Condolences pour in after Namibian President Geingob’s passing

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Condolences continue to pour in following the death of Namibian President Hage Geingob on Sunday, weeks after he was diagnosed with cancer. He was 82.

‘Very close friend’

President Cyril Ramaphosa has sent his condolences to the family of the Namibian President. Ramaphosa last spoke to Geingob a few days back, when he assured him that he was feeling better.

“South Africa and Namibia are very close. We are linked at the hip, joined at the hip and President Geingob was a very close friend to me. I spoke to him about three days ago and he told me that he’s feeling much better. So this came as a real surprise and a shock and I spoke to his wife as well and we pass condolences to the people of Namibia at the loss of a strong, brave, and iconic leader like Hage Geingob.”

Deputy President Paul Mashatile has also sent condolences to Namibian First Lady, Monica Geingos and the people of Namibia.
Mashatile hails Geingob’s leadership, adding that South Africa will continue working with Namibia.

Recently, Geingob lashed out at Germany over its stance on the Israel-Hamas war after South Africa hauled Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing it of contravening parts of the Genocide Convention. Namibia accused Germany of committing genocide in the country with the massacre of the Hero-Nama people.

‘Distinguished leader’

In a post on social media platform X, Kenyan President William Ruto consoles the late President’s family for their loss while celebrating Geingob as a distinguished leader, who served with diligence.

‘Respected Pan-Africanist’

Tanzania’s President Samia Suluhu Hassan has expressed her condolences to the Namibian people following the death of its President, praising the President as a respected Pan-Africanist and a close friend of Tanzania.

 

Zimbabwe President Emerson Mnangagwa writes:

My heartfelt condolences to the family of President Hage Geingob and the people of Namibia. President Geingob’s leadership and resilience will be remembered. May his soul rest in peace. Our thoughts are with Namibia during this difficult time. pic.twitter.com/v4Fk9yyuG7

— President of Zimbabwe (@edmnangagwa) February 4, 2024

Born in 1941, Geingob was a prominent politician since before Namibia achieved independence from white minority-ruled South Africa in 1990.

He chaired the body that drafted Namibia‘s constitution, then became its first prime minister at independence on March 21 of that year, a position he retained until 2002.

In 2007, Geingob became vice president of the governing South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO), which he had joined as an agitator for independence when Namibia was still known as South West Africa.

SWAPO has remained in power in Namibia unchallenged since independence. The former German colony is technically an upper middle-income country but one with huge disparities in wealth.

“There were no textbooks to prepare us for accomplishing the task of development and shared prosperity after independence,” he said in a speech to mark the day in 2018. “We needed to build a Namibia in which the chains of the injustices of the past would be broken.”

Geingob served as trade and industry minister before becoming prime minister again in 2012.

He won the 2014 election with 87% of the vote but only narrowly avoided a runoff with a little more than half the votes in a subsequent poll in November 2019.

The details of the memorial and funeral services have not yet been made public. -Additional reporting by Reuters