Nangolo Mbumba has been appointed as the new president of oil and gas-rich Namibia after the unexpected death on Sunday of 82-year-old Hage Geingob.

Geingob was diagnosed with cancer and, shortly after revealing the state of his health to the public last month, died at a hospital in Windhoek.

Namibia’s new head of state said Namibia had lost a “liberation icon”, adding: “Our nation remains calm and stable owing to the leadership of President Geingob who was the chief architect of the constitution.”

Mbumba will only be president until November’s elections, because the ruling South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) — which has been in power since independence in 1990 — has chosen Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as its presidential candidate.

After Geingob’s death, Nandi-Ndaitwah has now been appointed vice president and could become the country’s first female leader.

Geingob was president since 2015, having previously served as prime minister for 12 years.

Notably, he was also the country’s first head of state from the Herero people, with all previous presidents having come from the dominant Owambo.

Germany — which colonised Namibia and is now a keen investor in green hydrogen projects in the country — apologised in 2021 for its role in what it called the “genocide” of Herero and Nama peoples in Namibia between 1904 and 1908

Geingob was a top official of SWAPO which was fighting for the independence of what was then called South West Africa from the apartheid regime in South Africa which had imposed its form of racial segregation on the nation since capturing it from Germany in World War I.

As an activist, he spent many years in exile, largely in neighbouring Botswana, but also in the US.

In 1989, Geingob was chosen to drive SWAPO’s election campaign in Namibia and was instrumental in creating its constitution, which saw the country attain independence the following year.

Commenting on Geingob’s passing, NJ Ayuk, head of the African Energy Chamber (AEC), who knew him well, said: “His memory, resolve and intellectual depth was surreal — a deep thinker.”

He also remarked on the late head of state’s sense of humour, describing him as “one of the funniest presidents I have met.”

Ayuk called Geingob an unheralded “giant” in African politics, and a leader who “embraced” the AEC’s goal of a just energy transition for the continent.

One oil industry executive who knew the late president told Upstream that he was “a very genteel man” and a great advocate of prioritising Namibia’s energy independence via solar power, green hydrogen and continued oil and gas exploration, despite a lack of success for the bulk of his term in office.

“The wholesale absence of (oil and gas) exploration success during much of his presidency didn’t detract him from his optimism.”

The source said Geingob “maintained a healthy balance within the Ministry of Mines & Energy to push for continued exploration (which) eventually resulted in the groundbreaking discoveries in the Orange Basin, which stand to underwrite the economic future of the nation.”

Another oil executive described the late president as “another good SWAPO leader from the apartheid rebellion generation who led the country for independence and success.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa — which will also hold elections this year — described Geingob as “a towering veteran of Namibia’s liberation from colonialism and apartheid,” adding that he was “greatly influential in the solidarity that the people of Namibia extended to the people of South Africa so that we could be free today”.

John Steenhuisen, leader of South Africa’s opposition Democratic Alliance party, said the late president “leaves an immense legacy as a freedom fighter and anti-apartheid activist who dedicated his life to the liberation of the Southern African people, often from exile in Botswana and the US”.

US President Joe Biden said Geingob was “a fearless leader, fighting for independence, overseeing the drafting of the new nation’s constitution … he was an eloquent advocate for his country and continent, who stood up for his values and beliefs”.

Biden said that throughout his life, Geingob maintained close ties to the US and the American people, adding: “I will miss working with him.”

Bola Tinubu, Nigeria’s President, described Geingob’s passing as a “tragedy… at a time when Africa is in dire need of more visionary leaders who believe in our common destiny and who can strengthen the bonds across our borders and spread the tendrils of cooperation in all fields of human endeavour”.