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Namibian President Hage Geingob died on Sunday in a hospital in the country’s capital, Windhoek, where he was receiving cancer treatment.
“It is with great sadness and regret that I inform you that our beloved Dr. Hage G. Geingob, President of the Republic of Namibia, passed away today,” Acting President and former Vice President Nangolo said in a post on X (previously Twitter) Sunday morning.
Doctors discovered cancerous tissue during a routine medical checkup in January, a regular occurrence for the longtime leader, who previously survived prostate cancer. Geingob agreed to undergo an experimental treatment, and spent two days in a specialized Los Angeles cancer hospital. He had been undergoing chemotherapy in Namibia following his return from the US clinic on Wednesday. His wife and children were by his side when he passed away on Sunday at the age of 82.
Mbumba wrote: “The Namibian nation has lost a great servant of the people, a liberation war symbol, the principal author of our constitution, and the backbone of the Namibian house.
The acting president announced that the cabinet had met “with immediate effect in order to make the necessary state arrangements.”
Since the 1960s, Hage Geingob has been active with the liberation South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO). In his twenties, he moved to the United States to attend university, where he worked with the United Nations.
He served as Namibia’s first prime minister alongside President Sam Nujoma after the country obtained independence from apartheid-era South Africa in 1990. Geingob was elected president in November 2014 and held the position until his death.