Nangolo Mbumba, the vice president, confirmed the death of his predecessor, the president of Namibia, a few hours later.
While undergoing medical care at a hospital in the nation’s capital, Windhoek, Hage Geingob, 82, passed away early on Sunday.
Veteran of the nation’s war for independence, Mr. Geingob disclosed his cancer diagnosis to the world last month. As Mr. Geingob’s successor, he was sworn in and will hold the position until the later this year elections.
“I am not going to be around for the elections so don’t panic,” he said at a swiftly arranged swearing-in ceremony at state house, just 15 hours after the death of the president.
Paying tribute to his predecessor, he said “our nation remains calm and stable owing to the leadership of President Geingob who was the chief architect of the constitution”.
“I take on this heavy mantle cognisant of the weight of responsibility.”
Prior to taking office as president in 2015, Mr. Geingob held a number of important political posts since the country’s independence in 1990.
His office stated that he received “a two-day novel treatment for cancerous cells” in the US last month before returning home on January 31. The precise reason of his death was not disclosed.
People have been reminiscing about a man they referred to as a visionary and a cheerful man who could crack a joke on Namibian radio.
World leaders have been expressing their condolences, and many of them have mentioned Mr. Geingob’s efforts to protect the independence of his nation.
The president of neighboring South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, was one of them and referred to him as “a towering veteran of Namibia’s liberation from colonialism and apartheid.”
Mr. Geingob was a tall, powerful man who had been a member of the Swapo party for a long time. He had a deep, gravelly voice. It spearheaded the opposition to South Africa’s apartheid regime, which had essentially taken over the nation—then known as South West Africa—and imposed a system of legalized racism that barred Black people from positions of political and economic authority.
For 27 years, Mr. Geingob was living in exile, traveling to Botswana, the US, and the UK to get his doctorate in politics. In 1989, one year before Namibia attained independence, he returned to the country.
