The 72-year-old Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah was sworn in as the first woman president of the southern African nation of Namibia. Outgoing 83-year-old President Nangolo Mbumba handed over power in a ceremony yesterday. Nandi-Ndaitwah’s SWAPO party, which has ruled the country for over three decades, won both the presidential and parliamentary elections in November.

She previously served as vice president and won 58 percent of the vote. Nandi-Ndaitwah’s inauguration came a day after the Namibian parliament elected its first female speaker, former Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila. Nandi-Ndaitwah is the latest in a small group of women to hold the presidency in Africa. Others include Ellen Johnson Sirleaf in Liberia, Joyce Banda of Malawi, and Samia Suluhu Hassan in Tanzania.