The presidency of Namibia reported that President Hage Geingob, 82, passed away early on Sunday in a hospital, several weeks after receiving a cancer diagnosis.
Since 2015, when he declared he had survived prostate cancer, Geingob has ruled the sparsely populated and largely arid nation in southern Africa. Until presidential and parliamentary elections at the end of the year, Vice President Nangolo Mbumba will lead Namibia, a mining hotspot with substantial deposits of diamonds and lithium, an ingredient used in electric car batteries.
Although a cause of death was not stated in a presidential post on social media platform X, the administration announced late last month that the president had travelled to the US for “a two-day novel treatment for cancerous cells” after receiving a diagnosis during a routine medical check-up.
Hage Geingob’s political journey
Geingob, who was born in 1941, rose to prominence as a politician even before Namibia gained its independence from South Africa in 1990, which was ruled by a white minority.
On March 21 of the same year in which Namibia attained independence, he assumed the role of prime minister, which he held until 2002, after serving as the head of the committee that drafted the country’s constitution.
When Namibia was still considered under South West Africa, Geingob joined the governing South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) as an agitator for independence. In 2007, he was elected vice president of the organisation.
Since Namibia’s independence, SWAPO has maintained its hold on power without opposition. Although the former German colony has vast wealth disparities, it is officially classified as an upper middle-income nation.
