Africa: Botswana Vice President Ndaba Gaolathe Reflects On Namibia Detention and Political Mentorship Under Hidipo Hamutenya

Botswana’s new vice president, Ndaba Gaolathe, worked in Namibia and was detained for allegedly supporting former Swapo veteran Hidipo Hamutenya’s presidency.

“I was once detained at an airport in Namibia for supporting Hamutenya’s presidential bid against former president Hifikepunye Pohamba,” Gaolathe recalled, sharing these details for the first time in an interview with The Namibian and its Botswana partner, the INK Centre for Investigative Journalism.

Gaolathe, an economist and mathematician,…