 million voters underneath the age of 35, a lot of whom need an financial change, a job or a measurable enhance of their incomes.
His daring and typically brash fashion, which rejects the extra severe political rhetoric of Nandi-Ndaitwah, has seen him acquire assist from businessmen and the rising city intelligentsia.
But whereas Itula is fast and eloquent, the vp chooses her phrases correctly and speaks slowly and intentionally.
AFPNandi-Ndaitwah seeks concord and teamwork, emphasizing neighborhood, ardour and care and, as such, will get all the way down to the roots.
And being the primary lady with the potential of changing into president of the nation, she brings along with her the hope of some girls who need a change from the patriarchal society.
However, Nandi-Ndaitwah represents the previous “tried and trusted” faculty of Namibia’s liberation wrestle, whereas Itula represents the potential “wind of change” in a political panorama in want of renewal.
According to political analyst Henning Melber, the robust rivalry between the 2 foremost candidates might imply that the presidential election will go in the direction of an unprecedented runoff, which is critical if nobody will get greater than half of the votes forged.
In neighboring South Africa, the African National Congress, in energy since 1994, was pressured to kind a coalition following May’s basic election. While in Botswana – simply to the east – the Botswana Democratic Party, dominant for nearly sixty years, has collapsed humiliating defeat late last month.
Swapo needs to keep away from the identical destiny.
The winner on Wednesday would be the candidate who will be trusted most on points reminiscent of youth unemployment, corruption, healthcare, training and enhancing infrastructure, whereas having the ability to assist the economic system.
This might want to occur with out having to unload the nation’s huge pure sources to international bidders, reminiscent of offshore fuel, lithium and different important metals.
Itula’s IPC didn’t participate within the 2019 elections, however has since carried out properly in native elections and has the looks of a reputable political different. He obtained reward for the way in which he dealt with some native governments.
Nandi-Ndaitwah’s biggest asset could also be that, as Namibian diplomat Tuliameni Kalomoh as soon as put it, she is seen as “incorruptible, each morally and materially.”
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