Maria David & Placido Hilukilwa
HISTORY was made at Oshakati on Saturday afternoon when Swapo vice president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, who is also the ruling party’s presidential candidate, handed over copies of the party’s 2025-2030 election manifesto in braille.
This marks the first time ever that an election manifesto of any political party has been made available to people with visual impairments. A total of 500 copies were printed.
INCLUSIVE: Moses Nghipandulwa, the Director of the Namibia Federation of the Visually Impaired receives a braille copy of the 2025-2030 Swapo party election manifesto from presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. Photos: Maria David & Placido Hilukilwa. 
INCLUSIVE: Moses Nghipandulwa, the Director of the Namibia Federation of the Visually Impaired receives a braille copy of the 2025-2030 Swapo party election manifesto from presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. Photos: Maria David & Placido Hilukilwa. 
INCLUSIVE: Moses Nghipandulwa, the Director of the Namibia Federation of the Visually Impaired receives a braille copy of the 2025-2030 Swapo party election manifesto from presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. Photos: Maria David & Placido Hilukilwa. 
INCLUSIVE: Moses Nghipandulwa, the Director of the Namibia Federation of the Visually Impaired receives a braille copy of the 2025-2030 Swapo party election manifesto from presidential candidate Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah. Photos: Maria David & Placido Hilukilwa.
Nandi-Ndaitwah was the keynote speaker at a Swapo rally at Oshakati on Saturday afternoon. Addressing a large crowd of party members, supporters, and sympathisers, she said that through her nomination as her party’s presidential candidate, she has been given a mammoth task. However, she accepted the nomination knowing full well that being Head of State is not an easy job.
She acknowledged that leading the entire Namibian nation involves making decisions that affect over three million people, and that one wrong decision could put the whole country in serious trouble.
“That is not easy,” she said, “but I accepted the responsibility because I know and trust the Namibian people. We worked hard together inside the country during the liberation struggle when I was still young, and we worked together in exile where I served in various capacities. I know what Namibians want.”
She urged her party’s field operatives to start training voters on how to vote using ballot papers to eliminate, or at least minimise, the number of spoilt ballots.
“We do not want to lose any votes,” she said.
The use of ballot papers was reintroduced in 2020 after the use of EVMs was discontinued following a High Court decision.
