Namibia made history with the election of its first female President, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, since gaining independence in 1990. She secured a firm win with roughly 57 per cent of the votes. She ran under the South West Africa People’s Organisation ticket, which has been the governing party since the country’s independence.
However, the main opposition, the Independent Patriots for Change, did not welcome the outcome of the elections and vowed to challenge the results in court.
Like in many African elections, media houses fell short of informing the public about the irregularities that stained the Namibian election. Technical problems and a shortage of ballot papers caused delays in the results.
Here are a few examples:
- The Standard (December 5, 2024): Namibia elects its first woman president. Namibia’s ruling SWAPO party was declared the winner Tuesday of last week’s disputed elections, ushering in the southern African country’s first woman president after a disputed vote that the main opposition has already said it does not recognise.
- Citizen Digital (December 6, 2024): Namibia elects Nandi-Ndaitwah as first female president. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah of Namibia’s ruling SWAPO party has been elected president and will be the country’s first female leader, results released by the country’s electoral commission showed on Tuesday. Nandi-Ndaitwah, 72, is the current vice president. Her victory will extend SWAPO’s 34 years in power since it led Namibia to independence from apartheid South Africa in 1990.
- Capital News (December 5, 2024): Ruto congratulates Namibian President-elect Nandi-Ndaitwah. President William Ruto says the election of Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as the fifth Namibian president is a powerful reminder that there is no limit to what African people can achieve in politics.
But something was still missing. A few more angles to this development called for exploration, but journalists seemed to be turning a nonchalant ear.
When reporting on significant occurrences, the media should ensure every angle relevant to the event is covered so that every question is answered. After all, what is the media’s prime responsibility?
Looking into Nandi-Ndaitwah’s victory, the media failed to answer a crucial question. For instance, who was Nandi-Ndaitwah’s running mate? If there was no running mate, the media should have informed the public why and how this is Namibia’s reality.
Many democratic countries operate under a system where the presidential candidate lines up a running mate to occupy the second-highest seat. The duo runs under one ticket.
Take the United States of America, for example. Months prior to the November 2024 polls, the name Donald Trump was directly tied to JD Vance, his running mate and currently the USA’s Vice President-elect.
This is a key component that is not evident in Nandi-Ndaitwah’s headlines.
Bearing in mind that even here in Kenya, since 2013, the presidential ticket has included two names (the presidential contender and their running mate), something ought to have been mentioned about Nandi-Ndaitwah’s presidency.
