Hage Geingob

President of Namibia from 2015 to 2024

Hage Gottfried Geingob[1] (3 August 1941 – 4 February 2024[2]) was a Namibian politician. He was the third President of Namibia from 21 March 2015 until his death on 4 February 2024. Geingob was the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 21 March 1990 to 28 August 2002 and again from 4 December 2012 to 21 March 2015.[2]

Hage Geingob
Hage Geingob in 2020
3rd President of Namibia
In office
21 March 2015 – 4 February 2024
Prime MinisterSaara Kuugongelwa
Vice PresidentNickey Iyambo (2015-2018)
Nangolo Mbumba (2018-2024)
Preceded byHifikepunye Pohamba
Succeeded byNangolo Mbumba
President of SWAPO
In office
26 November 2017 – 4 February 2024
Preceded byHifikepunye Pohamba
1st and 4th Prime Minister of Namibia
In office
4 December 2012 – 20 March 2015
PresidentHifikepunye Pohamba
Preceded byNahas Angula
Succeeded bySaara Kuugongelwa
In office
21 March 1990 – 28 August 2002
PresidentSam Nujoma
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byTheo-Ben Gurirab
Minister of Trade and Industry
In office
8 April 2008 – 4 December 2012
Prime MinisterNahas Angula
Preceded byImmanuel Ngatjizeko
Succeeded byCalle Schlettwein
Personal details
Born(1941-08-03)3 August 1941
Otjiwarongo, South West Africa (now Namibia)
Died4 February 2024(2024-02-04) (aged 82)
Windhoek, Namibia
Political partySWAPO
Spouse(s)
Priscilla "Patty" Geingos
(m. 1967; div. 1992)

Loini Kandume
(m. 1992; div. 2008)

(after 2015)
Children3
Alma materTemple University
Fordham University (BA)
The New School (MA)
University of Leeds (PhD)
ReligionLutheran

Election

change

Again candidate in the presidential election of November 2019, Geingob is reelected with 56.3% of the votes cast, down from 86% he had obtained five years ago. Panduleni Itula, dissident candidate of Swapo, head of the Landless Movement (LPM) of Bernadus Swartbooi gets 30% of the vote. Opposition leader McHenry Venaani of the Popular Democratic Movement (PDM), formerly close to South Africa's apartheid, won 5.3 percent of the vote. The Swapo thus obtains 65% of the seats in the National Assembly, failing to obtain a two-thirds majority as in the previous legislature. Geingob is considered a populist in Namibia.

On 8 January 2024, Geingob announced that he was diagnosed again with prostate cancer after a colonoscopy and a gastroscopy.[3] He went for treatment in the United States on 25 January and returned to Namibia on 30 January following two days of treatment.[4]

On 4 February 2024, Vice President Nangolo Mbumba announced that Geingob had died at a hospital in Windhoek, where he had been receiving treatment, aged 82.[5]

References

change
  1. "Geingob is a champion of the poor". New Era Newspaper Namibia. October 31, 2014. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Hage Geingob, Namibia's president, dies aged 82 after cancer treatment". The Guardian. 4 February 2024. ISSN 0261-3077.
  3. "Namibian President Geingob dies in hospital while receiving treatment". Africanews. 4 February 2024. Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  4. Petersen, Shelleygan (4 February 2024). "President Hage Geingob is dead". The Namibian. Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
  5. "Namibian President Hage Geingob dies in a hospital where he was receiving treatment". National Public Radio. Associated Press. 4 February 2024. Archived from the original on 4 February 2024. Retrieved 4 February 2024.