I welcome you all to the first Cabinet meeting of the eighth administration of the Republic of Namibia. We are meeting for the first time since our momentous celebration of the 35th independence anniversary and my inauguration as the fifth head of state of the Republic of Namibia.
It was on 27 November 2024 when Namibians went to the polls to elect members of the National Assembly and the president of Namibia. Subsequently, on 3 December 2024, the chairperson of the Electoral Commission of Namibia declared that the Swapo Party and its presidential candidate had gained the majority vote and declared Ndemupelila Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah duly elected as the president of Namibia.
On Friday, 21 March 2025, in the presence of our immediate former president, Nangolo Mbumba, I took the oath of office as president of Namibia. That means the people of Namibia have given me the mandate to speak and take decisions on their behalf and to lead the national development agenda.
As it is not possible to do all the work alone, I have therefore identified individual Namibians whom I believe are among the many who have the capacity and willingness to unreservedly work with me in meeting the commitments Swapo Party made during the 2024 election campaign.
Therefore, your respective appointments three days ago mean you have accepted to work with me. I must remind you that our people have high expectations. Hence, by accepting your appointments, you have made commitments to serve our people under this administration.
At this stage, and in the presence of Sophia Shaningwa, the secretary general of Swapo Party, I thank the Swapo Party for having presented me to the nation as their presidential candidate and, eventually, the people of Namibia for electing me to office.
I also thank all of you for accepting the important national responsibilities that I have assigned to you. By forming part of the cabinet and the executive, you have all agreed to be part of a process that involves excellence, teamwork and collective decision-making.
You must at all times be guided by the Cabinet Handbook, which will serve as a critical guideline when you carry out your ministerial and national responsibilities. Your conduct must be ethical and beyond reproach. You must be exemplary and hardworking servants of the Namibian people.
Today marks the beginning of the first steps in an important but long five-year journey that we must walk together as a team, and it is my wish that we finish this journey together with all the required success. We must be guided at all times by the trust placed in us by the Namibian people who voted for me as their fifth president and gave the Swapo Party the mandate to govern this country for the next five years.
The Namibian people have spoken through their votes. In doing so, they are calling on us to efficiently deliver services based on the promises we made in the Swapo Party election manifesto for the years 2025 to 2030.
The Swapo Party election manifesto is the pledge we made to the people of Namibia, and the commitments contained in it are now the binding contract we have signed with our citizens. Thus, it is the responsibility of the cabinet, the executive and the government as a whole to fulfil the promises we made to improve the wellbeing of our people.
As the vice president, prime minister, deputy prime minister, ministers, director generals and deputy ministers, your work is very clear. That is to join me in working hard to meet the aspirations of our people. Our people want improvement in their living standards.
For those of you who may not yet be aware of our commitments, you must apprise and acquaint yourselves with the Swapo Party election manifesto and its implementation plan, which will serve as your key reference materials in the next five years.
The Swapo Party election manifesto must be implemented at all costs as that is the contract between me and the people of Namibia, and I have no reason to divert from it.
You have all received your terms of reference, which I have assigned to you and can be amended as the situation demands. There will be a dashboard where I will monitor the progress of every project under implementation. Also, be mindful that your performances will be evaluated regularly, starting within the next three months, on the basis of the key performance indicators in your terms of reference.
We must bear in mind that Namibians need access to improved services in the social and economic sectors. The Namibian people, especially our youth, including young women, need employment opportunities; they need housing, and our small and medium enterprises need assistance to become competitive to grow the economy and create more jobs. The private sector needs an environment that will enable it to grow.
Our education system must be tailor-made for purpose in order to empower our young people. Our development has to be supported by evidence-based research. Our health sector must be responsive to the growing needs of our citizens, and every Namibian deserves the best available health service wherever they are in this country.
Our agricultural sector must be strengthened to ensure food production for food security. The mining sector must be transformed to serve as a catalyst for our natural resource beneficiation and employment creation. Our economy must be properly planned to serve our people better.
I do not need to remind you that I have appointed you to your respective sectors with a clear conscience and trust in your professional capabilities to help me carry out national assignments with a sense of purpose and urgency.
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Each of you has been chosen because I believe that you have the skills, experience, and commitment to make a meaningful difference in the lives of our people.
I have confidence that, together, we can achieve the bold goals and objectives set out in the Swapo Party election manifesto. This is not a time for complacency and procrastination. Decisions taken must be implemented without any delay. Delays in implementation will not be accepted. I must tell you that I do not like the phrase "work in progress" as, in most cases, it is used to mean nothing is done.
I made it very clear after my election as president in November 2024 that it is not going to be "business as usual" in the 8th administration. I am repeating and underlining it here: there will be no business as usual.
I now have the honour to officially declare the work of the eighth administration officially open.
The programme of our Cabinet will be every Tuesday from 09h00, to be chaired by the president of the Republic of Namibia or any member of the Cabinet as delegated by the president in case she is absent for one reason or another.
I thank you.
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