Namibia’s first female candidate vows to ‘restore dignity’
Calm and confident, Esther Muinjangue, Namibia’s first woman to run for president, says she feels a “wind of change” softly blowing through the southwest African country which goes to the polls on Wednesday.
From her modest home in a quiet suburb of the capital Windhoek, Muinjangue spoke to AFP about her bid to “restore dignity” to the country’s 2.45 million inhabitants -- struggling through an economic recession after nearly 30 years of independence from South Africa.
“You hear a lot of people complaining about the (ruling) SWAPO-led government,” she said on Saturday, before heading into the final day of campaigning for her National Unity Democratic Organisation (NUDO) party.
“There was apathy among the youth,” added the 57-year-old former social worker. “But now you see at every rally... more and more young people coming on board.”
Namibia’s South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) has remained in power since its founder Sam Nujoma won the first democratic election in 1990, after decades of guerrilla war against colonial rule.
But President Hage Geingob, elected in 2014, has faced increasing disgruntlement amid SWAPO’s inability to redistribute wealth to the majority black population.
Namibia “was like a full glass of water,” said Muinjangue, but “the first president brought it down half, the second drank further”
“So when Hage took over we were already in the mess that we are in today.”
Despite vast mineral wealth, abundant fish reserves and a growing tourist industry, Namibia remains the world’s second most unequal country after South Africa, according to the World Bank.
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