ABRIDGED BIOGRAPHY
Born on 15 August 1941 at Olukonda, Oshikoto Region, Namibia, H.E Dr. Nangolo Mbumba is the fourth and current President of the Republic of Namibia following the death of the third President of Namibia, H.E. Dr. Hage Gottfried Geingob. Prior to ascending to the position of President of the Republic of Namibia, he served as Vice President from 2018 to February 2024.
Political Career
A Member of SWAPO since the early 1960s, Nangolo Mbumba left Namibia in 1965 for exile via Botswana to Zambia and became SWAPO Deputy Secretary for Education and Culture in 1985. In 1987 he was appointed as Personal Secretary to the founding President of the liberation movement SWAPO, Dr. Sam Nujoma. In June 1989, Nangolo Mbumba returned to Namibia from exile with the first cohort of SWAPO leaders to prepare the transition to Namibia’s independence through the UN-supervised elections. During that transitional period, he served in the Office of the SWAPO Director of Elections, Dr. Hage Geingob.
In 1990, Nangolo Mbumba joined the new Government of an independent Namibia as Secretary to Cabinet, a position he served in until his appointment as Chief Executive Officer for the Joint Administration of Walvis Bay and Offshore Islands for its re-integration into Namibia. Under his leadership, Walvis Bay was subsequently successfully re-integrated into Namibia on the 1st of March 1994. Nangolo Mbumba served as a Member of the National Assembly in 1993 until 2018. He was appointed to various Ministerial portolios, including Minister of Agriculture, Water and Rural Development (1993-1996); Minister of Finance (1996-2003); Minister of Information and Broadcasting (2003-2005); Minister of Education (2005–2010); and Minister of Safety and Security (2010-2012).
In 2012, Nangolo Mbumba was elected Secretary General of the Ruling Party, SWAPO and served full time in that position until 2017. In February 2018, he was appointed Vice President of the Republic of Namibia, a position he held until the 4th of February 2024 when he became President of the Republic of Namibia.
Education and Early Career
Nangolo Mbumba attended Primary School at Olukonda. Later he attended the Ongwediva Boys School between 1959 and 1961. In 1962 he studied at Oshigambo High School and matriculated in 1965. Nangolo Mbumba studied at Southern Connecticut State College in the USA, completing a B.SC degree in 1971 and proceeded to pursue an M.SC in Biology at the University of Connecticut in 1973. After graduating from the University in Connecticut, Nangolo Mbumba began teaching at Harlem Preparatory School in New York. He left New York in 1978, and under the liberation movement SWAPO, became the Head of the Science Department at the Namibia Education Centre in Cuanza Sul, Angola. In 1980, he was promoted to the post of Principal of the Centre. He held that post until 1985 when he became SWAPO Deputy Secretary of Education. During the liberation struggle, Nangolo Mbumba received military training in the Soviet Union.
Family Nangolo Mbumba is married to Sustjie Nashili Mbumba and they have six children and ten grandchildren.
