She was recognized for her tenacity and organizational talent as a leader of the Swapo Youth League, a stepping stone to her political career, which included positions as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tourism, Child Welfare and Information.
She has accumulated a wealth of knowledge and experience that can serve her well when she gets behind the wheel.
“She seems so wise and sweet and kind, even in the way she tries to say things in a way that even people like me can understand,” Laimi, a potential voter, told the BBC in the capital Windhoek.
“Itula looks like a new piece of jewelry with her glasses, smart suit and confident walk, but maybe she dazzles you with her shine,” said her friend Maria.
Both are young people who could not find work.
A dentist by training, Itula, 67, was once a loyal Swapo supporter himself, but was expelled from the party in 2020 after running as an independent candidate against President Hage Geingob in the 2019 election.
He was also a youth leader and spent some time in prison before emigrating to the UK in the early 1980s. He returned to Namibia in 2013.
Six years later, he charged charismatically into the front ranks of Namibian politics, challenging Geingob in the presidential election after saying Swapo’s candidate selection process was flawed.
Itula’s interference in these elections resulted in Swapo receiving its lowest ever share of 56% in a presidential election and also losing its two-thirds majority in parliament.
As someone who has had a professional life outside of politics, he appeals to 50% of the 1.5 million voters under the age of 35, many of whom want economic change, jobs or a measurable increase in their incomes.
His bold and sometimes brash style, rejecting Nandi-Ndaitwa’s more restrained political rhetoric, saw him win support among businessmen and the growing urban intelligentsia.
But while Itula is quick and eloquent, the vice president chooses his words wisely and speaks slowly and deliberately.
