Namibia’s President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has issued a categorical denial that her family has any involvement in the country’s burgeoning oil and gas sector, demanding a public retraction and apology from a local newspaper that published allegations to the contrary.
The dispute stems from a February 3 article in The Namibian headlined ‘President under fire for family oil interest’. The piece reported questions posed to the president by journalist Jemima Beukes following a Cabinet meeting opening, which the president declined to answer at the time. According to the newspaper, the questions pertained to concerns that the president’s children were allegedly positioning themselves to benefit from the industry.
In a formal statement, President Nandi-Ndaitwah stated unequivocally that her children “have no interests, direct or indirect, in the oil and gas sector.” She characterised the report as false and demanded that the newspaper either present “credible and verifiable evidence” or issue a retraction and public apology. The president affirmed that, like any Namibian citizen, her children possess the full right to lawful economic participation, which they exercise to contribute to national development and their own livelihoods within the bounds of the law.
The controversy has drawn commentary from political opposition. Panduleni Itula, president of the Independent Patriots for Change (IPC), linked the incident to broader democratic principles. In a statement, he argued that democracies erode not only through coups but also through the centralisation of power, sidelining of institutions, and treating accountability as hostility. “Namibia deserves leadership that trusts its ministers, respects parliament, protects the press and remembers that all authority flows from the Constitution and from the people,” Itula said. He stressed that the issue is “not about personal attacks” or denying lawful economic activity, but about upholding “accountability, transparency, professionalism and the preservation of the constitutional separation of powers.”
The exchange highlights the sensitive intersection of political power, family wealth, and Namibia’s developing oil industry, following significant offshore discoveries. It also underscores ongoing tensions between the presidency and sections of the media, and the opposition’s focus on institutional checks. The president’s firm denial sets a clear challenge for her accusers to substantiate their claims, while the debate continues to frame questions of transparency and constitutional governance in the resource-rich nation.
