Namibia’s President Hage Geingob, 82, died in hospital early on Sunday, the presidency said, weeks after he was diagnosed with cancer.
The country’s acting President, Nangolo Mbumba, in a statement posted on the government’s X handle @NamPresidency on Sunday, said Geingob died early today.
Read the statement below:
“Announcement of the Passing of H.E Dr @hagegeingob, President of the Republic of Namibia, 04 February 2024
Fellow Namibians,
It is with utmost sadness and regret that I inform you that our beloved Dr. Hage G. Geingob, the President of the Republic of Namibia has passed on today, Sunday 4 February 2024 at around 00h04 at Lady Pohamba Hospital where he was receiving medical treatment from his medical team. At his side, was his dear wife Madame Monica Geingos and his children.
His medical team, as I informed the nation only yesterday has been trying its utmost best to ensure that our President recovers.
Regrettably, notwithstanding the team’s spirited effort to save his life, sadly, fellow Namibians, President Geingob passed on.
Fellow Namibians,
The Namibian nation has lost a distinguished servant of the people, a liberation struggle icon, the chief architect of our constitution and the pillar of the Namibian house. At this moment of deepest sorrow, I appeal to the nation to remain calm and collected while the Government attends to all necessary state arrangements, preparations and other protocols. Further announcements in this regard will be made.
While keeping the President’s bereaved family, and you, dear fellow Namibians, in our thoughts and prayers, Cabinet will convene with immediate effect in order to make the necessary state arrangements in this regard.
May the Soul of our beloved Dr Hage G. Geingob Rest in Eternal Peace,” the statement reads.
Geingob had been in charge of the thinly populated and mostly arid southern African country since 2015, the year he announced he had survived prostate cancer.
Vice President Nangolo Mbumba takes the helm in Namibia – a mining hotspot with significant deposits of diamonds and the electric car battery ingredient lithium – until presidential and parliamentary elections at the end of the year.
A presidency post on social media platform X did not give a cause of death, but late last month the presidency said he had travelled to the United States for “a two-day novel treatment for cancerous cells”, after being diagnosed following a regular medical check-up.
Born in 1941, Geingob was a prominent politician since before Namibia achieved independence from white minority-ruled South Africa in 1990.
