How Namibian President Hage Geingob died

Namibia’s President, Hage Geingob died in the early hours Sunday in a hospital in Windhoek, the country’s Capital at the age of 82.

Geingob was receiving treatment for cancer before his death.

He died in the hospital with his wife and children, Vice-President Nangolo Mbumba, who would now act as president, announced on Sunday.

“It is with utmost sadness and regret that I inform you that our beloved Dr Hage Geingob, the President of Namibia has passed on today,” Mbumba stated.

He said Geingob had as of 2013 undergone brain surgery, and in 2023 underwent an aortic operation in South Africa, adding that until his passing, he received treatment at Lady Pohamba Hospital in Windhoek.

He appealed to the nation to “remain calm and collected while the Government attends to all necessary state arrangements, preparations and other protocols.”

According to him, Namibia has lost a “distinguished servant of the people, liberation struggle icon, chief architect of Namibia’s constitution and pillar of the Namibian house.”

He disclosed that the Cabinet will convene to make the necessary state arrangements.

The presidency office had revealed that last month the ailing president underwent “a two-day novel treatment for cancerous cells” in the US before flying back home on 31 January.

Geingob, born in a village in northern Namibia in 1941, was first elected president in 2014 and became Namibia’s longest-serving prime minister and third president.

He was Namibia’s first president outside of the Ovambo ethnic group, which makes up more than half the country’s population.

He took up activism against South Africa’s apartheid regime which at the time ruled over Namibia, from his early schooling years before being driven into exile.

Perhaps, it’s for this particular reason that the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa was among the first set of world leaders to react to his death and described him as “a towering veteran of Namibia’s liberation from colonialism and apartheid”.

Hage Gottfried Geingob was in exile for 27 years in Botswana, the US and the UK, where he studied for a PhD in politics.

He returned to Namibia in 1989, a year before the country’s Independence.