The Namibian presidency announced on Sunday that President Hage Geingob has passed away at the age of 82.
Geingob, who had been battling cancer, died peacefully at the Lady Pohamba Hospital in the capital Windhoek under the care of his medical team.
"At his side was his dear wife Madame Monica Geingos and his children," the Namibian presidency quoted acting Namibian President Nangolo Mbumba as saying.
President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, which remains one of Namibia's most important trading and political partners, also expressed his condolences for the loss.
"President Geingob was a towering veteran of Namibia’s liberation from colonialism and apartheid. He was also greatly influential in the solidarity that the people of Namibia extended to the people of South Africa so that we could be free today," his statement said.
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa also offered condolences on the death of the leader, noting that Geingob's "leadership and resilience will be remembered."
Geingob underwent cancer treatment in the United States in late January and returned to Namibia on January 31, the office said earlier.
Born in a village in northern Namibia in 1941, Hage Geingob was a distinguished and influential political figure, who left an indelible mark on Namibia's history and the nation's anti-apartheid struggle.
His journey into activism against South Africa's oppressive apartheid regime began during his early school years and eventually led him into exile.
He returned home in 1989, a year before Namibia gained independence from South Africa, and was appointed chairman of the body that drafted the country's post-independence constitution.
Geingob's political career took a prominent turn when SWAPO won the first elections in 1990 and appointed him Prime Minister — a position he held for 12 years before returning to it in 2012.
"There were no textbooks to prepare us for accomplishing the task of development and shared prosperity after independence," he said in a speech to mark the Independence Day in 2018. "We needed to build a Namibia in which the chains of the injustices of the past would be broken."
His ascendancy to the presidency came in 2014 when SWAPO secured another electoral victory, defeating eight rivals by a landslide to secure the post, replacing Hifikepunye Pohamba, who stepped down after serving the maximum two terms. Geingob took office the following year.
The leader was re-elected in 2019, with 56.3% of the vote. Geingob was due to step down as president in 2024 and named SWAPO Vice President and Foreign Minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah as the ruling party's sole candidate for the November elections.
Following Geingob's death, his peer Nangolo Mbumba, the country's vice president, who had previously headed several ministries and served as the ruling party's secretary general, became acting president until the elections.
Hage Geingob will be always remembered for his undeniable legacy to the southern African nation and its struggle for freedom.