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The Foreign Ministry of Namibia |
Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah
Minister of International Relations and Cooperation

Personal: Born on 29 October 1952 at Onamutai, Oshana Region
Education: M.A Diplomatic Studies
Career
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations and Cooperation.
Minister of Environment & Tourism;
Minister of Information and Broadcasting;
Minister Women & Child welfare;
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs;
President of NANAWO
Interests : Reading, Children and Community work
Profile of Hon. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah
Deputy Prime Minister, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, has a master’s degree in diplomatic studies, a post-graduate diploma in international relations from Keele University, UK and a diploma on the work and practice of young communist from Lenin High Consomer School, Moscow, USSR.
Her political career started in 1966, when she joined SWAPO.
When she left Namibia for exile in 1974, she was Chair of the SWAPO Youth League in Owamboland. From 1976-1978, Honorable Nandi-Ndaitwah served as SWAPO Deputy Chief Representative, in Central Africa, based in Lusaka, Zambia and became SWAPO Chief Representative at the same station from 1978 - 1980. She was then transferred to Dar-es – Salaam, Tanzania, to assume the duty of SWAPO Chief Representative for Eastern Africa and to the Organization of the African Union (OAU) Coordinating Committee, from 1980-1986.
She returned to Namibia in 1989 and was appointed Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. She served in this capacity until her appointment as Director-General of the Department of Women Affairs, with a ministerial rank, in the Office of the President from 1996-2000. She also served as the SWAPO Party Deputy Secretary-General in 1996. Honorable Nandi-Ndaitwah was the Rapporteur General of the Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, China in 1995, and as Minister of Women Affairs and Child Welfare from 2000-2005. She has played a pivotal role in advocating for the protection of the rights of women and children.
Honorable Nandi-Ndaitwah became the Minister of Information and Broadcasting between 2005-2008, after which she was transferred to the Ministry of Environment and Tourism. In December 2012, Honourable Nandi-Ndaitwah was assigned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 2015, she was appointed Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of International Relations, the dual responsibilities she is currently carrying. She has been a Member of Parliament of the Republic of Namibia since 1990, and she is also a member of SWAPO Party Political Bureau, Central Committee and Secretary for Foreign Relations of the Party. Last but not least, she is a member of the Executive Committee/ and Central Committee of the SWAPO Party Women’s Council.
She is an avid reader with interests in netball and squash.