After winning last year’s elections, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah has been sworn in as Namibia’s first female president, extending the ruling party’s 35-year grip on power.

At 72, she joins a select group of female leaders on the African continent.

Today’s ceremony attended by heads of state from Angola, South Africa, and Tanzania saw outgoing leader Mbumba hand over power to Nandi-Ndaitwah, coinciding with the country’s 35th independence day.