WINDHOEK   -   Namibia’s President Hage Geingob died early Sunday in a hospital in Windhoek, the presidential office said in a statement. He was 82. Geingob, who was serving his second term as presi­dent, revealed last month that he was receiving treat­ment for cancer. “It is with utmost sadness and regret that I inform you that our beloved Dr. Hage G. Gein­gob, the President of the Republic of Namibia has passed on today”, read the statement on X, formerly Twitter, signed by acting president Nangolo Mbum­ba. “At his side, was his dear wife Madame Monica Ge­ingos and his children.” A biopsy following a routine medical check-up in Janu­ary had revealed “cancer­ous cells”, Geingob’s office said at the time. First elect­ed president in 2014, Gein­gob was Namibia’s longest serving prime minister and third president. In 2013, Geingob underwent brain surgery, and last year he underwent an aortic opera­tion in neighbouring South Africa. Up until his death, he had been receiving treatment at Lady Poham­ba Hospital in Windhoek. “The Namibian nation has lost a distinguished ser­vant of the people, a lib­eration struggle icon, the chief architect of our con­stitution and the pillar of the Namibian house,” said Mbumba. “At this moment of deepest sorrow, I appeal to the nation to remain calm and collected while the Government attends to all necessary state arrange­ments, preparations and other protocols.” He said the Cabinet would con­vene immediately to make the necessary state ar­rangements. Born in a vil­lage in northern Namibia in 1941, Geingob was the southern African country’s first president outside of the Ovambo ethnic group, which makes up more than half the country’s popu­lation. He took up activ­ism against South Africa’s apartheid regime, which at the time ruled over Namib­ia, from his early schooling years before being driven into exile. He spent almost three decades in Botswana and the United States, leav­ing the former for the latter in 1964. Namibia is to hold presidential and national assembly elections towards the end of the year.