South African politicians have expressed their confidence in Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s presidency for Namibia, citing that this does not only speak to the maturity of Namibia’s democracy for producing the first democratically elected woman president, but also a sign that women leaders are as good as any man on any day. 

Speaking to the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), yesterday, former South African president Thabo Mbeki expressed joy in the ascendance of Nandi-Ndaitwah to the Swapo presidency and as the Namibian nation’s president elect.

“I was very happy that Swapo nominated her as the presidential candidate and indeed that she then won the elections. I am very pleased that when the matter was challenged the courts decided that she was properly elected,” Mbeki said. 

He maintained that he had known Nandi-Ndaitwah from the time that she arrived in exile, in Lusaka, as a ‘little girl’ and he knows enough about her to have the confidence that she will discharge her responsibilities as president of Namibia properly. 

Mbeki maintained that Nandi-Ndaitwah does not only carry the additional burden of making a statement about Namibia, but also to make a bigger statement about the capacity of women, ‘that they are as good as any man.’

Former South African Foreign Affairs Minister, Dr. Nkosasana Dlamini-Zuma said she is happy that “we are going to have a woman president in Namibia. Actually, she will be the first democratically elected woman president in the region and second in Africa, the first one having been Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia.” 

Former Deputy President of South Africa, Dr. Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka congratulated Namibia for having a president elect who is a woman, admitting that women's leadership and representation has been one of the areas that the region has not really done well in. 

“We have seen a lot of women in positions of leadership but we have not reached 50% yet. So we still have a challenge and to have one of the countries here in SADC with a woman president is really something to celebrate. To me this is a special gift. It is something that we have to talk about in order to encourage other countries to emulate.